Unoffical Existing Customer Balance Transfers

gwapenut

Careful!

0% 9 months at 3% fee is about 4.5% for 12 months (and minimum repayments will make it worse still) - slightly worse because of time lost transferring at beginning and end of the period -so no better than your mortgage, and you risk not getting another BT in 9 months time

sfax

udydudy wrote: »

Having just been at the end of a BT offer(which was 3% fee for 9 months 0%) was wondering wether I was at the end of my tether butyippeee.. just been offered 0% 9 mnths@ 3% BT fee. not the best but bette than the best personal loan i could get @ 5.7-6% and better than my mortgage which is around 4.5%...
intend to take the offer and repy my mortgage!!!

You need to check your sums. 3% handling fee for 9 months is equivalent to 7.1% APR.

Nationwide at 1.5% handling for 20 months is the benchmark

udydudy

sfax wrote: »

You need to check your sums. 3% handling fee for 9 months is equivalent to 7.1% APR.

Nationwide at 1.5% handling for 20 months is the benchmark

Totally lost you there!! How have you arrived at the 7.1%?? could you please explain the math??


Nationwide is not an ption as both are nationwide card holders..


I agree with "gwapenut" but am not worried about repayment the whole idea being that in 9 montsh I would have repaid the card or BT'd it elsewhere... failing to get a new BT offer wuld just mean paying it back... Though at the cost of sounding immodest...Us good credit giys will always get an offer....
Banks got to do business...pay them back and they will come back with more(& cheaper) debt for yuu!!


I love debt..as long as it pays you!!

sfax

udydudy wrote: »

Totally lost you there!! How have you arrived at the 7.1%?? could you please explain the math??

It's skewed because an APR calculation on a loan is based on a reducing balance but with fees you pay 3% on the whole starting balance so it's always a lot more than, say 3% APR. Add to this the fact that's it's only 9 months, not a year and it gets worse.

The APR above is based on what the APR would be on a 9 month loan for the total interest to match the handling fee. E.g. £1000 over 9 months at 7.1% APR means you pay £29.82 interest in total => ~3% of the starting balance of £1000. If you're not sure how to work an APR, then use a calculator like this one: http://money.guardian.co.uk/calculator/form/0,,603119,00.html

Hope this helps

*Diva*

I have a clarity card with halifax and opened it last June, mainly use it for online purchases...over the xmas period I have been spending alot on it...
anyways once i cleared it in January I got a prompt whenever I logged on my internet banking saying I could balance transfer for 6months with 0% transfer fee...
I had a newlook store card and also wanted to purchase a holiday ticket so thought why not...After trying to process it online numerous occaisions and speaking to halifax customer services I kept getting mixed info..Some advisors said I could do it if it said online and some said nope u cant!!

I got sooooo annoyed that I logged a complaint and said I will be going elsewhere! I get a call a few days later saying they will be investigating it and by the end of the week I get a call again saying they dont know where that offer has come from and they were sorry bla bla bla...
Anyways they offered to give me interest free purchases for 6months and I said well thats not good enough I want it unlimited because it has caused me such inconvenience!! lol
They couldnt offer me that so instead gave me 6months interest free and £100 credit!! RESULT!!
I now have purchased a holiday ticket and because you can withdraw cash from it I have paid off my newlook card!

jpwjpw

*Diva* wrote: »

I have a clarity card with halifax and opened it last June, mainly use it for online purchases...over the xmas period I have been spending alot on it...
anyways once i cleared it in January I got a prompt whenever I logged on my internet banking saying I could balance transfer for 6months with 0% transfer fee...
I had a newlook store card and also wanted to purchase a holiday ticket so thought why not...After trying to process it online numerous occaisions and speaking to halifax customer services I kept getting mixed info..Some advisors said I could do it if it said online and some said nope u cant!!

I got sooooo annoyed that I logged a complaint and said I will be going elsewhere! I get a call a few days later saying they will be investigating it and by the end of the week I get a call again saying they dont know where that offer has come from and they were sorry bla bla bla...
Anyways they offered to give me interest free purchases for 6months and I said well thats not good enough I want it unlimited because it has caused me such inconvenience!! lol
They couldnt offer me that so instead gave me 6months interest free and £100 credit!! RESULT!!
I now have purchased a holiday ticket and because you can withdraw cash from it I have paid off my newlook card!

You should be careful, its unlikely they've given you 0% on cash withdrawals. I don't know of any card that offers this.

clairej89

I had a Barclaycard Initial visa with a credit limit of £750 - I cleared the balance this month so called up to cancel and have got a good deal.

I gave my reason as wanting a balance transfer deal, and that I would apply again as a new customer in 6 months, then got transferred to a 'specialist team'.

I was offered a balance transfer for 18 with a similar credit limit - I said I needed a higher limit (I have a Tesco CC of £2600 which has gone past its interest free period) and he tested out the maximum I could get and came up with £1125.

I had been a customer with Barclays for coming up to two years and I have never missed a payment etc - but regardless this is a far better deal than I could get as a new customer with another card provider, my credit history is not as good as the one I have managed to build up with Barclays. There was a 2.9% handling fee on the balance transfer but still well worth it in my eyes.

I would be grateful for a bit of advice though - which card should I be paying most off now? My Tesco CC is accruing interest at around 25%APR and has a remaining balance of £1375. My Barclaycard is now interest free for 18 months and has a balance of £1125+£32 handling fee.

I assume I would be better to pay off the Tesco card as quickly as possible, as it is costing me more - but I just wasn't sure if there is an argument for paying off the B'Card (which would be paying off the balance, not any interest) and then doing another balance transfer over from the Tesco CC.

Hope the tip is useful and I would appreciate any advice on this!

Claire

MrGreen

clairej89 wrote: »

which card should I be paying most off now? My Tesco CC is accruing interest at around 25%APR and has a remaining balance of £1375. My Barclaycard is now interest free for 18 months and has a balance of £1125+£32 handling fee.

Set up a DD to pay off the minimum on the B'card and then pay off as much as possible off the Tesco card every month, it's costing you £28 a month in interest currently so the sooner you pay it off the better for you.

sfax

Halifax 12 months 0% with 3% handling fee. Received in the post today

downshifter98

sfax wrote: »

Halifax 12 months 0% with 3% handling fee. Received in the post today

Yup, same here and just in time to clear an MBNA card that has a 0% ending. 3% borrowing works fine for me.