Help With Balance Transfer

mleonard79

Hi Everyone,

My mum has quite a lot of credit card debt so last summer I shifted the bulk of it onto a Capital One card but the 0% rate expires on 9th September so I'm just starting to look for a new card to move the remainder to as I know I'll need to get the application in within the next few weeks if I'm going to shift it in time. I'm looking for a similar deal to the Capital One deal which gave the longest 0% with the lowest fee at the time.

The amount left to move from Capital One is £6750 so I need a card that will give her at least that as a credit limit but preferably more (£10k would be ideal as I may move £2500 that is on another card but I'm undecided as this is currently at 5.9% for the life of balance.) From looking at Martin's article I see that RBS/Natwest have the longest deal with the lowest fee but unfortunately my mum's been an RBS customer for 40 years and has had an RBS card for a long time with a large limit on it which she has used in the past and they've made a fortune out of her (in fact they've just tried increasing it again but I got it decreased instead.) So I'm assuming she couldn't apply for a 2nd RBS card and they wouldn't give it to her anyway Would this hold true for the Natwest card too as soon as they see she has an RBS one?? Has anyone tried this and if so what limit did you get?

If that's a no go then I'll need to look at the Virgin offer with the higher fee - are they apt to give her the credit limit we need? She's also an A&L customer though so would it be worth trying for their 12 month deal with the slightly lower fee instead? I know it's run by MBNA so I'm sceptical about the credit limit they may offer since I know that Capital One tend to be very generous in that respect.

Any advice on which card to go for (I don't want to have to apply for more than one card and have too many searches so I need to get the choice right) would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Regards

Michelle

GeorgeUK

Contact the banks you have an existing account with and tell them you are looking to close one of your other credit cards - can they offer any BT deals?

If you mother has alot of unused credit on the RBS card, hopefully you will be able to transfer the full amount, although there is no getting around the fees as i believe most banks now charge.

Will you be able to clear the whole balance within the promotional time? If you don't think so and you don't want to swap every 9/12 months trying to find a new card, you could look into the Life of Balance (LOB) low interest options.

Have a look at the CC Shuffle article.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/cut-credit-card-interest

mleonard79

Hi GeorgeUK,

Thanks for your reply. The only banks my mum has existing credit cards with are RBS, Halifax, M&S and Capital One. The only RBS deal on offer is 0% for 6 months but with a large 3% fee attached it's just not worth moving such a high amount for only 6 months so moving it to RBS is out. She did have a lot of unused credit there (over £10K) but I got it decreased to £5K so she would have less unused credit showing on her credit file. Of course just this week RBS kindly chose to increase it again to £13K of their own accord :mad: and I had to phone them up and request that they decrease it back to £5K again.

M&S don't currently have any balance transfer deals on offer but even when they do I haven't seen them offer a 0% deal in a few years - the best I've had is 5.9% LOB with no fee which was good but they no longer offer it. Capital One is where the money is currently so it can't be transferred there and Halifax haven't offered a decent rate in several years so I'm not hopeful that they would offer what I'm looking for but I'll call them to see anyway.

The whole balance won't be able to be cleared within the promotional time but if I can get a card that has a long promotional time (12-15 months) then a good proportion of it will be cleared and there will then only be £2-3K to transfer next time around which will be easier to do. My mum already has 2 cards with LOB amounts on them but for such a large amount I'm happy to do the legwork every 12 months or so to keep it at 0% for the saving involved. I don't really think the shuffle is necessary as she hasn't applied for anything since the Capital One card last summer so I feel she should get accepted for whatever she applies for - it's just whether or not she'll get the credit limit needed I'm worried about.

Any ideas gratefully received!

Regards

Michelle

GeorgeUK

Unfortunately there's no way of finding out how much the limit will be until you ask.

If the balance is not as high as you need, you could try getting a 2nd card. That's what i had to do, although i understand that earnings are a major factor in how much credit they will give you - so hopefully you'll be ok. I earn 1k a month and RBoS offered me just over 4k.

MBNA seem to offer the higher limits, so i'd start with those banks. I'd also contact Capital One and see what they can offer you - even a LOB or extension to the 0% date would help. Then transfer to a new card when it runs out again.

Also as the Virgin offer is quite long, you could try asking them to increase the limit after 6 months which would still leave 11 months of 0% to take advantage of.

Hopefully we'll get some of the experts here soon...

edsteruk

mleonard79 wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
So I'm assuming she couldn't apply for a 2nd RBS card and they wouldn't give it to her anyway Would this hold true for the Natwest card too as soon as they see she has an RBS one?? Has anyone tried this and if so what limit did you get?

I hold a Mint, RBS and Tesco credit card all RBS - so as long as there not the exact same product they don't seem to mind. My limits were 5k, 2.5k, 2.5k but they all have similar offers on at the moment and as your mum has a previous good (I presume!) with RBS she would probably be offered a much higher limit.

mleonard79

GeorgeUK wrote: »

Unfortunately there's no way of finding out how much the limit will be until you ask.

Hi George,

Yes that's very true but I'm just looking for other people's experiences and opinions of the companies/cards in question and how generous they tend to be with credit limits. I know it's all very individual what they will offer but some companies have a reputation overall for offering very low limits and others have a reputation for offering higher ones and I was just curious as to which categories these may fall into.

GeorgeUK wrote: »

If the balance is not as high as you need, you could try getting a 2nd card. That's what i had to do, although i understand that earnings are a major factor in how much credit they will give you - so hopefully you'll be ok. I earn 1k a month and RBoS offered me just over 4k.

My mum earns £1150 p/m from her job and an extra £320 from a pension so just about £1.5K all in. She has always paid credit cards on time so I'm hopeful that even although she's had to apply for quite a few things over the last few years (new cards/mortgage) she should be ok especially since there have been no new searches since last summer. If I do need to go for a second card though that's not a problem.

GeorgeUK wrote: »

MBNA seem to offer the higher limits, so i'd start with those banks. I'd also contact Capital One and see what they can offer you - even a LOB or extension to the 0% date would help. Then transfer to a new card when it runs out again.

I think MBNA run the A&L card so that might be worth a go - 12 months with a 2.25% fee isn't too bad (I'd still prefer the 13 months at 2% though )

GeorgeUK wrote: »

Hopefully we'll get some of the experts here soon...

Yes all are welcome!! Thanks again.

Regards

Michelle

mleonard79

edsteruk wrote: »

I hold a Mint, RBS and Tesco credit card all RBS - so as long as there not the exact same product they don't seem to mind. My limits were 5k, 2.5k, 2.5k but they all have similar offers on at the moment and as your mum has a previous good (I presume!) with RBS she would probably be offered a much higher limit.

H Edsteruk,

Thanks for replying. It looks like Tesco have a 12 months at 0% with 2% fee offer which looks pretty good and mint have a 13 months at 0% with 2.5% fee offer (with another 6 months 0% for any BT's credited in Nov 08.) Those are worth considering too - especially the Tesco one with the lower fee.

I have been leaning towards trying for the Natwest 13 months with 2% fee offer but was worried that since RBS and Natwest are pretty much the same bank she might not get it or be given a low limit. Has anyone with an RBS card actually tried this?

As far as how her standing with RBS is it should be exemplary - she's had an account with them for 40 years and has never once missed any payments for anything. She was using their credit card at an extortionate rate for years so they were raking it in from her - suffice to say I've put a stop to all that! I would assume that's the reason they keep bumping her limit back up - to try and get her to go back to her old ways. Thanks for the help.

Regards

Michelle

edsteruk

mleonard79 wrote: »

I have been leaning towards trying for the Natwest 13 months with 2% fee offer but was worried that since RBS and Natwest are pretty much the same bank she might not get it or be given a low limit. Has anyone with an RBS card actually tried this?

Up to a few months ago I did hold both a (all be it low limit!) credit card with Natwest and RBS - the low limit was due to me applying for it when just started getting credit and them not really bothering to review it.

I guess the same thing applies as with Mint & Tesco - even though they are both RBS as well they don't seem to mind.

mleonard79

Thanks Edsteruk - looks like that's favourite for the moment then! I'm going to leave it another week or two though as the Capital One 0% doesn't run out until the 2nd week of Sept so I want to get as long out of it as I can.

Regards

Michelle

YorkshireBoy

Michelle,

I'd avoid another RBSG card, since they're not known for generous limits (especially if you already have an RBSG card).

In my experience (and borne out by polls on the stoozing site), the providers known for giving the highest limits are Egg, MBNA, LTSB, M&S (esp for the fairer sex) and Capital One.

In your (mum's) position, I'd go for an MBNA run card. With so many to choose from though, you'll have to decide whether the fee or the duration is the most important criterion to you (ie A&L or Virgin respectively).

Finally, as I think I've told you before, the fact that your mum has an A&L current account will cut no ice with MBNA, who underwrite the A&L card.

Good luck.
YB

PS: If you've played around with your mum's credit limits recently, you may want to order her credit reports to see what other lenders will see when they search her for the new card.

mleonard79

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Michelle,

I'd avoid another RBSG card, since they're not known for generous limits (especially if you already have an RBSG card).

Hi YB,

That's what I was afraid of and had suspected hence asking on here! They give my mum a very generous limit on her RBS card but, as I say, I'm sure that's to do with the fact she's used it so much in the past at their high rates and paid them so much interest.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

In my experience (and borne out by polls on the stoozing site), the providers known for giving the highest limits are Egg, MBNA, LTSB, M&S (esp for the fairer sex) and Capital One.

Thanks a lot - that's exactly what I wanted to know. As she already has Capital One and M&S (both of which did give her generous limits of over £10K) those are no gos. I had a look at Egg and they have 12 months with a 3% fee and LTSB don't seem to have any decent deals on so it looks like MBNA are most likely.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

In your (mum's) position, I'd go for an MBNA run card. With so many to choose from though, you'll have to decide whether the fee or the duration is the most important criterion to you (ie A&L or Virgin respectively).

Apart from A&L and Virgin what are the other MBNA run cards I should look at? If it's a straight shootout between 12 months at 0% with 2.25% fee or 15 months at 0% with a 3% fee I'm not sure which works out best. If I only transfer the £6750 it basically comes down to paying £50 for an extra 3 months so I'm not sure if that's worth it. If I also move the £2500 that's at M&S I think it's better to go for the lower fee but I might just leave that where it is for ease.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Finally, as I think I've told you before, the fact that your mum has an A&L current account will cut no ice with MBNA, who underwrite the A&L card.

Yes you have told me that before but it was for my brother's attempt to get a credit card and they did reject him :mad: due to his lack of credit rating I assume. I've not attempted to get him another card since then. In my mum's situation I'd be a whole lot more confident as she's had so many cards which she has always paid every month but of course there are no guarantees.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

PS: If you've played around with your mum's credit limits recently, you may want to order her credit reports to see what other lenders will see when they search her for the new card.

I have played with it in the last few months - I was worried that the high limits she has at several cards would impact on the credit limit she gets offered by the new card when I apply for it so I got a couple of the cards to reduce the limits by a few thousand and I closed a card with a £3.6K limit. RBS, in their wisdom, though just increased her limit back up to nearly £13K when I'd reduced it to £5K only a month or so ago :rolleyes: so I've had to get them to rectify that and I don't know how long it'll be before that shows on the credit file. I think you're right though - I'll send away for one to have a look at what's currently on there before I apply for anything.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Good luck

Thanks :beer:

Regards

Michelle