is my brain working this out right? (balance transfers)

charleyroo

hey everybody

i have 2 accounts, one is a virgin atlantic white card (0% ending this month) and one is a nationwide select (12.9% APR i think, i keep it for emergencies and paying for things abroad)

i balance transferred a couple of k onto the virgin white card, and also spent some on there (as i'm getting my airmiles as well) and have decided to go for a virgin atlantic black card (more airmiles, 0% on balances for 6 months, 2% fee)

i know i can't balance transfer from one virgin card to the other, so i was trying to use my nationwide account as a bridge earlier today and couldn't work it so i rang them and they've offered me 7.9% APR on balances with no fee.

i have £3600 in total on my nationwide account now with transferring the balance from the white card which i'm planning on paying off £2k end of september and £1600 in october. in my head, this offer that they've given, which basically means 0.658% per month and 1.32% over the 2 months i have left, is better than paying virgin a 2% fee to transfer it onto my new account for 2 months and even if i let it stretch over 3 months its still better to leave it on my nationwide account.

is my brain making sense?

cheers

bigadaj

Yes seems sensible might be easiest to translate as the balance transfer fee over the time you kigth repay it. A fee of 2% if paid off after one month is the same as an apr of 24%, after 2 months is 12%, after 3 months is 8% and so on. If you pay it off before a little over 3 months it will be worthwhile going the overdraft route rather than the card fee route, if you're making partial repayments then the length of time increases for the overdraft being better.