Virgin Offer but have existing blance on the card

bluebottle23

I have a £3,500 balance on my virgin card right now at 0% but ending in August, as well as a couple of smaller balances elsewhere.

Virgin have a 12 month 0% offer for me to transfer new balances to the card, that needs to be done before 31st July.

If I were to transfer the money to my halifax card on a normal balance transfer will they charge a fee? Could I move the balance there for a week and move it back to take advantage of the offer at Virgin?

Also, my credit limit at virgin is such that I could consolidate all my debts (£6,000) into the one card. Am I best having them spread across 3 cards (all 0%) or best consolidating into 1 card? All other debts will need moved to new cards in next 3 months anyway. Just wondered if there's anything to be careful of having all my debt on 1 card, rather than 3 smaller balances across different cards?

pumpkinhead456

Balance transfers usually cost, often 3% of the balance. So to move your balance out and back in to Virgin would cost £210! That's a fair chunk of cash in my book.
Do you have a Barclay's credit card already? They do 0% for 22 months! You could shift all your debt to this card when the time comes. Best to try and pay off as much as possible before shifting to reduce the 3% to a minimum.
If you can get a new card you can then close the other cards, and if you need to change again in 12 months or so you will be back to being a 'new customer' with your current card providers.
So in theory, yes you could do it that way but it will cost. Might be cheaper getting a new card with a longer 0%, pay off your other balances first and consolidate only when you need to.
HTH

bluebottle23

I currently have 2 cards with Barclaycard (£1,500 balance on first) and £0 balance on other which I uses for travel with work and pay off each month.

Ideally don't want to apply for another card, I'm aiming to reduce the number of cards I have.

Think I'll call halifax and see what they say

bluebottle23

Halifax have confirmed to me there is a fee of 3% for any balance transfer made on the card. Oh well.

[Deleted User]

It's very, VERY, rare to find a balance transfer with no fee.

Ultimately, are you better off paying a 3% fee, or interest on the balance in it's current place? Which will cost less?

RRRRodgA

If you aren't planning on settling the balance in next few months or looking to open a new Credit Card to do a Balance Transfer Offer then why not do what you're thinking?

3% from Halifax and then 3% from Virgin followed by the 12 months 0% interest would surely work out a bit cheaper. I mean you're probably looking at paying just over 6% all in doing so.

What's your typical APR? If it is 17.9% etc and you won't pay it off in the year then I would do it if you aren't planning to open another card for an offer