Beware NatWest Balance Transfer fee interest sting

stephane_2

Cornucopia wrote: »

Isn't that what Money Saving is about?

Pennies.....money saving!!! More important things in life

chattychappy

You're hardly money saving if "on principle" you refuse to deal with a bank over something like this. You are simply cutting yourself off from some great deals.

"money saving" is looking at the total cost, factoring in details such this, and then making a balanced decision without bluster.

_Andy_

I like turtles

gwapenut

while I don't think it's worth getting too woorked up over bank pettiiness that in the worst case increases a 3% balance transfer fee to perhaps 3.05%, it is nice when people warn of such technicalities. some turn out to be important, some mere annoyances. I would not go to the trouble of moving my account over something like this, most banks play games, but hey - why not? there are a couple of £100 or so incentives out there, halifax has the same poor service - and is a sibling of natwest - but does have good co-promotions. first direct. will give you the service you crave but less good promotions. not sure I agree that moving from natwest is cuttting off your nose to spite your face as I think they don't cross-promote very much?

barbarajon

The Natwest charges are going up on all the services.

stephane_2

barbarajon wrote: »

The Natwest charges are going up on all the services.

And.....? If only it was just Natwest....

jonesMUFCforever

geordietracy wrote: »

Even if I had paid off the fee there and then on the day I did the balance transfer, I would have been charged at least 1 days interest on the fee. There is no way to avoid paying interest on the balance transfer fee with Nat West.

Wrong answer!!!
Faster payment from your account to credit card = 2hours max.
Balance transfer in most cases still takes a few days - so the credit card is in credit until date of balance transfer takes place therefore no interest; not one penny is charged.

sfax

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Even if I had paid off the fee there and then on the day I did the balance transfer, I would have been charged at least 1 days interest on the fee. There is no way to avoid paying interest on the balance transfer fee with Nat West.

Wrong answer!!!
Faster payment from your account to credit card = 2hours max.
Balance transfer in most cases still takes a few days - so the credit card is in credit until date of balance transfer takes place therefore no interest; not one penny is charged.

I'm not sure this would work. They have to pay off the highest interest yielding part of the balance first and this only becomes the fee once the balance transfer has been made and the fee has been paid.

If you pay in money before the transfer takes place, or even after the BT but before the fee has been applied, it won't pay down the fee part of the balance.

I would only pay it after getting a statement. After all, if it's treated like a purchase you'll get an interest free period anyway (unless NatWest treat it like a cash advance). I have had loads of BT cards and never paid a penny in interest on the fee. They all either didn't charge interest or it was covered by 1-2 payments

jonesMUFCforever

sfax wrote: »

I'm not sure this would work. They have to pay off the highest interest yielding part of the balance first and this only becomes the fee once the balance transfer has been made and the fee has been paid.

If you pay in money before the transfer takes place, or even after the BT but before the fee has been applied, it won't pay down the fee part of the balance.

I would only pay it after getting a statement. After all, if it's treated like a purchase you'll get an interest free period anyway (unless NatWest treat it like a cash advance). I have had loads of BT cards and never paid a penny in interest on the fee. They all either didn't charge interest or it was covered by 1-2 payments

It has worked for me twice.
The highest interest part will be the balance transfer fee (unless you make purchases on the card as well) so that will be paid off first.

opinions4u

geordietracy wrote: »

zerog and treadmill - Nat West are indeed doing something different. I too thought that the balance transfer fee was charged at 0% interest, like the amount I'd transferred. As already mentioned I had done a balance transfer to the same credit card 9 months ago and was not charged interest on the balance transfer fee that time.

This time, after I made the balance transfer, the fee amount was treated differently, as a charge - as gwapenut has pointed out. This then meant that the balance transfer fee attracted interest. Until you pay off the charge, the interest amount adds up, so will be more if you transfer at the beginning of the statement period and less if you do it a couple of days before you are due to get your statement.

Even if I had paid off the fee there and then on the day I did the balance transfer, I would have been charged at least 1 days interest on the fee. There is no way to avoid paying interest on the balance transfer fee with Nat West.

Indeed a fool and his/her money are soon parted - not disagreeing with that. Nor do I still live in the 80s and expect free banking (although my other current account with another bank pays me interest so one step better) which is why I have no qualms in shutting down my current account with Nat West - should have done it ages ago. The reason I didn't was because I still lived in the mistaken 80s belief that having had this credit card (and current account) for a long time, then Nat West would wish to keep me. This is the only about the second time I've ever needed to contact them with a query, but unfortunately their customer service response was such that I never wish to do business with them again.

Not only have they made money from me in the past they had the potential to make more from me in the future. However this fool will now be parted from their money with another institution instead.

'caveat emptor' - I do like a good quote (and ones to make your teeth itch too)!

You could have read the T&Cs in the time it took to type that.

geordietracy wrote: »

Wouldn't they have been better to increase their balance transfer fee percentage to a slightly higher rate and be upfront, rather than hide it in their T&Cs to catch out busy people like myself who then miss it. it is the principle of the way it was done rather than the actual amount (which is actually very small in the scale of things) that is annoying.

And it is very easy to transfer current accounts nowadays anyway, so I'd prefer to deal with a more honest and upfront bank and allow them to earn money from me!