Urgent Virgin balance transfer to a current account question

pablodiscobar

Hi,

Looking for some advice and would greatly appreciate any help. I have a Virgin credit card with around £6700 on it with a credit limit of £9500. My debt is mostly made up of 0.0% Money transfers to a current account.

The 0.0% rates are about to expire and this is where the problem lies. Around 3 months ago I set up my own business so am now self employed and cash flow is an issue.

Normally around this time I would balance transfer to a new card but now I am self employed I have a feeling no one is going to touch me ( even though my credit rating is very good).

I do have an idea though but not sure it will work. Virgin are offering me a new 0.0% balance transfer to a current account ( with a 4% transfer handling fee) until June 2013. My idea is to borrow the £ 6700 from a family member for a week, pay off the credit card debt, and then get the new 0.0% rate balance transfer to a current account and pay back my family member once the funds are clear.

My question is, will Virgin allow this to happen as it won`t take a genius to work out what I have done to avoid paying interest?

Am i better off being honest and ringing virgin to ask if this is acceptable? I am hoping it will be acceptable as the 4% charge will work out at around £ 250 pounds?

If anyone has any better ideas, a personal loan for example ( but i think the self employed thing will stop that happening again ) please let me know.

Many thanks for any help

Pablo

pvt

Pablo,

Does Virgin know about your change of circumstances. If you ring them and they ask questions about any changes of employment status etc. then you have a problem. They are likely to reduce your £9,500 CL.

pablodiscobar

pvt wrote: »

Pablo,

Does Virgin know about your change of circumstances. If you ring them and they ask questions about any changes of employment status etc. then you have a problem. They are likely to reduce your £9,500 CL.

Hi PVT, No they do not, and i was not going to tell them, just ask if its ok to go ahead with my plan etc.

bouncydog1

Don't bother to ring and ask them. Pay off the debt, wait a few days and then do the super balance transfer to your current account.

Only thing to look out for is that it is still available and that your CL hasn't been reduced at the time you do the transfer.

Virgin are MBNA cards I believe, and MBNA have cut right back on any offers to existing cardholders. During year 1 we were overrun with offers that dwindled and then fell away.

Rupert_Bear

bouncyd!!! wrote: »

Don't bother to ring and ask them. Pay off the debt, wait a few days and then do the super balance transfer to your current account.

Only thing to look out for is that it is still available and that your CL hasn't been reduced at the time you do the transfer.

Virgin are MBNA cards I believe, and MBNA have cut right back on any offers to existing cardholders. During year 1 we were overrun with offers that dwindled and then fell away.

My offers dwindled to nothing then I started using the MBNA for small purchases and suddenly 2 good offers have appeared.

Previous to this I was just using for BT's.

I believe if you do not use the card they will not give any promotional offers.

jon142

You just need to think what happenes if MBNA decide that they want to reduce your limit from £9500 to say £1000 ?

Whats your backup plan if they pull the rug once you pay it off? ( i'm not saying they will ) ive just seen alot of threads about MBNA reducing limits as of late.

sandybrag

jon142 wrote: »

You just need to think what happenes if MBNA decide that they want to reduce your limit from £9500 to say £1000 ?

Whats your backup plan if they pull the rug once you pay it off? ( i'm not saying they will ) ive just seen alot of threads about MBNA reducing limits as of late.

Just picking you up on this point, what happens when a lender suddenly does this?. What are the rules about this? and how soon do you have to get the money back to them??

jon142

sandybrag wrote: »

Just picking you up on this point, what happens when a lender suddenly does this?. What are the rules about this? and how soon do you have to get the money back to them??

If you have say a £9500 limit as the OP had and its maxxed @ £9499 he decides to pay £7000 of it and then they decrease his limit to £2500 he can't do anything about it what so ever. they have no legal liabilty to lend money and they can reduce the limit when they want to, ( they usually give 30 days i believe tho. )

However, if you have a £9500 limit and they reduce it without telling you down to £2500, which causes you to go over your limit by £7000 this is wrong, you have grounds for a complaint and ombudsman etc.

I am unsure what happenes if they tell you they plan to reduce your limit im not sure if they even can. i'm sure they can will probably be the standard 30days. but if you keep in your T's & C's and keep up with your other comitments that the company can see from your credit file, i can't see it happeneing.

Just so its clear CC companys don't normally do this. its more of a WHAT IF.

Thanks.

pablodiscobar

sandybrag wrote: »

Just picking you up on this point, what happens when a lender suddenly does this?. What are the rules about this? and how soon do you have to get the money back to them??

Thank you for all your replies, I really appreciate your time. I too am very interested in the point above.

With regards to my credit limit they have only just put my credit limit up - infact it has gone up twice in the last 3 months so I`m hoping all will be ok? What do you think?

The 0.0% balance transfer to a current account to June 2013 is valid until 31 July 2012 so hopefully I can get this sorted in that timeframe.

jon142

pablodiscobar wrote: »

Thank you for all your replies, I really appreciate your time. I too am very interested in the point above.

With regards to my credit limit they have only just put my credit limit up - infact it has gone up twice in the last 3 months so I`m hoping all will be ok? What do you think?

The 0.0% balance transfer to a current account to June 2013 is valid until 31 July 2012 so hopefully I can get this sorted in that timeframe.

I think you will be fine too, if you can Russell up the cash this week and pay it off you will have access to the money 2 hours later, as available funds.

It's a good plan, MBNA are relying on you not being able to come up with 6700k + to clear it off.

It's a heafty £270+ Transfer cost tho. so MBNA are making some money on it.

However, if the APR is around;

15.9% mark typical for a MBNA card on a £6700 balance your looking at £90 in interest per month.

19.9% and that will jump to £113 in interest per month.

If it all works out for you, you will be saving about;

£1050 over the year at 15.9APR

And £1300+ at 19.9APR

pablodiscobar

jon142 wrote: »

I think you will be fine too, if you can Russell up the cash this week and pay it off you will have access to the money 2 hours later, as available funds.

It's a good plan, MBNA are relying on you not being able to come up with 6700k + to clear it off.

It's a heafty £270+ Transfer cost tho. so MBNA are making some money on it.

However, if the APR is around the 15.9% mark typical for a MBNA card on a £6700 balance your looking at £90 in interest per month.

19.9% and that will jump to £113 in interest per month.

Thanks again Jon, I`m getting straight onto it