Multiple balance transfers onto new Barclaycard?

Darkslider

Hi everyone, have done a search to no avail so thought I'd ask here in case anyone had an answer.

Some of you may remember I was getting a bit down over my level of debt and considering a consolidation loan to try and bring it under control. I was advised this was a risky strategy but it was the only way out I could see at the time as my credit rating wasn't good enough to get accepted on any 0% cards.

I'm pleased to report I spent a couple of months knuckling down, sorted out some issues that were affecting my rating and started to get my debt moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. I was accepted for a 0% for 30 months on balance transfers with Barclaycard, however here is my question:

Their website when calculating my eligibility stated I had a 'Very Good' chance of being accepted at an example £1200 limit. The card with Lloyds that I'm paying interest on is at about £1900, so unfortunately it looked like I wasn't able to transfer the full amount. I had to arrange the specifics of my balance transfer before being accepted and finding out what limit they'd offer me. I didn't want to push my luck so just decided to move £1200 to play it safe rather than risk being rejected. It all went through fine and £1200 of my £1900 balance was moved to my new card with, wait for it, a £3700 limit!

A couple of questions, had I asked to balance transfer the full £1900 do you think they would have still given me the same limit or would I have stood a chance of not being accepted? I'm assuming the higher limit is to try and tempt me into purchases and cash at the higher interest rate which isn't going to happen.

Obviously I'm a bit annoyed that I could potentially have shifted my entire balance but I'm stuck with £700 on my Lloyds card that I'm paying interest on. I've still got a balance transfer option on my Barclays online banking that isn't activated yet as I haven't received/activated my new card.

Does anyone know if I'm likely to still have the 0% on balance transfers for a second amount so I can transfer the rest of my interest payable debt over, or am I likely to have just been given the one chance and anything now will qualify for interest? I'm a bit annoyed as after a quick skim read I thought I'd downloaded all the terms and conditions so I could check for situations like this but I can't find them anywhere so I think I must have been reading them on a temporary adobe file which hasn't saved.

Sorry for the essay, any help from anyone with the same card or experience would be appreciated!

sistafromanothermista

You can transfer as many balances as you like( although you'll incur the fee again) within the balance transfer window. (Check T&c's)
Also,Generally this is upto 95% of your limit so you'll be fine.
Remember though, never spend on a BT card and always pay it off before the 0% expires.

Gels

My OH got this card last month and even though he gave the card numbers and amounts at the time of application for BT, the transfers didn't happen automatically and he did them online himself, thus he was able to change the amounts he originally wanted to transfer.

Also you get 60 days to do transfers to this card so yes, if your transfer does go through automatically, you can still add the remainder of the card balance that you want to BT - just do it yourself online or phone Barclaycard. (As stated by the previous poster, you will incur a fee each time you BT).

Gels

Darkslider wrote: »

had I asked to balance transfer the full £1900 do you think they would have still given me the same limit

More than likely, yes.

Darkslider

Thanks very much for your replies, I've worked out I can just about afford a monthly payment that will clear the debt completely before the 0% runs out so I'm going to set up a direct debit for £70 a month and then forget about it. (not literally I'll check on it periodically obviously)

Herbalus

Darkslider wrote: »

Thanks very much for your replies, I've worked out I can just about afford a monthly payment that will clear the debt completely before the 0% runs out so I'm going to set up a direct debit for £70 a month and then forget about it. (not literally I'll check on it periodically obviously)

Good to hear somebody is getting on top of their debt and sorting it out!

Darkslider

I'm nowhere near on top of it yet, but after a huge reshuffle with various utilities, phone, tv broadband and phone companies I've managed to keep the same or improve most services while freeing up a good chunk of extra cash that I can plough into getting debt free. Another question though:

Should I make the minimum payments on my 0% card so I can sink any extra money into shifting my overdraft and loan which I'm both paying interest on? If I can gamble on changing the Barclaycard balance in 2.5 years to another 0% deal this would be the most sensible, however part of me is worried I won't have that option in a couple of years so I should keep up substantial payments on the Barclaycard to try and clear it before the 0% is up. This does mean I'd still be paying more interest on my other debts. Argh!

Herbalus

The first rule is always to pay off the most costly debt first! If you have debts that cost you, I would definitely pay those off while paying the minimum on the 0%. After you've paid these debts off, you can use the interest that you save on these to add to the payments to the Barclaycard. I believe the term is called 'snowballing'.

If you can get a 30-month 0% barclaycard now, then there's no reason why you won't be able to get another 0% card later, assuming you make all your payments on time between now and then.

Darkslider

Herbalus wrote: »

If you can get a 30-month 0% barclaycard now, then there's no reason why you won't be able to get another 0% card later, assuming you make all your payments on time between now and then.

This is kind of what I'm hoping, assuming no disastrous financial meltdown in the next two years which is always possible I feel sure I should be able to get another similar deal from a different lender if I haven't shifted all the 0% balance. I think I'm going to set up a moderate payment on the Barclaycard, a bit more than the minimum but enough that leaves me with some extra cash to concentrate on clearing the OD and loan first.

Feeling quite positive about it all now which is a first

sistafromanothermista

Here's the link Darkslider
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk

Glad you're feeling more positive and you have a plan :cool:

Roosterman78

Hi I have £4000 on my Tesco credit card and I want to move it onto another card but not sure which one is the best? im paying £125 on month minimum payment and really wanting to get it down much cheaper!!
Please help me
Jay Davies.