Making use of Natwest offer

raceAround126

Hi

I have had a balance transfer offer through from Natwest which seems acceptable. In a nutshell, I have £2500 of available credit on my NatWest, I am intending on keeping this card regardless for emergencies as it's also my main bank.

They've offered 18 months of 0% balance transfer which I'm considering taking up.

On my other credit cards, I have £2000 on Santander £4000 on Tesco. Both are charging interest of 29.9% and 24.9% respectively.

Should I transfer £2000 from Santander and not worry about making use of the extra £500, therefore closing one card entirely?

Or should I transfer £2500 from Tesco?

My plan is to have everything finished by March or April in any case, but would obviously like to provide a fallback in case I don't reach my targets or at least avoid paying interest.

[Deleted User]

Or £2k from Santander and £3-400 from Tesco? You'll need to leave some headroom for fees.

thenudeone

Don't "consider" it. Do It!

Transfer as much as you can from the highest interest card first, i.e. £2000 from Santander.

Then transfer as much as you can of the Tesco balance.

You can't transfer £2500 because they will only allow a proportion (90% or 95% ??) of the credit available, otherwise you'd be over the limit as soon as they add the fee.

IIRC, Natwest treat the fee as a purchase, which will start to be charged interest from day 1, so I'd keep an eye on online banking then pay it off as soon as you can.

Do not use the Natwest card for any purchases from now on. If you do, you will lose any interest free period which you might otherwise have had, even if you pay the purchases off in full every month.