S.O.S (asap)- Balance Transfers

Vickschick

Hi there!

I wonder if the MSE community can help Apologies but I only have a couple of hours for answers on this as a deal I'll mention ends at the close of business today (the bank is 24/7) x

Ok:
I have 2 credit cards and these are as follows:

Card A - Tesco
Current balance approx £450 (currently already under 0% until Jan)

Card B - RBS Platinum
Current balance approx £900 (being charged 15.8% interest).

Both cards have offered me 0% on balance transfers for a period of over a year.

My question is, is there a reason why I can't/shouldn't do a complete reversal on the balances. IE - move my Tesco balance to by RBS card today ro take advantage of RBS's deal and then next week or next month throw £900 from my RBS card to the Tesco one to take advantage of their own 0% deal.

Is this possible? Is there any complication here? For example, once I've transferred the balance from A to B, when I later attempt to transfer £900 from B over to A, will RBS send that balance from the 0% portion of that card (effectively sending the first transfer back with a bit more) or do they have to send/reduce the amount currently exposed to the most interest?
I don't want to be exposed to any interest on either card, is that possible?

Any clued up people on here know? x

Hope you're bracing the storm
Thanks!!

sistafromanothermista

I don't know but will bounce if not too late!

grumbler

If the limit(s) is/are high enough I don't see any problems.
If you are not going to pay Tesco balance off before 0% expires you can transfer £900 to Tesco and then £1300 back to RBS for a year.

Vickschick

Hello again. Apologies for the delayed response and thanks for your replies.
I've managed to extend the time I have to accept the RBS deal, so have a little more time to consider.

Grumbler, unfortunately, I wont be able to switch from the RBS card to the Tesco card first as my credit limit on the Tesco card is £1,000 and I'm already up to £450ish. I would need to transfer the £450 to the RBS card which has a much higher credit limit and then transfer £900 from the RBS to the Tesco in a second transfer... thus taking advantage of the two 0% balance transfer deals.

My concern was that RBS would treat the two amounts separately (ring-fencing the amount I'm currently paying interest on with them and not reducing that first when I later put in the request to transfer £900 to Tesco).
IE: After my initial transfer from Tesco to RBS my account would appear as follows:
Amount 1 - £450 transferred from the Tesco card - 0%
Amount 2 - £900 which already existed on the RBS card - 15.8%
and my concern is that when I later put in a request to transfer £900 to the Tesco card, RBS would reduce this amount from the 0% portion first, then another £450 from the amount with the higher rate (to make up the £900 to transfer)..leaving £450 on the RBS card at 15%.
Ideally, I'd like to completely reverse the balances on the cards, pay 0% on both for a year and only pay the transfer fee on each card.
Can anyone advise (or confirm Grumbler's "I don't see any problems") as to whether this is possible?
I'm really struggling financially, so can't afford for this to go wrong

Sincere thanks in advance!

pmartin86

As far as I'm aware, BTs work in the way that the bank your transferring to makes a payment to your card on your behalf, if this is the case, the payment should always go to the highest interest section the balance first, so in theory it should pay of the 15% off bit first.