Advice on balance transfer?

Mondy

So I currently have an M&S credit card with the 15 months 0% interest which I am sure is up soon and I want to transfer the balance to another card.

The current balance on the card is approx £4800.

I have applied for a Halifax 22 month balance transfer card http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/balance-transfer-purchase/22-month-balance-transfer-card/

I received the paper work today and it’s all accepted etc, thing is before I send it off and transfer the balance across I just wanted to ask if this is the best way to go?

I am not the best with CC's but I figured transferring the balance over to another 22 month interest free period would be much wiser than paying off on the M&S card, correct?

Thanks

thenudeone

Depends what else you were going to do with the £4800 you have available to pay the bill.

If you're going to leave £4800 in your current account or a poor savings account, it's not worth paying the BT fees; you might as well save the fee and pay the old card off.

If you were going to find the best savings account around and put the £4800 in there, you will be a little better off over the 22 months.

Mondy

Hmmmm I don't tyhink you quite understand, I currently do not have the capital i.e. £4800 lump sum to just pay off the debt on the M&S card. I believe the M&S card has reached the end of its 0% period meaning I will start to pay interest each monthly payment.

This is why I started to look around at other long term interest free cards which would allow me to pay off each month without being charged interest. Looking at my M&S account the next payment will incur a £61 interest fee.

Just to add, after some thinking the M&S 15 month card was started in July 2011 meaning the interest free period will end in October which adds up.

As I say I'm not the best with CCs and don’t want to be paying interest if I can avoid it!

I want to pay its off over a period of time whislt also saving some cash in an ISA at the same time.

unimaginative_user_name

If you have a new bt card to transfer your M&S balance to great but when the new deal ends there's no guarantee that you will get another deal. If I were you I would divide the existing balance by 22 and every month put that amount into as high an interest savings account as you can get so that you save enough by the end of the 0% period to repay the debt in full. That way not only will you have saved the interest on the cc but earned some interest on your savings. Then if you can get another 0% deal in 22months time you will have the option of taking it though adding to your debt with another bt fee or paying off the debt. If you can't get another deal at least you'll be able to use your savings to pay off your debt and avoid paying the interest.

If you are worried that you'll be tempted to spend your savings then again divide the debt by 22 and pay 1/22 off each month.

sivs

Hi,

If you don't transfer away from the M&S card you will have to pay the interest on the £4800 every month until this is cleared.

If you transfer to the new card you will get 22 months at 0% but pay a fee

It will work out cheaper to transfer the balance to the new card.

Mondy

sivs wrote: »

Hi,

If you don't transfer away from the M&S card you will have to pay the interest on the £4800 every month until this is cleared.

If you transfer to the new card you will get 22 months at 0% but pay a fee

It will work out cheaper to transfer the balance to the new card.

I agree with this approach, I like nice and simple approaches, with a quick calculation of say £4500 paid oiff over 22 months, thats £204 a month, which is certainly achievable for me.

So based on that Ill sign the Halifax 22 month paperwork and get the ball rolling.

Thanks