Unoffical Existing Customer Balance Transfers

gkb_2

Just threatened to cancel my Halifax card and was offered a 5.94% life of balance with a 3% fee, would not budge on anything better than that and its only available till 9pm tonight when it maybe withdrawn !!
Not very good but better than the 20% or so my Egg balance will go to in 2 weeks time, have a large credit limit on this and dont really want to have to apply for another card as its only 3 months since I last applied for one so dont want to be declined, may take it up and then go for another one in a couple of months.

Nat West say that they 'may have some offers in the next couple of weeks' but I am not convinced as thats what they say every time and I have not seen anything for a while now.

Very frustrating that I have approx £15k worth of credit limit on the 2 cards that I cant use despite having about the same amount coming to the end of a 0% in the next month or so on other cards.

Moggles_2

gkb wrote: »

Nat West say that they 'may have some offers in the next couple of weeks' but I am not convinced, as that's what they say every time and I have not seen anything for a while now.

I think your scepticism is fully justified.

Attracting new business is expensive and most lenders prefer to hang on to existing customers where possible. This is their stock answer, I'm afraid, designed to retain your custom.

fi76

I have cleared my balance on my halifax card just last week. Phoned today and enquired about balance transfer and was offered 0% for 9 months with a 3% fee. The deal starts in October so it won't actually go through untill Thursday.

I have also had offers from both MBNA and Virgin in the post (both 0% untill July 2010) with the statement so I can transfer MBNA to Halifax then Virgin to MBNA then something else to Virgin.

RESULT:j

Moggles_2

fi76 wrote: »

I have cleared my balance on my Halifax card just last week. Phoned today and enquired about balance transfer and was offered 0% for 9 months with a 3% fee. The deal starts in October, so it won't actually go through until Thursday.

Congratulations
:beer:

I have also had offers from both MBNA and Virgin in the post (both 0% until July 2010) with the statement, so I can transfer MBNA to Halifax, then Virgin to MBNA ....

Caution: you cannot transfer balances between Virgin and MBNA as both cards are backed by the same bank, MBNA. (You would be trying to pay 'em off with their own money.)

That said, there's a way round this as Virgin will allow you to route funds via your current account. There's a 4% handling fee for these money transfers though.

fi76

Thanks for that, didn't think of that, it has scuppered plans slightly but I just need to sit down and work out an alternative attack to getting as many debts 0% as poss.

Is MINT part of anyone else? I did read somewhere on the forum that they are not big on giving deals to existing customers though. Has anyone had any luck getting a 0% deal with MINT?

Moggles_2

fi76 wrote: »

Is MINT part of anyone else?

Yes, Mint belongs to the Royal Bank of Scotland stable (which includes Lombard Direct, NatWest, Tesco & Ulster Bank, as well as RBS itself)

I did read somewhere on the forum that they are not big on giving deals to existing customers though. Has anyone had any luck getting a 0% deal with MINT?

I've had regular follow-on offers from Mint. I was offered 6 months at 0% with 3% BT fee when I phoned customer services in June, intending to cancel. When I persisted, the cancellation team waived the 3% fee.

Obviously, for this to work, you have to be prepared to go ahead and close the account, if you don't get the offer you'd hoped for :cool:

Jibbajabba

fi76 wrote: »

I have also had offers from both MBNA and Virgin in the post (both 0% untill July 2010) with the statement so I can transfer MBNA to Halifax then Virgin to MBNA then something else to Virgin.

RESULT:j

Why are your plans scuppered? Moggles has pointed out that you CAN balance transfer between Virgin and MBNA by doing a 'Super Balance Transfer' via a current account. It'll still be 0% but with a slightly higher handling fee...

Moggles wrote: »

That said, there's a way round this as Virgin will allow you to route funds via your current account. There's a 4% handling fee for these money transfers though.

fi76

I'd prefer not to involve my current account as I have a rather large overdraft and in the past when I have reduced the amount they have reduced the overdraft limit automatically I need the overdraft to remain at the moment.

I shall move MINT to MBNA and see how I go there.

Thanks for your advice Moggles.

keithboy40

tesco now doing 1.9% for 6 months with a 2.9% fee.

Moggles_2

keithboy40 wrote: »

Tesco now doing 1.9% for 6 months with a 2.9% fee.

If you're trying to avoid a credit search, this offer's fair to middling (depending on your rate(s) with other lenders), but you can get 0% for at least twice that time on a new card