Which card? Help appreciated.

sunshine_and_rain

I need to move £2,600 from a TSB Credit Card as the 0% ends soon. I also have a balance of £950 on a Barclaycard and £400 on a Tesco Credit Card which I pay interest on. Am I doing the right thing in putting all three onto a 0% card with a long, hopefully 30 month, interest free period? I can't pay off quickly but can manage £80 - £100 a month.

Could you help with what the fee would be also? Thanks in advance.

grumbler

sunshine_and_rain wrote: »

I need to move £2,600 from a TSB Credit Card as the 0% ends soon. I also have a balance of £950 on a Barclaycard and £400 on a Tesco Credit Card which I pay interest on. Am I doing the right thing in putting all three onto a 0% card with a long, hopefully 30 month, interest free period? I can't pay off quickly but can manage £80 - £100 a month.

Yes.

Could you help with what the fee would be also?

The fee depends on the provider, ~1.5%-3%.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards
Beware that you can't transfer to the same provider; this excludes Tesco and, possibly, Barclaycard.

Anthorn

sunshine_and_rain wrote: »

I need to move £2,600 from a TSB Credit Card as the 0% ends soon. I also have a balance of £950 on a Barclaycard and £400 on a Tesco Credit Card which I pay interest on. Am I doing the right thing in putting all three onto a 0% card with a long, hopefully 30 month, interest free period? I can't pay off quickly but can manage £80 - £100 a month.

Could you help with what the fee would be also? Thanks in advance.

Math is not my strong point but: A total of £3,950 repaid at your maximum of £100 per month is a term of 39.5 months. That's 9.5 months above your proposed 30 month term. Alternatively a balance of £950 at the end of the 30 month term on which you will pay interest which is likely to be high depending on the card.


On the other hand it can't be wrong to move funds from accounts on which you're paying interest to a free interest account.

Dobbibill

sunshine_and_rain wrote: »

I need to move £2,600 from a TSB Credit Card as the 0% ends soon. I also have a balance of £950 on a Barclaycard and £400 on a Tesco Credit Card which I pay interest on. Am I doing the right thing in putting all three onto a 0% card with a long, hopefully 30 month, interest free period? I can't pay off quickly but can manage £80 - £100 a month.

Could you help with what the fee would be also? Thanks in advance.

Who are you thinking of moving it to? Different providers have different fees.

Do you have any offers and available credit with your current providers for BT's? Barclaycard offer BT deals quite often to existing customers. (this would obviously depend on your Credit limit with them)

sunshine_and_rain

I was going to try MBNA or Halifax as they have the longest 0% period. I do get offers from Barclaycard, usually every week, but have always dismissed these as they are shorter terms and I was wanting to transfer my Barclaycard balance.

I do need to shift the £2,600 from TSB card as the 0% ends next month but will it be more expensive to shift the Barclaycard (0.93%) and Tesco(1.31%) balances taking into account the transfer fee of 2.45% or leave these alone? Can't seem to get my head around this! Thank you for all your help.

Dobbibill

sunshine_and_rain wrote: »

I do need to shift the £2,600 from TSB card as the 0% ends next month but will it be more expensive to shift the Barclaycard (0.93%) and Tesco(1.31%) balances taking into account the transfer fee of 2.45% or leave these alone? Can't seem to get my head around this! Thank you for all your help.

What is the APR on your Barclaycard and Tesco card?

If you do not transfer these how soon do you think you will have them cleared?

Ideally, you do not want to paying interest on any of the cards, that way you are paying off capital (plus BT fees of course).

Also have you tried the MSE eligibility checker? (it's not a guaranteed acceptance though but I just wondered how you had narrowed it down to MBNA and/or Halifax)

sunshine_and_rain

APR on Barclaycard is 11.4%, not sure of Tesco as I can only see 1.31% monthly interest? I cannot clear quickly as I have limited funds due to personal circumstances at the moment.

I may have done the wrong thing now as I applied for a Halifax card this afternoon and have been declined. I chose them for the longest 0% period. I was surprised to have been refused and have done an Experian check today and it shows excellent score and nothing negative.

It suggested further cards I may be eligible for but am now unsure whether to apply in fear of being declined again and putting a mark on my report?

I checked on my Barclaycard account and have an offer of 0% Until 1 February 2017, 2.9% fee applies. It won't help clear my Barclaycard balance and won't enable me to clear the transfer before the 0% period ends so I'd be looking to shift again.

Any help appreciated, thank you

[Deleted User]

I'd BT to the Barclaycard. You'd get most of the debt on 0% and then you can prioritise the existing Bcard balance, which is at a decent rate.

Once you've paid down some of the debt, you should be in a better position to get another card.

Dobbibill

I would agree with zx81 and BT to Barclaycard. You don't want to start a rejection spiral.

Although paying interest is not ideal, I have seen much higher interest rates, so that is a small plus point.

Once your TSB card has a zero balance, you may find that in a couple of months, they also give you a suitable offer. If this happens, you can then move your BCard balance that is incurring interest over to them.

Do you have enough limit on BCard to get the Tesco balance on 0% as well. (rather than incur interest on that too)

HTH

sunshine_and_rain

Thank you both, yes I have enough limit on my BCard to transfer both cards. As I'm leaving a balance on my BCard will this run as normal with the transfer on 0% and if I use the card (don't intent to) how will that affect anything? I will do it this way and see where I am when this period finishes, hopefully in a better position than I am at the moment!

One more thing to ask, is it best to close down the two cards once the transfer has taken place or leave them dormant? Thank you so much for your help.