Studio 24 Balance Transfer

princess_tinks

Hi there,

I'm new to this so apologies if I am in the wrong place. I've a Studio 24 Catalogue Account. Do any of you know of any credit card companies that do balance transfers from Studio accounts? I phoned my card company Lloyds this morning and they don't. I really would like to get it transferred to a 0% balance transfer card.

Thank you

BlueEyedGirl

It won't happen. It's a catalogue not a credit card, as far as I am aware a balance transfer would not be possible. You could get a credit card (even at 0%) and pay off the balance on the account with it.

Consumerist

You need a credit card which allows a money transfer to your current account. There is usually a fee of around 4% of the balance transferred. You could then pay off your catalogue account from your current account.

But why? I'm not familiar with catalogue accounts but do they charge monthly interest on the account? If they don't then I'm not sure why you would need to transfer the debt.

BlueEyedGirl

Consumerist wrote: »

But why? I'm not familiar with catalogue accounts but do they charge monthly interest on the account? If they don't then I'm not sure why you would need to transfer the debt.

Studio24 does charge a high amount of interest.

'The APR is 29.5% (variable) (if you pay by direct debit) or 48.9% (variable) (if you pay by other methods). The assumptions used in this calculation are that you make purchases totalling £300 and that you repay the outstanding balance over a 12 month period by way of equal instalments (first instalment within 28 days). We have not taken into account any changes which we may make to interest rates or any other charges which we may introduce or vary at any time by giving you notice.'

Consumerist

BlueEyedGirl wrote: »

Studio24 does charge a high amount of interest.. .

I agree that seems very expensive.

You can sometimes transfer store-card balances to a credit card but I've not heard of being able to transfer catalogue balances.

As said earlier, what you need is a credit card which allows a money transfer to your current account so you can pay off the catalogue from there. You may also have to pay a few months' interest to settle the catalogue account early. Then there will be a money-transfer fee added to the transferred balance (typically 4% - 5%).

It could be worth your while but check the numbers for yourself before going ahead.

Edit
You should start by asking the catalogue company how much it would cost to settle their account

SnowTiger

princess_tinks wrote: »

I'm new to this so apologies if I am in the wrong place. I've a Studio 24 Catalogue Account. Do any of you know of any credit card companies that do balance transfers from Studio accounts? I phoned my card company Lloyds this morning and they don't. I really would like to get it transferred to a 0% balance transfer card.

You won't be able to do a balance transfer because it isn't a credit card.

You need a credit card that offers 0% on purchases or one that will transfer money to your bank account at 0%. Then use the card or cash (if money transferred to bank account) to pay off the balance on your Studio account.

If that's not possible, you could pay off the balance using your Lloyds credit card. It's likely to offer a lower APR than Studio, but check first. Studio appears to charge a 1.5% processing fee for credit card payments:

ote: Credit card payments may incur a processing charge of 1.5% of the payment value. Full details will be given at the time you make your payment.

princess_tinks

Thank you all for your useful comments. They really have helped. I will speak to my partner and see what the best option would be for us.

Consumerist

From what SnowTiger has said above it seems to me that you should ask Studio 24 how much you need to pay to settle your account by credit card payment.

If memory serves me correctly, under the Early Settlement regulations, Studio 24 are allowed to charge interest up to (ha ha!) two months after your next repayment date.

Then they will add their credit-card payment surcharge to that.

This seem to me to be the most straightforward way to settle up if you've got the available credit on your card.