Barclaycard 0% money transfer - could it work for me?

NHS_worker_bee

Hello,

I'd appreciate any advice on the following situation:

I have £2,642 debt on Barclaycard. This is my priority (highest APR) debt. I am making progress clearing it and no longer spend on the card (cut up).

So Barclaycard debt: £2642 (credit limit £5500) APR 24.9%.

Barclaycard have offered me a money transfer (to a current account) at 0% interest until 1st November 2014 with a 1.9% fee. (They have also offered me a balance transfer but all my other CC debt is already on 15 months 0% BT deal)

I was about to dismiss it as I have learnt that consolidating/taking on more debt is not the solution and I am now just chipping away at existing debt using the snowball calculator.

However, could/should I accept the money transfer offer, transfer £2642 to my current account then use it clear the high APR Barclaycard debt? Is this possible? It seems too simple.

At the moment I am paying £250/month off the Barclaycard by direct debit (+ additional overpayments when able), so would I then be saving money by effectively having a 0% interest rate on the balance until 1st November (at which point the deal would end and it would revert back to original interest rate?)

Thanks for reading, I hope this makes sense.

Tixy

Sounds like a sensible move.
You may find that you cannot transfer quite as much as £2642 (as they'll likely only allow you to go up to 90% or 95% of your limit with a transfer).

msallen

You need to check the small print to see what APR the debt would revert to when the 0% period finished. If it is considerably more than the current 24.9 then you need to do some calculations as to whether it is better to leave some of the debt as is and only get a money transfer for the amount you can clear before reverting to the higher rate. For example if you are paying £250 a month then you will only clear roughly £1500 before the rate change leaving a grand or so which will start attracting the new (probably higher cash advance, rather than purchse) rate afterwards.

Without the actual figures in front of me I suspect that you may just about be best off to get an advance for the whole amount, but you need to work it out to be sure.