Unoffical Existing Customer Balance Transfers

cacique · 29 August 2006 at 7:29PM

My zero rate BT with Lloyds will end in November. I will still have £1000 outstanding. Is it possible that if I phone them they might extend the zero BT rate on this amount, or do they only do it on new amounts transferred in?

Moggles_2 · 30 August 2006 at 12:14PM

Is it possible that if I phone them they might extend the zero BT rate on this amount ... ?

LloydsTSB is unlikely to extend the 0% rate. This is one of the ways credit card companies make money. They lure new customers with a 0% deal, knowing that some will be unable to pay up/shift the balance elsewhere, when the promotion ends, to avoid the standard interest rate.

or do they only do it on new amounts transferred in?

Right. If you apply for a new 0% balance transfer card and clear your balance with Lloyds, you may get the follow-on offer in time for Christmas!

M_Thomson · 2 September 2006 at 12:17PM

Just called MBNA and got 0.9% for the 7th time in a row! till March 2007 with a £75 fee. Was cheeky and asked if there was anyway round the fee

He said he would email the manager and check while I was on the phone. He then asked me if I wanted card protection, I said no. He then said he had had an email back and the manager had said the fee was non negotiable. I got the feeling if I had said yes to card protection, I would have got it fee free. Anyway, I can't complain. I have the AOL credit card and get 3 months free AOL access with the points from the balance transfer which covers the fee!

cannyscot_2 · 11 September 2006 at 2:12PM

Now getting the hang of this money saving after 8 months on the site I thought i would tackle my barclaycard.

Got 7700 on card had for 18 years and been paying -19.9%-oh my!

offered staraight away 12.9% then offered a o% till march 07 , but there is a 2.5 transfer fee.

He also said Id be getting an invitation for some new card? where you pay off 10% a month and get some better rate?

Feel really stupid to have paid 19,9% but reading on here I think they should have offered me a better rate than 12.9%. I paid 22,000 for IVF on this card and have paid it off religiously for years.

Is it worth calling back and negotaiting further? what tricks to use?

ti1980 · 11 September 2006 at 6:22PM

I have just been offered 1.9% by MBNA for 6 months with a £75 fee.

mrbigd · 11 September 2006 at 7:22PM

selbmag wrote:

Just spoke to Barclaycard and was offered a 6.9% LOB or 0% till Feb 2007 with 2.5% fee.

Point worth noting you can only BT up to a maximum of 90% of your credit limit (not current available credit). This includes any existing BT already on the card.

Plus must not exceed £5K.

Bubblewrap_2 · 12 September 2006 at 6:53PM

Thanks to this thread i just rang my egg card and they agreed to reduce my whopping 16.9% interest to 5.9% for the life of the balance, also offered me and balance transfers at the same rate! Excellent!!!!!!

lapat · 12 September 2006 at 8:50PM

i have just got 0% of mbna for 12mth on £3k with a £60 fee
superb.

Smudgeboy · 12 September 2006 at 11:18PM

Hi all,

Sorry, posted this on the wrong thread earlier today:

Very irregular poster, but in preparation for moving house soon, I thought I'd get my credit cards sorted out. I have rate-tarted for a couple of years and very successfully managed my CC debts down to less than £1,000, which I'm paying off on the lowest rate card I had.

This meants that I had a couple of old cards lying around (namely a Virgin Money Mastercard and an RAC Platinum Visa - both MBNA ones) which I'd used specifically and only for the length of the 0% period and then never touched.

However, I didn't bother to close the two accounts.

To avoid worrying about change of address hassles when I move, I decided to phone and cancel the accounts today. Phones the RAC card first and told the chap I spoke to straight out that I was closing it because I had other cards with better rates.

At which point he said they didn't want to lose my custom, so how about he took the standard rate down to 7.9% (forever) and would I like a 0% (no fee) balance transfer through to March 2007?

He changed the standard rate there and then and gave me a number to call for the balance transfer - I think I've got a result.

Does this suggest that keeping old cards "dormant" is better than cancelling them - I'm going to keep the Virgin one and call them if I have a balance to transfer in March. What's the worst that could happen?

Anyone got any thoughts, comments?