Balance transfer for existing customer-question

sturgeon

Virgin are offering me a 0% balance transfer until March 2014 (with 3.5% fee) if I do so by the 30th April.

I have a Barclaycard that I pay off in full each month. I am looking to make a big purchase (up to £2k) and ideally do want to spread the cost out a bit.

Therefore I presume that this offer means I can make that purchase on my Barclaycard, then do a £2k balance transfer to Virgin? Paying no interest until March 2014 but assuming I can make payments towards that £2k as and when I want without penalty (realistically I will do this monthly with the aim to pay off within 6 months).

I'm only a little confused as I pay my Barclaycard in full by DD every month, so the balance only remains for 30 days. My next statement is due the 12th April so unless I buy the items ASAP and do the balance transfer then the payment will come out my bank the 2nd May. Or does this balance transfer, as the name suggests, totally eradicate the owned monies on my Barclaycard so I don't need to worry about this, therefore just making sure I buy this item and ensure the balance is transferred to Virgin by the 30th?

sturgeon

As a follow up to this, as the offer is on my account as a promotion and I'm an existing customer, is there any chance they could decline the transfer once I've requested it? I don't want to buy this item, try transferring the balance equal to the item value then be told sorry no!

Also, do they do a credit check when doing a balance transfer?

zerog

sturgeon wrote: »

As a follow up to this, as the offer is on my account as a promotion and I'm an existing customer, is there any chance they could decline the transfer once I've requested it? I don't want to buy this item, try transferring the balance equal to the item value then be told sorry no!

Also, do they do a credit check when doing a balance transfer?

You are unlikely to have any problems doing the transfer and there is no creditc heck, but if you haven't done it before the 12th, I'm not sure if Barclaycard will try to take a DD of the full amount even though it is already paid off.

debtfreeby30:S

I wouldn't have thought you would have any problems taking advantage of the offer if they have already presented it to you.

Obviously, you would need to make at least the minimum payment every month to keep the 0% rate (add a £1 on if you want to avoid a minimum payment marker on you credit file although it should report a promotional rate on the CC anyway). The idea behind getting a 0% BT would be that you keep the money to pay it off in a savings account to earn some interest and then pay off the entire amount (or transfer to another card) at the end of the term. Just make sure you make the minimum payment every month!

With regard to your DD I would check as I have experience of some companies continuing to try and take the full amount even though it has already been paid and others adjusting the payment. With Barclaycard if you look at your online banking (if it is the same as mine!) there is a little "i" info box next to your DD amount and this tells you how/if they will adjust payments according to other payments you make.

I hope this helps at least a little bit!