credit card balance transfer help please!

pukkamum

Okay may be being very dim but we got an offer from barclaycard through the post today for 7.9% on money transfers for up to 3 years with no handling fee.
Now we have a debt of 2k on our barclaycard with a limit of 8k we pay more than the minimum payment everymonth but not by a huge amount, if we did a blance transfer of 2k then paid the exact amount back onto card, would it be a sensible thing to do?
Pros if any and or cons.
Am I just being naive?

pukkamum

pukkamum wrote: »

Okay may be being very dim but we got an offer from barclaycard through the post today for 7.9% on money transfers for up to 3 years with no handling fee.
Now we have a debt of 2k on our barclaycard with a limit of 8k we pay more than the minimum payment everymonth but not by a huge amount, if we did a blance transfer of 2k then paid the exact amount back onto card, would it be a sensible thing to do?
Pros if any and or cons.
Am I just being naive?

P.s also working trying to work out how much it would cost per month to pay the whole amount in the 3 years or less, which I would do.

sistafromanothermista

Could you not be approved for a long 0% deal and get the debt paid over the 0% period? thus not paying any interest at all?

pukkamum

sistafromanothermista wrote: »

Could you not be approved for a long 0% deal and get the debt paid over the 0% period? thus not paying any interest at all?

We did try this last year my dh applied for one of the top o% interest cards and got turned down think this may be because I had a couple of missed payments on my own credit card when I was ill it was quickly repaid and is paid off now.

sfax

If your existing interest rate is greater than 7.9%, you can't get a loan for a better rate and you pay it all off within 3 years then you'll save money. The minimum payment % won't change

pukkamum

sfax wrote: »

If your existing interest rate is greater than 7.9%, you can't get a loan for a better rate and you pay it all off within 3 years then you'll save money. The minimum payment % won't change

Very clear answer thank you oh and heres another probably just as dim question. That card is for emergencies only or big planned purchases if we then had to spend money on it whilst paying back the money transfer how would the interest work? Obviously I would increase my payments in line with the new purchases but how can I be sure the balance transfer is being paid off at the correct rate.

sfax

pukkamum wrote: »

Very clear answer thank you oh and heres another probably just as dim question. That card is for emergencies only or big planned purchases if we then had to spend money on it whilst paying back the money transfer how would the interest work? Obviously I would increase my payments in line with the new purchases but how can I be sure the balance transfer is being paid off at the correct rate.

They have to pay down the part of the balance that yields the highest interest first. However you'll lose the up to 56 days interest free period as you won't be paying off the full balance. Interest will accrue from the day you make the purchase until the payment is received.