exisiting customer balance transfer from different companies, could i be accepted?

Rick_1138

Hi folks.

I currently have about £5k on 2 cards that are coming to the end of their 0% transfer windows, Virgin and RBS.

I have a card i use for emergencies that is a barclaycard with about 24% apr (was my first ever card about 5 years ago) it has a limit of £6400 but there is only about £400 on it.

Anyway i noticed barclaycard offer a 20month and a 14 month 0% BT deal, and i am looking to transfer the balance from the 2 cards onto one and set up a direct debit to have all the debt paid off within the 14 months (about £400 a month)

However i know you cannot transfer from a barclaycard to a barclaycard etc, however i wondered if i would be able to get accepted on the barclaycard platinum type offer to transfer the virgin and RBS balances, or would i automatically be denied because i have a barclaycard already?

I was worried if i apply and am rejected on grounds i already have a card i would get a black mark on my credit rating (i have never been refused credit in my life, having had 4 credit cards and 3 lons in my time as well as direct debits etc, never missed a payment.

I earn over £20k PA, and am in stable employment.

Has anyone done something similar, i.e. got a second card from the same provider for balance transfer from other credit card companies?

If so i would go ahead with this, or i have seen Natwest offer a deal, and i have never applied for them before, so hopefully i would be accepted there and do the same deal (theirs is 17 months i believe.)

many thanks for any advice.

Rick

YorkshireBoy

What's the total credit limit across all 3 cards?

Any other cards?

Any overdraft facilities? And are they currently being used?

Loan(s)?

Mortgage?

How much "over £20K" is your income?

Tixy

Have you asked barclaycard if they have any 0% deals you are eligible for at the moment on your existing barclaycard? if so then you could use that instead of needing to apply for a second barclaycard.

Rick_1138

Hi Yorkshireboy,

total vredit limit across the three cards is (roughly of my head):

Barclaycard - £6800 (£400 on it)

RBS - £9500 - (£3175 currently on it)

Virgin £5800 - (£2500 currently on it)

No other cards bar a debit card.

No current loans

Overdraft is £100 - not being used atm

No mortgage.

salary is £27,500

I would be looking to cancel the Virgin once transfered, and the old barclaycard (with £400 on it) and have the Virgin as my 'new' emergency card as its apr is 10% lower then my current barclaycard (but this is down the road)

Plan is to have BT card with direct debit needed to clear asap, and Virgin for emergencies with abiut £3k limit set. and thats it.

Rick_1138

Tixy wrote: »

Have you asked barclaycard if they have any 0% deals you are eligible for at the moment on your existing barclaycard? if so then you could use that instead of needing to apply for a second barclaycard.

They do offer an 0% transfer rate now and then but its usually just for 3-6 months, which would mean more faffing about where i would rather just get it on a longish term deal at 0% and set it up so its paid out a set amount each month to one place until its settled.

if that makes sense

YorkshireBoy

You have over £21K of available credit. That may scare some lenders off, with a £27K salary. How about reducing the RBS limit a little before applying elsewhere?

And forget NatWest...they're part of the RBS group so a) they won't BT from RBS and b) any limit offered would be affected by the very large (when compared to your salary) limit on RBS.

Rick_1138

Thats a good idea about lowering the limits on the BT cards, as i never spend on them (not that silly haha).

I never realised Natwest was RBS too, well in terms of the credit cards etc.

If barclaycard say no to getting a second card from them, apart from MBNA\RBS and Barclaycard, who could i apply to.

This will be the last time i need to get such a card, as i have reduced my debt from £10.5k to just over £5k, so i know i will get it done.

If i cant get a balance transfer i will just have to accept the rate of APR the cards will revert to (14%) i think on the current balance, which isn't ideal but if needs must.

Rick_1138

Having just checked, barclaycard are offering me 0% with a 2.9% fee until 1st of January next year.

This would be okay, but it would mean i would still have about £3000 left outstanding (looking to pay £400 a month)

so would need to transfer a balance again anyway, though i have found Virgin constantly offer me 6 month 0% rates every now and then so could just transfer the £3k to them again and finish it that way.

My only worry about transferring to the barclaycard deal is that the current £400 i have on the barclaycard might not get paid off if i tranbsfer the balance, i.e. it would be the last to get paid off by barclaycard when i make a payment so would be accruing interest on that £400 for 6 months, or does it not work like that.

I have never transfered a balance to a card that had an existing balance.

Tixy

The money already on that card that is attracting interest would be paid off first (they changed the rules a few months ago and all cards are like that now).
And a good idea to keep the virgin card for likely 0% deals in January.

Plus by January you can have closed down the RBS card and so even if you couldn't get a virgin deal you'd hopefully be in a better position to get a new card elsewhere.

All that said you could certainly try for a new 0% card elsewhere before accepting the barclaycard offer - but don't make lots of applications. Maybe try the post office? (14months and a 2.98% fee)

Rick_1138

As i say, my main desire is to just get the last of my debt paid off at 0%.

I wouldnt apply for lots of cards, as i know thats when credit reports start to look bad, i would apply for just one, probably the PO, as i think barclaycard would say no and i dont want to risk getting rejected, incase it wrecks my rating .

I just want to see my options as i dont want to be applying for something i simply will be told no to, because of existing customer etc.

However i will look at the post office one.

Main plan tonight is to lower RBS and virgin limits to £4k and £3k respectively.

Apply for the Post office card (looking at it it seems a good idea) and then cancel the RBS card, and old barclaycard.

That leaves me with the best APR (virgin at 14.9%, and 0% on my 5.5k debt which should be cleared at £400 a month for 14 months.

Thanks for all the advice, its helping me sort out my way to finally getting rid of this debt monkey on my back.

Tixy

There are a couple of tables here which you might find useful
This is a list of 0% cards and the fees and interest free periods - http://www.stoozing.com/0fees.php
And this tells you who issues each card (so you can check that you don't apply for one connected to your existing cards etc) - http://www.stoozing.com/cards.php