MBNA Rate for Life + Balance transfer?

scubaangel

I have done a search but couldnt see anything - apologies if the answer is somewhere obvious!

I have an MBNA rate for life card which I am paying off at the moment - min payments - while I concentrate on paying off cards at a higher interest rate.

They've offered me a bt deal for 12 months, can I transfer on to the card and carry on paying off the min payments - effectively stacking the 0% and r4l?

I don't ever use the card for spending, and if I could do it would be looking for a 0% deal to bt again at the end of the promo period as all being well by then the other cc's will be paid off!

chattychappy

Yep - it works out well. Because the payments are applied to the LOB first, you can maintain your 0% balance higher for longer. This is better value than taking up a similar offer on a separate card. Just make sure you have the cashflow to pay off the balance on expiry - do this the day after it expires.

I have a similar situation with MBNA, but haven't taken up recent offers because the BT fee has been a whopping 5%.

As for not putting spend on the card, think carefully about this. It can be worth doing depending on what else is going on with your debt. To take an extreme example, let's say your minimum payment would be £100 on MBNA. If you put £100 of purchases through the day before statement date and then send payment immediately after statement generation, you will pay just 2 or 3 days standard interest (Perhaps 0.2%). BUT because of that, you will maintain your BT deal roughly £100 higher. 0.2% is still money, but it compares well with a BT fee and effectively you are doing the same thing - you are transferring a balance from where you would have put that purchase to this card to benefit from your LOB deal.

Of course, if this is the only debt you have and you can put your purchases on a separate card which you pay off in full, then you're better off keeping purchases separate. Also it is only worth doing it for purchases up to the value of the minimum repayment.

scubaangel

Yeah the fee isn't great but am trying to get things sorted out as I leave my job in a few weeks to move back to near my family and haven't got a new job lined up yet. Ideally once I've moved and am working again I can get the cards cleared thanks to lower living expenses but for the time being I just want to reduce what I have to pay overall each month!

chattychappy

Sounds like it might be an idea to put some purchases through on this card - especially if you are close to the statement date. To maximise the benefit, cancel any DD and pay the minimum just after the statement is produced. Obviously you mustn't forget!

Anyway, best of luck getting a new job.

zannat50

I is good, I like it