0% transfer help please

sunshine_and_rain

Hi

I have three credit cards with the following balances:

Barclaycard £980 (int 0.907%)
Tesco £585 (int 1.13%)
Virgin £1,900 (0% which expires 18/9 then will be 1.456%)

I've been offered 0% on transfers with Barclaycard until April 2015 at a transfer fee of 3.9%. I have no idea about transfers at all, would anyone be willing to give me some advice of what would be my best way to cut down on interest. I don't use the cards and am trying to clear the balances. Is it a good move to transfer the Virgin and Tesco Cards onto the Barclaycard? I have been offered a TSB Card (my bank) with 0% for 13 months, should I shift all three onto this?? I'm a bit unsure about taking on another card, if the balances were cleared on the other cards then I'm only interested in keeping the Barclaycard as I've had it for years.

Thanks in advance and apologies for being a numpty when it comes to figuring out the best deals!!
:rotfl:

Tixy

Its usually best to start by converting your interest rates to APRs.

What transfer fee would you be charged with a transfer on a TSB card?

How much per month do you think you will pay off the debts in total?

sunshine_and_rain

Thanks will look at the apr's tonight. Transfer fee is 3% and I won't be paying off the balance that quickly, around £80 - £100 per month.

pqrdef

sunshine_and_rain wrote: »

Transfer fee is 3%

Platinum Purchase card? That's the standard rate, but if you apply online they rebate 2/3 of the fee, so 1% really.

Halifax All-in-One card is very similar but gives you 15 months.

TSB also have the Platinum BT card, which gives you 24 months and rebates half the fee for online applications, so you pay 1.5%.

Barclaycard reward your loyalty by having much better deals for new customers. To get them you have to ditch your existing card and go back 6 months later.

Tesco also have a cracking deal for new customers, but in their case it's 8 months.

Go for one of the low-fee cards, ditch the others, then watch the deals next year when you can go back as a new customer.

StuC75

Dividing the 3.9% Fee by the Monthly Interest rates - will show how many months you would need to pay off that balance in for it to be cheaper to keep it as is rather than move on the transfer rate..

e.g. 3.9 / 1.13 = 3.45 - so unless you were to pay it off within 3.45 months then its more affective for you to move the balance to the deal rate.. where you would then have until april 2015 to pay it off for the same interest cost as you would face in the next 3/4 months..

Say if the balance was only £200 and you would have paid it off in 2 months anyway, then its not cost affective to transfer that balance; Since the interest you would be charged in those 2 months is less than the upfront 1 off charge.

sunshine_and_rain

Thanks StuC75, I was thinking of trying for the TSB 24 month card online. I was offered a 13 month 0% in the bank on Monday but said I would think about it (trying to figure the best deal).

The total balance won't be paid off for at least 18 months so I guess that will be my best option? Thanks for all your help, really appreciate it!