Can I Clear Overdraft With M&s Credit Card Please?

jockmowgli

Hi, please help me someone. I've just returned from the bank (Lloyds tsb) after discussing our overdraft.(£8,000) and i was under the impression i could get an M&S credit card and put some of the o.d. onto the credit card but the bank clearly told me no, can't do it and advised me to get a credit card from them for all our bills and then get a loan of £8,000. She's phoning me back on Monday so she can arrange everything and i'm now terrified. I don't understand money matters too well and the reason we're in so much debt now is because my other half had an operation and was off work for 4 months so money was tight . Hope i've explained well enough. Please, i'm in a right pickle. Thanks everyone. Ali. THANKS TO YOU ALL FOR YOUR ADVICE, I PHONED A VERY NICE LADY AT MBNA AND SHE POINTED ME IN A DIRECTION I CAN UNDERSTAND, CARD APPLIED FOR AND BETWEEN THE TWO CARDS (M&S AND ALLIANCE AND LEICESTER) I WILL COPE A LOT BETTER AND SLEEP EASIER. I'VE TAKEN CONTROL AND SIGH RELIEF. THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU ENABLED ME. x Ali.

sonee2405

hi im not much of an expert but i am in a mess because of bad advice from lloyds tsb so i would be careful with any offers from them. seems strange they are reluctant to help you with clearing the overdraft but very keen to offer you their own credit card and loan. please have a good shop around and think about it loads, your in the best place for for money advice on this site.
good luck and hope OH gets better quickly .

Noz

you need to seek free independant advice on your finiances before you agree to any further borrowing

spamalot

Hi, please help me someone. I've just returned from the bank (Lloyds tsb) after discussing our overdraft.(£8,000) and i was under the impression i could get an M&S credit card and put some of the o.d. onto the credit card but the bank clearly told me no, can't do it and advised me to get a credit card from them for all our bills and then get a loan of £8,000.

This is extremely bias advice that you've been given. Your bank is trying to force you into taking out their products and thereby paying them lots more money in interest. I'm sure you'll get loads of good advice on this site to choose from, i've just jotted down some of my thoughts below.

Firstly, you need to decide on how quickly you can pay the debt off. If you can do it within a year or so I would recommend the following course of action:

Apply for a Mint Card. Mint are currently offering 0% deals until Sep 07. They also issue cheques that also carry a 0% fee. You then write out a cheque to yourself for whatever limit Mint gives you and pay it into your account and hey presto! you've reduced your overdraft and you've got your debt on 0% credit whilst you are paying it off. If you cannot pay it off before Sep 07 you can balance transfer it onto another 0% card (see Martins credit card 'tarting' advice).

If its going to take longer, you could either do the above and keep 'tarting' on 0% credit cards until its paid off or you could take out the lowest rate loan you can find.

Don't get shoved into a corner by your bank you do have options. Remember they are only trying to make money from you.

To avoid further debt whilst you are paying this one off and to throw all the money you can at it, it might be a good idea if you can do a 'statement of affairs' SOA (see debt free wannabes board) so you can cut back any unnecessary expenditure and make sure you are getting the right deals.

Good luck! :j

Fahim_2

Get MBNA cards and transfer your overdraft to the card for 2% fees, then 0% for 12 months...also get Lloyds TSB credit card if you want, but don't go for the loan, MBNA card will be cheaper than loan...

MOCHA

Good advice, seek an impartial opinion. The bank charging you for your overdraft won't offer you that. 'Nice' to hear that Lloyds are as bad as ever.

sonee2405

lloyds are even worse now really terrible, they don't no what they doing.

Bokken_2

What you need to move your OD from the bank to a 0% card is a Super Balance Transfer,that's what Martin calls it.
Have a read up on his credit card articles about it aand then apply for a suitable card that will allow you to move the money ie.Allience and Leicester,Virgin,Mint etc.
Don't worry about the Lloyds if you have had a overdraft for a while you can have one for a few more weeks until a new credit card at 0% arrives.
Get some more help and support at the Debt Free Wannabe forum or post back here.
Good luck.

YorkshireBoy

As a rule, only Super Balance Cards allow you to get cheap cash off them and into your current account. Unfortunately, whilst there is a slightly complicated way to do it with M&S, it's not a true SBT card. It does however offer the best life of balance rate on the market.

In order to benefit from this 3.9% LOB rate, you'd need to route the M&S credit limit through an intermediate card (known as 'muling') such as Egg Money, by BT'ing a 'ficticious' debt from Egg Money to the M&S card. This will have the effect of creating a positive balance on the Egg Money card which you can then BACS transfer to your current account to settle or part settle your overdraft.

There are obvious pitfalls with this mechanism. Some of the main ones IMO are...

• It involves 2 credit searches (for the 2 cards you'll need).
• You will be committed to 3% minimum payments each month on the M&S card (no option to 'leave it for a month' like you could with your overdraft)
• You'll need a very good rating rating to get an £8K limit on M&S.

So, if you "don't understand money matters too well", you may want to wait for some other suggestions or take the loan route.


NB: I've deliberately not mentioned going the 0% route because that will take a lot more management on your part. A LOB rate is an 'action and forget' approach, and is perhaps better suited to you.