Help With Balance Transfer

YorkshireBoy

mleonard79 wrote: »

I had a look at Egg and they have 12 months with a 3% fee...

Looking longer term, they also have an anniversary offer (with a 2.5% fee) which may come in handy?

Apart from A&L and Virgin what are the other MBNA run cards I should look at?

I think (without researching) that these offer the best of either fee or duration. All the others seem to be either 6 months with a capped £50 fee (Virgin White), or the standard 12 months/3% fee.

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...

Always a dilemma Michelle!

Some spare available credit shows you are not 'maxed out' - too much, and you could go and blow it tomorrow...and the credit card provider has no security. However, as I'm sure you are aware, there are many other factors involved - such as income and 'stability' factors.

With mortgages, for example, the lender is more concerned with used credit. I know YBS do not take into account available credit when calculating lending multiples. They reduce your salary by 36% of your used credit, before multiplying by 3, 4, or 5 - whatever their lending multiple is.

mleonard79

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Looking longer term, they also have an anniversary offer (with a 2.5% fee) which may come in handy?

Yes I did notice that - it's only for 5 months though so I'm not sure it's worth the 2.5% fee for that long.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I think (without researching) that these offer the best of either fee or duration. All the others seem to be either 6 months with a capped £50 fee (Virgin White), or the standard 12 months/3% fee.

I thought they were probably the best - always worth making sure though! I think the lower fee is probably the best thing to do even although I'd prefer 15 months (what do you think?)

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Always a dilemma Michelle! Some spare available credit shows you are not 'maxed out' - too much, and you could go and blow it tomorrow...and the credit card provider has no security. However, as I'm sure you are aware, there are many other factors involved - such as income and 'stability' factors.

I made sure it didn't look like she was "maxed out" - in fact it probably looks like she still has too much unused credit to be honest. She has a £5K limit at RBSall of which is unused, a £10.5K limit at M&S of which £2.5K is used, a £3.6K limit at Amex of which £2.5K is used, an £8K limit at Halifax all of which is unused (I've thought about just closing that one but have kept it on in case of good offers in the future) and a £10.5K limit at Capital One of which £7K is used. I know it's a delicate balancing act - I'd like to get rid of some more of the unused credit but at the same time I don't like to reduce the M&S one as they do offer decent deals from time to time. I'm not sure whether to reduce the Capital One card once the 0% ends as they too often offer decent LOB offers. As far as the income and stability factors go I think she'd come out of those pretty well. Thanks for the advice.

Regards

Michelle

YorkshireBoy

mleonard79 wrote: »

I think the lower fee is probably the best thing to do even although I'd prefer 15 months (what do you think?)

Sometimes it's about the timing of applications as well as the fee to be paid. Only you know your own situation.

in fact it probably looks like she still has too much unused credit to be honest...£5K...£10.5K...£3.6K...£8K...£10.5K

If you don't mind me saying Michelle, that's a lot of available credit for someone with a £1,500 monthly income. Given the choice, it may be better to ensure (as far as possible) she is accepted for 0% cards, rather than holding out for offers on existing cards (which, whilst they may be fee-free, might not be given at 0%).

mleonard79

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Sometimes it's about the timing of applications as well as the fee to be paid. Only you know your own situation.

I have been carefully taking timing of applications into account. She had a Sainsburys card on 0% until a couple of months ago and I transferred the £2.5K on that to M&S at 5.9% for LOB with no fee specifically so she would not have to apply for another card prior to now when she really needs to. I feel that going for a 12 month deal should be ok in this respect as if she gets the credit limit required she won't need to have another application for a full year and one a year should be ok I would think (people who stooze have much more than this.)

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

If you don't mind me saying Michelle, that's a lot of available credit for someone with a £1,500 monthly income. Given the choice, it may be better to ensure (as far as possible) she is accepted for 0% cards, rather than holding out for offers on existing cards (which, whilst they may be fee-free, might not be given at 0%).

I guess when you tote it all up it is quite a lot - £37.6K available with £12K of it being used. There was a lot more than that not that long ago as well (plus with RBS constantly trying to bump her limit back up sky high.) I would say she at one point had at least £50K available. I may just close the Halifax one down after all as they seem the least likely to offer anything and I'll get the Capital One limit brought right down once the debt's moved from it. That should bring it down quite a bit.

I think the reason she's been given such good limits is that she must have a very good credit rating - she has never once missed a payment for anything. She has had several mortgages and numerous credit cards and agreements which she has always honoured so I guess it adds up in your favour. I guess they may also take the household income as a whole into account too and the fact she's a homeowner - I'm sure some credit card applications I've done have asked for household income as well as your own.

Regards

Michelle

taxi73

Hi there Barclays also offer a good limit...I got £8700 with them they may be worth considering.Tescos turned me down as I had too much unused credit they told me.Egg gave me a large limit as well but you already have that.Sorry I can't think of any others that offer high limits

mleonard79

taxi73 wrote: »

Hi there Barclays also offer a good limit...I got £8700 with them they may be worth considering.Tescos turned me down as I had too much unused credit they told me.Egg gave me a large limit as well but you already have that.Sorry I can't think of any others that offer high limits

That's interesting - I would have had Barclays pegged as one that would offer a low limit. Their best offer as far as I can see is 12 months 0% with a 2.5% fee so that's worth considering too then. Thanks.

Regards

Michelle

YorkshireBoy

mleonard79 wrote: »

I would have had Barclays pegged as one that would offer a low limit. Their best offer as far as I can see is 12 months 0% with a 2.5% fee so that's worth considering too then.

Even if your mum gets a decent credit limit, she won't be able to shift the entire Capital One balance at 0%.

From the Barclaycard balance transfer T&C's...

1. We reserve the right to refuse a balance transfer or to limit the amount that can be transferred, in any case the minimum is £250 and the maximum will be £5,000 or 90% of your credit limit, whichever is lower, subject to the available credit limit on your account. Should we honour amounts in excess of your balance transfer limit they will be debited to your account and charged at 6.9% interest p.a., until paid in full, with no handling fee.

http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/products/apply/balance_transfer_tandc/football105.html

mleonard79

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Even if your mum gets a decent credit limit, she won't be able to shift the entire Capital One balance at 0%.

Thanks YB - I was sceptical that Barclays would be one of the more generous providers! I don't think there's any point in trying them in that case as I'd really like to get the whole lot shifted in one if possible - if not then I'll go for a second card but this would mean I would be forced to do that straight from the off.

Regards

Michelle

mleonard79

Hi Everyone,

Just to update - I left it until today to apply so as to use up as much of the time left on the Capital One 0% as I could. I decided to go for the A&L (MBNA run) card in the end - it offers 12 months 0% with a 2.25% fee. It was approved immediately with a limit of £8K so that should do the trick for another year Thanks again for the help.

Regards

Michelle