Not tarting successfully

Beccy77

I've just got Martin's new book and it's spurred me into action re sorting out my finances. I've already saved £100 per month!! Yay

Anyhow, thought I'd try tarting and I've not been very successful so far.

I currently max out my overdraft every month £500
I have a £2,200 flexiloan
and £250 on a credit card
(all with HSBC with whom I been a customer for 20 years)
I'm getting a £5k bonus with work in about 2 months.

So I thought right!!!!!!!!I'm going to find out how much I'm paying and called them to find all APR.!!!!!!oh my god
Overdraft 16.6%
Loan 15.9 %
Credit Card 14.9%

Martin's right you don't get anything for loyalty.

My plan was to transfer all money onto the credit card, then swap over to a 0% interest credit card. By the time this needed paying off, I'll have my £5k sat in a savings account.

Just called HSBC and they won't let me swap over any funds to my credit card unless it's from another credit card!

I'm so annoyed with them.

misspoppy

It looks like you hit the nail on the head when you said:

Beccy77 wrote:

Martin's right you don't get anything for loyalty.

Spendi

Im stuck in a similar situation, i have a loan, an overdraft and two credit cards, i cant get better rate cards as ive been declined twice now and my credit rating is v good, i can only think that it must be to do with the fact that even though they are paid every month they are still quite high as i cant overpay much.

I did think about asking the bank for a loan again to pay them all off

SunderlandBlackCat

Hi Becky

MBNA & Virgin credit cards allow you to transfer money direct into a bank account. There are a few others as well but I can't remember what they are

MikeyB_2

SunderlandBlackCat wrote:

Hi Becky

MBNA & Virgin credit cards allow you to transfer money direct into a bank account. There are a few others as well but I can't remember what they are

Egg and Egg Money will also let you do this...

SunderlandBlackCat

Spendi wrote:

Im stuck in a similar situation, i have a loan, an overdraft and two credit cards, i cant get better rate cards as ive been declined twice now and my credit rating is v good, i can only think that it must be to do with the fact that even though they are paid every month they are still quite high as i cant overpay much.

I did think about asking the bank for a loan again to pay them all off

It might just be down to the cards you have applied for being harsh on credit scoring. Since October I've been declined for 2 cards but been accepted for 2 others. Have you tried using the comparison tools in Martins best balance transfers article to see which cards are most likely to accept you?

They're here if you havent http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1107182516,76509,#rejected

Beccy77

I've not applied for any other cards yet.

I just wanted to put all of my debt with HSBC onto my HSBC card before I balance transferred.

CLAPTON

as you can pay off these debts completely in two months it will only be worth BTing the debts to a 0% card if there is no BT fee.

and of course do look into your spending habits to ensure you dont build up these debts again

Beccy77

What does BTing mean?

Beccy77

Ah. Being a bit of a Wally!!!! Balance Tranfer Doh.

I can't do this on my loan and overdraft anyway!! As you say I'll just sit tight for 2 months.

Don't worry, I've already learnt my lesson

climbgirl

Beccy77 wrote:

Ah. Being a bit of a Wally!!!! Balance Tranfer Doh.

I can't do this on my loan and overdraft anyway!! As you say I'll just sit tight for 2 months.

Don't worry, I've already learnt my lesson

You can only balance transfer from credit card to credit card unless you get a card with what's called a super-balance transfer. Where they'll put the money directly into your back account. There are a few examples of these still around (other posters have mentioned them above) but they're getting rarer and most will now charge a fee of 2.5%.

So unless you're saving significantly more in interest than you are paying the BT fees, there's no point in doing it as Clapton pointed out.

Be careful with card tarting. If you don't do it properly you'll get stung!