Unoffical Existing Customer Balance Transfers

steevio_uk

Rang MBNA last night and spoke to a gentleman on the phone about reducing interest on my current balance.

Informed him I had a Barclaycard with no balance on it and that I'd been offered a good deal by them to transfer (I haven't, not yet.. more on this in a bit).
He basically said there was nothing that they do in terms of reducing interest for existing balances for existing customers and that the only offers they do for existing customers is offering deals to transfer balances to their card, which ties in with what has been previously said. Never mind.

Re: My aforementioned Barclaycard.

I had a balance of £11,500 on it (the limit) and have never missed a payment on it.
I have since transferred nearly £10k from it, onto my girlfriend's 0% cards and we'll be hitting this debt reduction hard.
So, now I have around £1,600 left on the Barclaycard, with an £11,500 limit.

My question is, now I've reduced the balance by £10k, will Barclaycard now be in a position to offer me a balance transfer deal?
If so, will it be right away or do I have to wait a couple of months?
Or do I need to clear the entire balance do you think?

My aim, now that I've shifted £10k from the Barclaycard (to 0%, 36 months), is to get a good deal - from Barclaycard - to shift the entire MBNA balance to this card. Sooner the better!

(Edit: Blimey... just realised this is my first post in 5 years!)

Bjn201_2

Steevio,

I've had a barclaycard for a while now, used to have a high balance but 6 months ago cleared it down to 20pc. They since online always have a tab where you can get 0pc bal transfer AND money transfers for 14 months with 2.99pc.

SuperAllyB

Just as I was thinking of closing my Halifax CC in preparation hopefully for a new card next year, I've been offered 24 months with a net 1% fee. (3% but 2% refunded). Don't remember ever noticing any offers from them before

rus4r

For Britguys post about closing his credit card after requesting they reduce the rate , maybe its because that way they can zero the interest ( although the consequences could be lot worse than you bargained for).

guesswho2000

One of my various MBNA cards is offering the usual 0% until whenever for 3.5% fee, alongside another interesting one - 4.9% for life, 0% fee on both balance and money transfers.

MBNA's offers seem to vary regularly between cards and different people, but someone else might have it and find it useful, so worth a check

Werthead

Having issues with trying to get a reduction on my Barclaycard. I'm paying the full 27%. Gave them a call, explained that I've been a customer for 17 years, was looking at other providers etc and they completely refused to offer me a better deal, despite initially agreeing that the 27% was quite high. I explained I'd seen some people get 9% for two years and they were apologetic and said they couldn't offer me the same deal. Does anyone have any advice on how to negotiate them down?

guesswho2000

Werthead wrote: »

Having issues with trying to get a reduction on my Barclaycard. I'm paying the full 27%. Gave them a call, explained that I've been a customer for 17 years, was looking at other providers etc and they completely refused to offer me a better deal, despite initially agreeing that the 27% was quite high. I explained I'd seen some people get 9% for two years and they were apologetic and said they couldn't offer me the same deal. Does anyone have any advice on how to negotiate them down?

Try asking via their online secure messaging - submit it as a complaint. That worked for me a few years ago.

Superscrooge

Werthead wrote: »

Having issues with trying to get a reduction on my Barclaycard. I'm paying the full 27%. Gave them a call, explained that I've been a customer for 17 years, was looking at other providers etc and they completely refused to offer me a better deal, despite initially agreeing that the 27% was quite high. I explained I'd seen some people get 9% for two years and they were apologetic and said they couldn't offer me the same deal. Does anyone have any advice on how to negotiate them down?

Loyalty doesn't pay! Those that remain loyal to one organisation frequently get the worst deals. Think energy firms, house insurance etc. Those that automatically pay the renewal premium or remain on the same tariff never get the best deals.

I'm guessing that as you are looking for an interest rate reduction, you are carrying a balance on your card and possibly have been for some time? Barclaycard's thought process could well be...

This customer is profitable to us. He is paying us interest every month at 27%. He has been with us for 17 years. So is not the sort of person to shop around. We want to make as much profit as possible. Why should we reduce our profits by giving him a lower interest rate if he is unlikely to change provider?

Assuming your credit history is OK, Rather than going begging to Barclaycard for a better deal. Why not look elsewhere? There are plenty of other credit card providers.

bigadaj

Superscrooge wrote: »

Loyalty doesn't pay! Those that remain loyal to one organisation frequently get the worst deals. Think energy firms, house insurance etc. Those that automatically pay the renewal premium or remain on the same tariff never get the best deals.

I'm guessing that as you are looking for an interest rate reduction, you are carrying a balance on your card and possibly have been for some time? Barclaycard's thought process could well be...

This customer is profitable to us. He is paying us interest every month at 27%. He has been with us for 17 years. So is not the sort of person to shop around. We want to make as much profit as possible. Why should we reduce our profits by giving him a lower interest rate if he is unlikely to change provider?

Assuming your credit history is OK, Rather than going begging to Barclaycard for a better deal. Why not look elsewhere? There are plenty of other credit card providers.

Not always, annoyingly for me just I'm renewing my car insurance and can't better the renewal quote. Similarly renewal for my house insurance couldn't be beaten last year.

Won't stop me trying to haggle a reduction, discount or other benefit though.

Roubhe

After reading the tips on this site I contacted Barclaycard to try to get my interest rate reduced on my credit card. It was at 25% and when I initially called I was speaking to one of their customer service chaps. I got a few excuses ranging from "no we don't reduce interest rates" to "we can't reduce as they're set by the Bank of England!".

I insisted that I had heard I could get a favourable deal and that I would prefer not to move my debt to another card that had offered me a much lower interest rate fixed at the life of the balance transfer. I was eventually transferred to another department (I guess customer retention or some such) and the chap there was very happy to help. He reduced by interest rate to 6.9% and fixed it for 2 years. This reduction would only apply to my current balance and any other transactions would be at the usual rate. This is fine for me as I intent to get rid of this card anyway. The reduced rate gives me good time to look around for an even better deal.

Additionally I was given a month of 0% interest as a thank you for wanting to remain with Barclaycard!

I suggest be friendly but firm.