Unoffical Existing Customer Balance Transfers

bigstevex

if you already have a balance on your card they won't do a deal on the interest rate on the current balance because they are getting money out of you so its no bonus to them at all!

jasonj

RSB existing customers 0% for 6 months with 3% fee
BUT - they are putting the 3% as a PURCHASE - so your sky high interest rate (22%!!) is being applied to this.
I checked to see if this was a mistake - apparently this is now policy

Have been a card tart for years and never come accross this before (they usually add the fee to the amount transferered and at that rate) - has anyone else been stung??

B_Real_2

I had a 2.5k balance on a Halifax CC on 0% for a year, ending around September 08. I transferred it to a Barclaycard 0% offer and kept the Halifax open for a couple of months (actually with about £30 left on it, i.e. they owed me £30).

Phoned up to close the Halifax account a few weeks ago and they offered me another 0% for 6 months on a £500 balance I needed to transfer from another card.

RoyBrock7898

I was told by MINT that the BTF was subject to interest but that it would be paid off ahead of the balance transfer. We wait and see.

lucielovesit

B_Real wrote: »

I had a 2.5k balance on a Halifax CC on 0% for a year, ending around September 08. I transferred it to a Barclaycard 0% offer and kept the Halifax open for a couple of months (actually with about £30 left on it, i.e. they owed me £30).

Phoned up to close the Halifax account a few weeks ago and they offered me another 0% for 6 months on a £500 balance I needed to transfer from another card.

It pays to keep them hanging on! I took my time getting back to halifax CC on their offer of 6 months 0% balance transfer for a 3 % fee on several thousand pounds. My halifax card is not that old - maybe a year? but I had kept it empty for a few months. Today I phoned them again and got offered 5.9% life of balance deal for a 3% fee on up to 11 grand - yippee!! To be fair I have had a bank account with them for about 5 years. Was starting to get desperate though as had heard nothing back from the Platinum Barclaycard or CapitalOne cheap Deals I had applied for - phew!

And was seriously !!!!ed off with egg who kept telling me they had nothing inteesting to offer an existing customer like me - then they produced some fantastic transfer deals after I'd done my transfer! Stuff 'em.... !)

udydudy

jasonj wrote: »

RSB existing customers 0% for 6 months with 3% fee
BUT - they are putting the 3% as a PURCHASE - so your sky high interest rate (22%!!) is being applied to this.
I checked to see if this was a mistake - apparently this is now policy

other companies hav been doing that for years...the best way to look at it is that for a 6 month BT it works to 11% of 3% (i.e .33%) if you intend paying the BT back in 6 months.

so effective cost og BT is 3.33% (or 6.66% Per annum)

Daydreamer

Please read my new thread, posted today 1/02/09 re CAPITAL ONE Balance Transfer Rates!!! I got told I was being given a 5.9% for the lifetime of the balance, which once I did it, the sent a letter saying it was going to be 9.9%!! The thread I posted today explains in more details BUT I think every one should be aware that all these companies are starting to try and scam people du to credit crunch!

I have now copied my post below!

Daydreamer

Capital One Raising Interest Rates
Warning for all those balance transferring and doing credit card shuffles!!!

3 weeks ago I transferred £6300 from my Barclaycard which had a silly rate to Capital one at a rate of 5.9% for what the person on the phone told me would be a lifetime of the balance rate. I was charge a fee of approx £180, but this was fine because the interest rate on my Balclaycard was about 24%!!!

All was fine and having done this transfer I was looking forward to speeding up the paying back of this debt. However I then received a letter (without a date on it allthough Capital one claim it was sent the same day as I did the balance transfer!) they claim due to the cost of borrowing money and the current climate in the monetary world the rate of my borrowing would be going up to 9.9%!

They claim I have three options!
1. Except this and carry on using my capital one card, including having it for future balance transfers.
2. Pay off the whole balance and close the account (which I can not afford)
3. Continue paying the card off but at the same rate as I have now, but I can not use the card again and once its paid off I must close the account!!!!

I AM POSTING THIS 1. TO WARN EVERY ONE OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND 2. TO ASK CAN THEY DO THIS?????

Does a lifetime balance not mean a lifetime balance. I have never missed a payment and can not understand how they can do this! I think they have done it as they knew that I had just balance transferred. They claim that they sent the letter the same day I did the transfer, but to me thats too much of a coincidence!!!!


ANY ADVICE??????????

Gambit

Wouldnt the 3rd option suit you as surely that means you would have the 9.9% rate for the life of that balance?

mizzbiz

We have a Virgin Card (0% BT) with 2.5k, where the 0% is coming to an end at the end of March, and an empty Barclaycard.

Obviously we want to shufty onto another Balance Transfer 0% deal as we can't pay off the debt in full atthe moment. We aim to pay it off over the lifetime of the next 0% card.

Now, we have been looking at MBNA as their deal looks great, however, I seem to remember something about not being able to get an MBNA card if you already have Virgin? Is this true?

I would appreciate any advice on the best way forward, or if anyone can recommend another card at the moment. We shouldn't have a problem re credit checks, although I realise there will be a clamp down atthe moment due to the current economic conditions.

Thanks in advance.

Now, I