Advice Needed on Balance transfer

arodmell

Hello everyone

I currently hold a Virgin Card that has a balance of around £2600 on it. It was a 0% for 16 months card and it is close to running out on that promo.

Currently money is tight for our household and we pay around £70 from the card. More when it is available.

I recently tried for a Barclaycard Platinum (0% for 16 mth on Balance Transfers at 19.9% APR) to attempt to find a little more leeway for the repayments on the balance. I was accepted to my surprise. However my opening limit is only £2000.

Now the dilemma I have is..... do I transfer to the Barclaycard (for now the limit on transfers for me is £1800) and end up with two cards to pay? We cant (yet) really pay more than what we are regularly so I would prob end up paying minimum on the remaining balance on the Virgin Card (18.9% APR) and £50 on the Barclaycard.
I suppose that the whole £50 would be coming off the balance and I would be accruing only a little interest on the £800 or so on the other card.

OR.... as I have seen recommended here on the site...should I transfer the balance to the new card until the other card has another promotional balance transfer offer and move it all back?

Before anyone says " well you should really be paying more back than that..." I know I know - we all have our own circumstances and believe me as soon as I am able to pay more I will be.

All advice is welcomed.... a little at a loss as to what to do at the minute

YorkshireBoy

arodmell wrote: »

All advice is welcomed....

Shift whatever you can as soon as you can to Barclaycard...it's a no-brainer - even if it means managing 2 cards.

If money is tight have you considered the minimum payment differences? MBNA is 1% but Barclaycard is over twice as much at 2.25%. Problem looming?

[Deleted User]

arodmell wrote: »

.

We cant (yet) really pay more than what we are regularly so I would prob end up paying minimum on the remaining balance on the Virgin Card (18.9% APR) and £50 on the Barclaycard.
I suppose that the whole £50 would be coming off the balance and I would be accruing only a little interest on the £800 or so on the other card
All advice is welcomed.... a little at a loss as to what to do at the minute

You have this the wrong way round. Pay the min on the Bcard and as much as you can on the Virgin. You're not being charged interest on the Bcard debt but you are on the Virgin, so you need to get rid of that ASAP.

bouncydog1

Also remember to include the bt fee as this counts towards your limit.

YorkshireBoy

bouncyd!!! wrote: »

Also remember to include the bt fee as this counts towards your limit.

I've never had a Barclaycard, but are you saying the 90% limit includes the BT fee? Or that the OP can shift 90% and the BT fee is added on top (meaning they'll be at around 93%)?

MFWannabe

Move as much as you can to the Barclaycard then make minimum payments on this. Also pay as much as you can comfortably pay on the MBNA card; ensuring you are paying at least the minimum of course. Then when the 0% period is up on the Barclaycard you may well be able to get another 0% deal to move the remainder to.

Hax

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I've never had a Barclaycard, but are you saying the 90% limit includes the BT fee? Or that the OP can shift 90% and the BT fee is added on top (meaning they'll be at around 93%)?

The second case is correct - BT of 90% + BT fee