5.9 LOB Barclaycard Chq's

d.ylan

Morning All,
I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on my plan. Just to set the scene.

First house, no heating, bad mould problems, been advised to get heating fitting ASAP to help. Despite being on £10k/pa net, council are not interested in helping even though they have pages on their website dedicated to explaining to the support available both for environmental services heating grants, and health related heating grants (this mould apparently can count sometimes).

My quote for a full combi-system and 6 rads with (5) TRVs is £2350. We're intending on financing £1000 of this with our savings, and are therefore looking for £1500. This will be on a medium term basis (<=12months) as I increase my freelance design work (so flexibility with early payoff required)..

Basically I have 5.9% life of balance transfer cheques attached to my barclaycard statement, with no handling fee -- does anyone know if I can cash this cheque into my bank as a balance transfer (anyone speak from experience?), or will they count that as a cash withdrawl -- which I really can't risk at the cash rates.

Of course my barclaycard will be clear and not used when if I go down this route. The other option is taking out a second card and doing a 'real' balance transfer -- but id rather avoid a second card if possible.

thanks again everyone for all your support in buying our first home

Systemaddict_2

Read, and read again the T&Cs very very carefully. Make sure the amount you withdraw using the BT chqs are not treated in any way as cash withdrawl.

Normally, you can pay these chqs into any bank bank.

Rafter

As Mark says, check the terms and conditions - you may find you can only use the cheque to pay other card companies. If so, apply for an egg card if you can and then write the cheque to egg and then transfer it to your current account. You may even find egg with give you a 0% deal, although your freelance income may be a problem.

Might be worth speaking to the council again in April when new budget year starts. The gvt are big on greenhouse gas saving projects so insulation projects should get grants - not sure about heating ones though.

Might be worth going and chatting to B&Q about electric alternatives that will be a lot cheaper to install - but probably cost a lot more to run. A £150 dehumidifier or storage heater might do the same job for you and avoid you taking out more debt.

5.9% is a good rate though and has to be worth considering.

If you get nowhere with Egg, it may be worth giving Barclaycard a call. I think some people have managed to get a BT to a current account done over the phone if you explain that you want to pay off an existing personal loan or overdraft, rather than another card balance.

Good luck.

R.