Is Rate Tarting Dead? Discussion

MSE_Martin

Hiya

Just a quick note as there seems to be some confusion over terms

Rate Tarting/Tarting involving shifting from cheap offer to cheap offer

Stoozing is specifically using the above technique purely to make profit.

martin

udydudy

0% Rate tarting is nowhere near its end. I would say it is just the begining. Firstly look at the number of card companies giving 9 months 0%. 2 give 12 months!!
AND the best part CAPITAL ONE which sponsored the independent report and concludes 0% deals will end IS GIVING 18 months 0% deals. Also they have the most combinations of 0% -- 6 months, 9 months, 15 months and the earlier mentioned 18 months.

Only thing is some are not widely available like the 15/18 months is available only in magazines n newspapers....

No way 0% is ending

Al_Mac

MSE_Martin wrote:

Hiya

Just a quick note as there seems to be some confusion over terms

Rate Tarting/Tarting involving shifting from cheap offer to cheap offer

Stoozing is specifically using the above technique purely to make profit.

martin

Thought he'd caught me then, thought the other name, "Pamela", was going to have to be used.:beer:

grovej

I am not so sure that credit card companies are not getting a bit smart in the scoring process, and are able to spot people who move debts around.

Capital One refused me a 0% rate but offered me a low rate, if they thought I was a credit risk then they would have offered me nowt.

John

webmasterpolo

Excellent article regarding the headlines reporting the death of credit card tarting. It's great to read unbiased articles that cut through the bull. One of the many reasons I'm a huge fan of this site

jaxxx

Just read the 'Is rate tarting dead' article Martin. You say in it "Remember it's even more divisive. It’s not just three months that help recoup the profits. If you have a 0% card lasting six months, and you forget to move it by just one day, you’ll be charged an entire month’s worth of interest for that simple mistake. That means one day late, and they recoup half the cost!" I'm in a situation where I applied to open the Virgin 0% card online on 28 March and because they have had such a huge respone and are behind with their processing, it looks like the balance I want transferred from my Egg account won't have gone through by 1st May when their 0% ends. I spoke to Egg to ask how the interest would be worked out if the balance wasn't paid off by 1st May and they said I would be charged the higher interest rate on a day by day basis (so if the balance is transferred by, say, 6th May I would only be charged the higher interest rate for 6 days). Do you think I've been misinformed? With hindsight I know I should have allowed perhaps a little longer to open the Virgin account - or even used your tart alert service!

Jacquie_2

As a 'good' tart i.e. one who shifts their balance before any charges kick in, I've had two successive applications for a new cards offering 0% balance transfer deals turned down which makes me think that what's being reported in the media isn't just scaremongering. I have an excellent credit rating (I think - own property, am a professional, good income) but both companies (MBNA and Halifax) have told me that they have their 'own unique scoring system to assess each customer's application' and I do not meet their 'standard' criteria'. Could this be that my tarting track record is now going against me?

KGM_2

The 0% deals are beginning to dry up - I'm with First Direct and they've been offering me a 0% card with a high limit for a good few months and then just as I'm about to open one for a BT to my Virgin card, they up the 0% rate to 4.9% for 6 months.

So then I phone Virgin to ask them for an extension of the 0%, which is apparantly not uncommon. The best I was offered was a 2% discount to 13.9% for a £25 fee. Hmmm, let me think. I guess I'll be posting that application to M&S.

With First Direct at least, their offers seem to be geared up to getting new Current Accounts these days, rather than Credit Cards. Maybe we have had too much of a good thing? Pity I started too late!

Milarky

I've been surprised at just how persistent 0% deals have become. Egg was one of the first and at one point stopped offering 0% balance transfers altogether - but not for long. Then I think MBNA started making its '2.9' and '1.9' deals 0% too and that really established the trend which virtually all card providers have now followed [In fact, it would be interesting to look at which card providers don't offer 0% on balance transfers - it must be a fairly select bunch]
Thus 0% deals have gone from being 'unheard' of to near universal in the space of a few years. Add to this the fact that interest rates are going down soon in order to stmulate demand and you see that - if anything - more and cheaper credit should be on offer - and for that read the continuation of the 0% deal for the foreseeable future.