debit - credit balance transfer.....help?!

venasworld

Recently I have found myself in something of a quandary....a month ago I was informed that my interest free current account would become decidedly not interest free in the not too distant future. Somewhat panicked I hastily logged on to MSE & sought out the best deal on balance transfers (ended up with a Barclaycard).
However..... on subsequently trying to transfer the balance I discovered that you can`t do balance transfers from debit cards to credit cards. Now I am a little stuck & trying to figure out how to transfer the balance without incurring massive costs for taking cash advance on the credit card. My instincts are telling me to take another credit card out (one that doesn't penalize to heavily for taking cash); use it to cancel the balance on the debit card and then do a balance transfer from that account using my Barclaycard (thus reaping the benefits of the 23 month interest free). Still though, there will be costs incurred both on the initial clearance and then again on the balance transfer?!
In short I suppose what I'm asking is how does one transfer debt from a debit card to a credit card without incurring too many nasty costs?
Your thoughts please?

dalesrider

venasworld wrote: »

In short I suppose what I'm asking is how does one transfer debt from a debit card to a credit card without incurring too many nasty costs?
Your thoughts please?

You don't...

What you need to make clear is which bank is making a account non interest free?

Or is this a case of you have had a interest free overdraft and are now going to have to start paying interest on this?

If its the later. Then the best option a credit card that has 0% on purchases and use that to spend on. Allowing your bank account to recover. Will give you just over a month, before you have to start paying it back.

But be aware you are simply moving a debt from one place to another. When the best option is to cut spending and remover it ASAP.

venasworld

Right okay. It is the latter - that my interest free student account is now about to start charging me £2 A DAY (Halifax)!
So the only thing to do is to try & pay it down as quickly as poss. I had hoped that by transferring the balance to a credit card I could effectively buy myself 23 months to get that done.....but this can't be done (cheaply)?

CLAPTON

how much is the actual overdraft ?

venasworld

£2200 - Not a massive amount I know but would take me a few months to pay it down in my current situation.

dalesrider

Personal loan ?

Not sure if Halifax have a max a month charge.

I take it you are now working ?

If so. Wage into Halifax acc. Would 2 months see it cleared? Use credit card for shopping etc. Pay min on credit card till you get current account into credit. Then work to ger CC balance paid off ASAP.

Would that work out cost effective?

dresdendave

I would suggest considering Dalesrider's idea.

Pay your salary into your Halifax account to offset your overdraft.
Then use your card where possible for spending ie food, fuel, travel etc. Obviously there will some expenditure, ie rent, utility bills where this may not be possible but over a few months the OD should dissapear. It might be worth living frugally for a while so the balance you build up on your credit card isn't too high. Once the OD is clear then try paying off the CC balance ASAP. The idea is to end up debt free, not just swap one debt for another.
You could also have a clearout and try and ebay items to also raise cash to reduce the debt.

sfax

Depends how much you can afford to pay off but if you can get a second purchase credit card and use it for everything as people have suggested, you should be able to make 2-3 balance transfers to Barclaycard at 3% and then put in place a monthly plan to pay it all off before the 0% period expires.

You want to clear down that overdraft as soon as possible as £2/day on £2200 is 39% APR. 3% handling on £2200 is £66 or an APR of 3% over 23 months (assuming you pay it all off over the period at £98/month)

venasworld

Exactly Sfax! This is about damage limitation. On my current wages it would take 4 (3 at a push) months to pay down the outstanding. That's a whole lot of £2's that I'd love to avoid paying. I guess in a way I'm asking the impossible (borrowing a small amount at low APR) but it just seems nuts that you can hop about with credit cards but debit card borrowing is a completely different endeavour.

venasworld

Thanks for all your suggestions tho guys I am really glad I joined this forum today. I know now that I need to just get it paid off & also that I can use my credit card to relieve the pressure & make that happen quicker. I guess I'm going to take a bit of a hit but there are things I can do to minimize that.

CLAPTON

venasworld wrote: »

Exactly Sfax! This is about damage limitation. On my current wages it would take 4 (3 at a push) months to pay down the outstanding. That's a whole lot of £2's that I'd love to avoid paying. I guess in a way I'm asking the impossible (borrowing a small amount at low APR) but it just seems nuts that you can hop about with credit cards but debit card borrowing is a completely different endeavour.

to avoid confusion, note that there is no such thing as 'debit card' debt or 'debit card borrowing'
when you use a debit card you are simply paying from your current account... the debit card is simply the electronic way of identifying your current a/c

so you need to think 'how do I transfer money from a credit card to my current a/c' and not 'how to transfer to a debit card'.