Been offered 0% for 12 months. Chances of extending that?

Toonsy

Hi all

First ever post here so if I've gone wrong or broken some rules please point it out but go easy on me! Also this might be a longish post to outline the detail. Apologies in advance lol

I have three CC's (Halifax, MBNA, Barclays) which I'm trying to tackle head on. Limits and balances are as follows

MBNA - Limit = 7,000 Balance = 0 (just paid it off:j)
Halifax - Limit = 10,400 Balance = 9,200
Barclays - Limit = 6,000 Balance = 5,800

APR on Halifax has just kept going up and up and is currently 29.9%. In hindsight I should have rejected the rate rises but it's too late now and they refuse to lower it because I do at least make the minimum payment so it's free money for them. Minimum repayment is about £220 but I've been paying £250.

Barclay's is a low rate for life card. Think it's Platinum with a 6.9% APR but as you can see it's maxed pretty much but payments (I pay £60pm) and interest are low so I don't mind parking that one whilst dealing with the higher rates first.

The MBNA which I've just paid off also sits at 29.9% and again I should have refused the increases but as this was the only card with room to spare I kept it open "just in case" something happened with house or car bearing in mind I was spending pretty much all spare cash servicing the debts.

I used to pay £220 a month back to MBNA as that was the one I wanted shifting and was the only one I could really make a bit of headway on so now I essentially have that £220 to throw at Halifax or A.N.Other solution.

Now, here is my question....

MBNA have offered me 0% for 12 months as obviously I have no balance on there anymore and they want my custom back. I'm a bit loathe to transfer more than I could realistically pay back within the 12 months so my best solution so far is to transfer roughly £2,500 from Halifax to MBNA and pay that off over the 12 months.

If I do that then obviously my minimum repayments would drop a bit on the Halifax account so if I kept my repayment the same on that I could possibly shift an extra £1,000 of balance just through repayments in that one year and hopefully MBNA would then offer me another deal, but it's a risk...

Ideally I'd want to move as much as I can onto a longer 0% deal with MBNA or perhaps a low rate for life balance transfer with them so if I phone them up what are the chances of them offering me something better to retain my services? Has anyone had any luck with getting a better deal from MBNA than they offer?

My credit rating is "good" according to the credit ref agencies and I don't miss repayments and have always serviced my debts if not reduced them by much at a time but I'm against opening up any new credit accounts. I did recently try for a loan with Santander to consolidate it all but they refused me despite me demonstrating through numbers that the repayment would be less than what I pay out now on accounts that the loan would have settled.

Also I don't need to keep MBNA or any card open "just in case" anymore as I've built up an emergency whilst servicing my debt. It feels much better knowing have the cash to pay for any of lifes little setbacks lol

Any help/advice appreciated

guesswho2000

I'd transfer as much as you can, £6,300 or something (assuming they allow a 90% transfer charging an assumed 3% fee of £189), paying nothing on more of the balance for 12 months will be a big saving at 29.9%, and as you say they're both at the same APR, you won't be paying any more when the 0% ends.

I doubt they'll offer more than 12 months as an existing customer, but you could always ask. As for a long term low rate again, ask, or you could apply for another of their cards, as I think they offer a 5.9% life of balance card. If they offer it, you can call them up and ask to move some of the limit from your existing MBNA card to the new one, if they don't give you enough (others have reported that they will do this).

Toonsy

Thank you for your reply. My next question would be what to with the repayments? Would you throw as much as you can at the remainder of the Halifax card or would you throw as much as you can at the 0% deal?

guesswho2000

Toonsy wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. My next question would be what to with the repayments? Would you throw as much as you can at the remainder of the Halifax card or would you throw as much as you can at the 0% deal?

I'd start by repaying the Halifax debt, after all that's costing money now, whereas MBNA will not be for a year. Even if you end up with some left at the end of the 12 months on the MBNA, you'll have saved money over that period.

At that time, since your debt should have gone down a fair bit due to the interest saving, you may be in a position to apply for another 0% BT card to transfer the remainder to, which will allow you to get rid of the remainder on the cheap :beer: