balance transfer limit - what if it's not enough?

976TXoo

Excuse a basic question, but I'm looking at doing a BT to an RBS card offering 24 months 0%, 1.5% fee (Mastercard) for my Barclaycard (Visa) debt of close to £4k, repaying slowly on 18/19% pa.

If, for example, I'm accepted by RBS and they offer only an £800 credit limit and I transfer that figure from the Barclaycard, would I then continue to service the remaining £3,200 balance on the Barclaycard in the same way as before? They wouldn't want me to repay that balance immediately and close the account since I've done a balance transfer for the £800 to a competitor?

DavidDebt

No you'd continue to service the outstanding debt as before. You'd want to figure out which combination of payments to these cards meeting minimum payment requirements will mean you pay the least interest.

grumbler

DavidDebt wrote: »

...You'd want to figure out which combination of payments to these cards meeting minimum payment requirements will mean you pay the least interest.

What do you mean?
The OP pays the minimum payments to the new card and as much as possible (min payment at least) to the old one.

976TXoo

Many thanks, guys.

I also have about £3k on my overdraft - is that a 'balance' that can be transferred? I cannot find details of this on the RBS website.

Clearly, it is a 'balance' but whether some of it could be included to benefit from the O interest deal is the question.

(And, of course, it all depends on the size of the credit limit if the card application is successful. The overdraft is more expensive than the CC card, though, so were that possible, that would be the debt I'd try and transfer first.)

Does anyone have experience of this or have I got the wrong end of the stick and 'balance transfers' only relate to moving debt from one credit card to another?

redpete

Transferring a balance to a current account is allowed for a few cards - search for 'super balance transfer cards'

thenudeone

Natwest / RBS often offer money transfers (eg: to clear an overdraft) at the same time as they offer balance transfer offers.

976TXoo

Thanks all. The best money transfer card was 26months/4% fee with Virgin, which I've now been accepted for. The only downer is that their limit is not enough and I've been rejected for an increase.

Is it too soon to consider applying for another balance transfer deal (don't need the money transfer element as the first card has covered the overdraft)?

A key point in this is that I'm also hoping to remortgage in the next couple of months or so to raise about £5k more for further urgent house repair/maintenance/upgrade work. Clearly, I don't want to prejudice the remortage application.

Any thoughts would be welcome, once more.

Tixy

If you are hoping to remortgage very soon then I wouldn't look to try to take out any more cards. I'd stick with the cards you have and accept that you can't move all the current debt to 0% deals in the short term.