Clearing a loan?

brooklyn07

I currently have a loan that ends in August 2012 - I've just rang my bank and they have given me a settlement figure of £4k.
The loan is at 8.05%

My question is - would I be better off swapping this balance to a 0% balance transfer for 18 months - albeit i havent actually searched for the super balance transfer cards as yet (or even if they still exist!) as the money would need to be transferred into my bank account in order for me to pay off the loan.

I'm currently paying £254 a month so if i pay the same amount off the credit card i figure that this time next year i will have paid off £3k leaving 1k left.

The problem then is I will need to take out another loan to clear that remaining 1k and i've noticed that loans under £7k are usually quite high interest.

SO - do I bother to switch or just keep the loan until it ends?

Tixy

You currently have 17months left at £254 a month? so you would pay in total £4318 in the next 17months.

If you SBT to a credit card then you'll have a balance of £4000 plus a BT fee of say 4%, so £4160.
If you continue to pay off £254 a month then it will take 16months at £254 and 1 month at £96.

Providing you could get a SBT card that lasts for at least 17months then you would not need to get another loan as your balance would be cleared before the 0% period ran out. I'm not sure why you think you would need another loan as you mention an 18month SBT card.
Overall if you do this (and are able to get accepted for a SBT card with a high enough credit limit) you'll save £158 in interest.

*Your SBT fee could be less than 4% depending on which card you apply for, and are eligible for, in which case the saving would be slightly higher (4% is the highest SBT card fee).
http://www.stoozing.com/sbt.php

brooklyn07

Thank you- i actually meant 12 months at 0% apr - not sure why i wrote 18months but its ok i think the SBT is for 18 months anyway