Do most credit cards offer 0% once your balance is nil?

kindofagilr

Hi all, we are in the process of paying all out debt off, over the last few months we've been able to get four new credit cards on 0%, so it has meant four of our old credit cards that had high apr now have nil balances.

It was suggested to me on my diary to not close them yet as they might offer me a deal, v*rgin did just that, got a letter last night offering me 0% for two years, so last night I BT all of one card onto it and most of another one.

So now we have three cards that are nil, they are Halifax, tesco and marks and Spencer's.

Has anyone heard of these cards writing with deals? Or is it just a case of wait a few months and see?

Thanks xx

[Deleted User]

Probably not most, but some.

Halifax, Bcard, MBNA tend to be fairly generous.

kindofagilr

Great thanks, fingers crossed Halifax send me something

B'card I've found have been totally fab with us lowered our apr from 29% to 6% which was great, none of the other ones would do that, so I'm loving B'card at the min lol.

chattychappy

Out of the three, tescos and halifax (clarity) have offered me deals when the balance has been zero. M&S has been zero for a year, but no offers.

This is all very well, of course. But don't give in to temptation! I've never (yet) had that dynamic in my psychology. However I was thinking to myself the other day I could really go crazy if I wanted to. I seem to be getting loads of 0% offers and limit increases at the moment.

JimmyTheWig

I find that whenever I get offers from existing cards that they are pretty poor offers compared to opening a new account.
I don't totally understand from your post whether you are still paying interest on any of the debt. If not, I'd be tempted to close the old cards so you can apply to them again (check terms and conditions for recent customers) when your 0%s start to run out.

kindofagilr

Thankfully chattychappy I've well and truly had my lightbulb moment and want rid of the debt so won't be spending on the empty ones

Jimmy, yes since I BT last night we have one card with £700 on and one with £2590 that still have interest (and 2 overdrafts that we are paying interest on) so they are my priority now, we have five cards now with 0% for 2-3 years and 2 cards with 6% for lifetime of balance. That was my quandary really, I wasn't sure wether to close the ones that are showing as nil, so that we can then re apply for more 0% cards in a few months, or to hang on and see if the current cards with nil balances offer us 0% (like Virgin did last night with 0% for two years)

Two of the cards are in OH name with combined limit of £10k, so really wasn't sure wether to close them and once they are closed on his noddle report to then apply for a card that he doesn't already have? Or wether to hang on and see if they offer him a 0% xx

billyataol

if you have online banking with Halifax Credit card, there is a 'balance transfer' box on display,hit it and it should show current offer of between 6 and 24 months 0% with approx. 3% fee.
Tesco now has 'transfer money to a current account' up to 95%. However, without an interest free offer period it would attract immediate on going interest. you could call them and ask for such an offer.if not available then if you transferred anyway then you could use money to settle other credit cards and if 0% available you could transfer back Tesco debt, albeit for overall approx. 6% fee.it all depends on current interest rate on current credit card or overdraft debt.

kindofagilr

Thanks Billy

I BT off Halifax last night so it isn't showing up yet as nil, but once it does I will have a look at the balance transfer button

Excellent news though I applied for a HSBC card last week, they said they needed to do checks so didn't think I had got it (martin's card checker said 30% chance of success) well postman has just delivered me an acceptance letter and agreement to sign and send back (0% for 32 months) don't know the credit limit till the cards comes though, but fingers crossed it will be enough or nearly enough for the rest of the debt on high credit cards (£3400 ish)

Then all I need to figure out is if there is anyway to get my overdraft onto a 0% card (if we do infact get some more 0% cards)

kindofagilr

billyataol wrote: »

Tesco now has 'transfer money to a current account' up to 95%. However, without an interest free offer period it would attract immediate on going interest. you could call them and ask for such an offer.if not available then if you transferred anyway then you could use money to settle other credit cards and if 0% available you could transfer back Tesco debt, albeit for overall approx. 6% fee.it all depends on current interest rate on current credit card or overdraft debt.

This could work for my overdraft couldn't it? so say Halifax do offer me 0% I could Money transfer from tesco to my bank to clear overdraft then BT from tesco to halifax?

Great, thanks, I will keep an eye on my Halifax account.

JimmyTheWig

kindofagilr wrote: »

Then all I need to figure out is if there is anyway to get my overdraft onto a 0% card (if we do infact get some more 0% cards)

There's two ways of getting an overdraft onto a credit card.

One, which is only available from a very few credit card providers, is to do a money transfer (sometimes called a super balance transfer). Note that fees are normally around 4% to do this.
The other is to do it by spending. Use a credit card for all your purchases (weekly shopping, petrol, etc) but just make the minimum repayment each month. Your credit card balance will go up and, as you're not paying for these things out of your bank account, your overdraft will go down. Needs quite a bit of self-disciplne, though. It's very tempting to buy things you wouldn't have done otherwise because it feels like you're helping your overdraft.

Candyapple

Tesco offers are rubbish:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5306706

Same goes for Halifax, it's usually the standard 3% BT offer for 12 months. Once a year they may send you a reduced fee BT offer (1.9% or similar) for 18 months, but again it's a waiting game.

I have no experience of HSBC credit card offers.

Also, the poster who said about Tesco offering money transfer, it's not what you think:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4223121


You are better off closing any empty cards and waiting a few months before applying for new cards elsewhere.

You have to wait 6 months to become a new customer at Tesco again and 1 month with Halifax.