Virgin SBT?

carl310166

I rang Virgin this morning to see if they had received my signed credit agreement.I was told it arrived 2 days ago,so my card would be sent out in the next 7-10 days,i asked if i could do th balance transfer TODAY (taking advice from a helpful poster on this forum),the advisor gave me my card number there and then,and transfered me to the correct department for BT's.

I asked for a 95% of my credit limit (10K) to my current account,the girl said "No problem",i will transfer £9995 .......i make that slightly more than 95%...oops,it slipped my mind to point this out!

I would like to point out that the staff have been very helpfull so far,in fact,i almost feel guilty about paying off my car loan and saving £2500! with their help.

ajvj1812

carl310166 wrote:

I asked for a 95% of my credit limit (10K) to my current account,the girl said "No problem",i will transfer £9995 .......i make that slightly more than 95%...oops,it slipped my mind to point this out!

Is there any reason why you didn't transfer the whole limit? I'm just wondering if they are likely to ask questions if a request for the whole limit is done in one go.

Are you able to use your on-line account before you get the card? If so, I think I'll do the SBT that way.

carl310166

ajvj1812 wrote:

Is there any reason why you didn't transfer the whole limit? I'm just wondering if they are likely to ask questions if a request for the whole limit is done in one go.

Are you able to use your on-line account before you get the card? If so, I think I'll do the SBT that way.

I have read many posts,and the consensus seems to be that a MAX of 95% can be transferred. In my case,if they asked questions (i am a crap liar)i would just tell them i wanted to pay my car loan off,which is true.

Jacster_2

Thanks YorkshireBoy!

I rang Virgin today and they looked up my details and approved my application over the phone - the guy was very helpful. My stuff is being sent over the next few days. I asked for an extra 1K on my limit and got it - should have asked for more...

I'll make sure I only SBT 95% - thanks for all the tips everyone!

kevin

I applied for a Virgin card 6 weeks ago, have had everything through the post except the card! Balance transfer has been done though.

I called yesterday - apparently due to demand they've run out of cards. First they ran out of black cards so started using red instead and now they've run out of red! Is anyone else waiting for a card or received one recently?

Perhaps they'll extend the interest free period to 9 months from when they finally issue the card?

YorkshireBoy

kevin wrote:

Perhaps they'll extend the interest free period to 9 months from when they finally issue the card?

I asked them this recently and was told the 9 months starts when they receive your signed acceptance slip. For me this was 8/4, and the SBT appeared in my current account on 12/4 (and it'll be with ING on 15/4) which means "technically" I've lost 7 days interest. I think this is very reasonable, especially as its gone through 2 transfers to get to my high interest savings account.

Edit: Forgot to say I haven't got my card yet either, but then again I'm not planning on using it!

Kazza242

I got a letter through from a company called SMS the other day. I have to phone them to arrange signed delivery of my Virgin card via their courier.

You don't need to wait until you get your card to do a SBT, so it's best to get that done a.s.a.p.

Yorkshireboy - Do you know if only the first BT (or SBT to us) is fee-free during the 9 month interest free period? I was thinking of phoning Virgin up and asking for a credit limit increase like you did. If they increased it, would I then be able to arrange a SBT to my current account without charges?

Jeppo

Kazza - you should be able to BT at any time within the 9 month period without incurring any fees. At least that's what I was told by their friendly staff! They also make it clear that you will never be charged for anything without being informed by them first. I needed to clarify this because I'd had a not so great experience with MBNA.

Like yourself I also did a SBT over the phone with Virgin though I'm still waiting for my card to arrive.

YorkshireBoy

Kazza242 wrote:

Yorkshireboy - Do you know if only the first BT (or SBT to us) is fee-free during the 9 month interest free period? I was thinking of phoning Virgin up and asking for a credit limit increase like you did. If they increased it, would I then be able to arrange a SBT to my current account without charges?

My Virgin card was on the mat when I got home from work this evening. I telephoned them to check a few things out, statement dates, no PPI "sneaked" in, exact date of end of 0% period etc. I also asked the very same question you ask above. I was told that I would be informed at the time of asking for a BT if a fee would be payable - but also told that it was down to me to ask!

However, when I rang the other number to activate the card, a very nice gentleman told me that there was "absolutely" NO FEE payable for ANY BT carried out at ANY time in the 0% 9 months period (name, date, time duly noted in my file!). In fact he asked me, as BT's are limited to 95% of available limit, did I want to BT 95% of my 5% left from my initial BT? Blimey, I didn't even know that this facility was available!

For my next card I'm planning to try and maximise the limit given by asking to BT from both my Egg and Virgin cards, with Egg the priority BT. However, I couldn't bring myself to ask the lovely people at Virgin if I could then SBT the BT I'd done to my current account - as the Egg card allows. (ie BT £5K cash to Virgin and then ask them to SBT it to my current account - hope this bit makes sense!) EDIT - Does anyone else know if this is possible?

bobmccall

I was just about to apply for a Virgin card, but thought I'd double check the SBT fee situation with them - glad I did...

The lady I spoke to said that they'd had so many questions relating to balance transfers to current accounts that they've all been issued with a clarification. They now class a transfer to a current account as a 'cash advance' and charge a 2% fee. The 0% for 9 months still applies though.

Just to be sure I rang back straight away and spoke to a different lady who gave me exactly the same story despite explaining that I wanted to transfer an overdraft rather than blatently saying "I want to transfer to a current account".



I think I'll have to get an Egg card instead. :-(