Cheapest way to borrow 6K help please

LADYBUG_2

Hi there

I am looking borrow £6k at the lowest monthly repayments possible. I need the hard cash as opposed to using a credit card to pay.

The cheaper loan rates seem to be for £7k+

I've seen the advice about super balance transfers but I already have a Virgin card which rules me out of the direct route. I've read that the 'mule' card (Egg) is no longer available.

Are there any other credit cards preferrably 0% BT which do balance transfers into a current account other than the MBNA group?
I've seen on another site that the Post office cc does it but it doesn't seem clear from the website that they do.

I have a good credit rating and according to Experian my available credit far exceeds what I am looking to borrow

Any advice appreciated

thanks

Tixy

Post office cards do, and the M&S card does if you use it to buy sterling travellers cheques and then pay them into your current account (you need to check your current account accepts them).
Both PO and M&S have 2.5% minimum repayments though - so your repayments on £6k will be £150 a month. So just in terms of monthly repayment you would probably get cheaper if you went for a loan.

Are you already using the virgin card? carrying a balance on it? if not then you could see if they will offer you any deals.

But £6k would be a large starting limit for a new card. If you already have a lot of unused available credit this could go against you in terms of how large a limit you might be accepted for.

If you are looking for the lowest monthly repayment it sounds like your debt will not be anywhere near repaid in the 0% period - and if you use a 0% card for a loan you need to consider what you will do if you cannot get a new 0% deal when this one finishes, you could be stuck with your debt on a standard APR which will end up costing you far more than a loan.

jonjamie1970

LADYBUG wrote: »

Hi there

I am looking borrow £6k at the lowest monthly repayments possible. I need the hard cash as opposed to using a credit card to pay.

The cheaper loan rates seem to be for £7k+

I've seen the advice about super balance transfers but I already have a Virgin card which rules me out of the direct route. I've read that the 'mule' card (Egg) is no longer available.

Are there any other credit cards preferrably 0% BT which do balance transfers into a current account other than the MBNA group?
I've seen on another site that the Post office cc does it but it doesn't seem clear from the website that they do.

I have a good credit rating and according to Experian my available credit far exceeds what I am looking to borrow

Any advice appreciated

thanks

I think when it states available credit, that means the credit available to you on the accounts or credit cards you already have, such as overdraft and credit card. They cant possibly know what credit would be available to you based on a lenders potential loan.

LADYBUG_2

Ah I see, that does make sense as I do have a couple of credit cards which have a zero balance and limits of around £5k. Perhaps I should cancel these...

I've never used Experian before and assumed that available credit was what would be able to get, not what I already have!

I will look into the post office and M&S cards. The 6k is a short term loan and I will be able to pay it off in full through a lump sum coming my way before the end of the 0%, which is why I didn't really want a 'proper' loan as I would incurr interest penalty charges

Thanks for your advice

Tixy

What are the zero balance cards?

Very occasionally some other card providers will offer 'money transfers' aka 'super balance transfers' to existing customers - barclays have been known to for some customers. So might be worth phoning them just to check before you cancel them.

Or if not then another possible option would be to see if virgin will do you a 0% BT deal (to your current account) and if one of the other open cards will also do a normal 0% BT (that way you could put the virgin debt onto one of your existing cards and then borrow from virgin to your current account) - obviously you'll need to cost out the fees of doing this and whether it would still be worthwhile.

If you are thinking of cancelling the 2 cards with no balance then remember this could take up to 6weeks or so to be reflected on your credit file.

jonjamie1970

Tixy wrote: »

If you are thinking of cancelling the 2 cards with no balance then remember this could take up to 6weeks or so to be reflected on your credit file.

There is also no gaurantee that by doing this you are going to be accepted for a loan. You may also not be able to get these credit limits from those card companies ever again.

Lenders will be looking at those balances and thinking, well she wants £6k from us and she could go and max out her cards tomorrow and then be in a slightly worse position to be able to pay us back, hence the uncertainty.