Unable to balance transfer from BA Amex

stoneman

Scratching my head at the moment. I have tried 4 different CC companies (Natwest, Barclaycard, Lloyds, and Halifax) to do a transfer from my BA Preferred American Express card and everyone of them says that the number is invalid. I know about the 15 digit thing throwing up a problem now and then but all of the companies I tried are aware of this as well.
They all say the same thing, that Amex throw a spanner in the works because they don't want you to pay off your card.

Spoke to Amex and they insist that there is no reason why the card is showing up as invalid, and yes you can certainly do a transfer out, just not in. (I have actually done a transfer from another Amex 15 digit card through Halifax back in February) I was advised to try putting a "0" in front of the first number but that hasn't worked. Also told by the agent that he has never heard of this problem before.

I am really stuffed now. I took out the card and spent on flights knowing that I had a balance transfer card to dump the money onto, now I can't and am left with over 5K debit on the BA card.

reclusive46

I've heard of this before, normally most companies can resolve it. I've heard of some companies just giving you the money (Money transfer) and asking for proof of payments of the card for the same amount.

stoneman

reclusive46 wrote: »

I've heard of this before, normally most companies can resolve it. I've heard of some companies just giving you the money (Money transfer) and asking for proof of payments of the card for the same amount.

I remember some time ago a company I was dealing with just wrote a cheque to amex for the amount of transfer.
Unfortunately not one of the 4 card companies involved is willing to do anything, "computer says no" sort of attitude.

Believe me, I have been trying to sort this out for 2 weeks now. When the first card company said they couldn't do it I applied for another card, and so on until now I am the holder of 4 cards that aren't worth diddly to me.

reclusive46

Have you managed to get through to any of the complaints departments? These teams are normally quite helpful.

jonesMUFCforever

Have you got a LLoyds Avios card? The black AMEX card starting 3770 is a 15 digit Pan.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

I don't think this is uncommon. I had the same problem transferring from a Virgin-Atlantic Amex card (issued by MBNA), to where I can't remember.

Luckily V-A is a "dual" system with a Visa card on the same account. Gave them the Visa number and it worked fine.

whoisthebaron

I had the exact same situation as the OP - in my case I put a load of spend through the BA Amex card to max the rewards with the intention of using a BT to shift the debt over a longer period.

Tried with Halifax with no success, and then took out a new Barclaycard to try the same. Initially it didn't work at the point of application, and then when I received the card I called them to activate the card and process the BT again.... no dice.

So I sent them an e-mail / complaint via my Barclaycard online banking page (stressing that the only reason I took out the card was to take advantage of a BT) and they responded by telephone within about 12 hours. The lady on the phone tried again without success, but then she said their back office team would try and perform the BT manually. She asked for my card number/expiry date and said they'd phone back the next day. Lo and behold they called and said the transfer was successful!

It's currently showing up as a pending transaction on my Barclaycard and the credit limit has been updated on my Amex (just waiting for the actual transaction to post).

So in summary it is achievable - perhaps raise a complaint as one of the earlier posters suggests and prompt them to try and execute the BT manually?

stoneman

whoisthebaron wrote: »

I had the exact same situation as the OP - in my case I put a load of spend through the BA Amex card to max the rewards with the intention of using a BT to shift the debt over a longer period.

Tried with Halifax with no success, and then took out a new Barclaycard to try the same. Initially it didn't work at the point of application, and then when I received the card I called them to activate the card and process the BT again.... no dice.

So I sent them an e-mail / complaint via my Barclaycard online banking page (stressing that the only reason I took out the card was to take advantage of a BT) and they responded by telephone within about 12 hours. The lady on the phone tried again without success, but then she said their back office team would try and perform the BT manually. She asked for my card number/expiry date and said they'd phone back the next day. Lo and behold they called and said the transfer was successful!

It's currently showing up as a pending transaction on my Barclaycard and the credit limit has been updated on my Amex (just waiting for the actual transaction to post).

So in summary it is achievable - perhaps raise a complaint as one of the earlier posters suggests and prompt them to try and execute the BT manually?

I finally got it sorted by insisting to speak to a supervisor. He was very apologetic and said it would be done via the tech department.
I even go half of my fee refunded as an apology.

zerog

I BTed an Amex to Nationwide with no trouble at all.

Nationwide's online banking allows you to choose the type of card you want to BT from, and almost all the varieties of Amex are listed.