2 people, various CC's - can we shift balances to reduce APR?

DebtMagnet

Hi all,

apologies if this has been covered before but I can't find anything so I'll go ahead and ask:

I have just got married and am trying to make a start on sorting our finances out. I and my new wife have 2 credit cards each. All 4 cards have large balances on them. We both have 1 CC from our respective banks that we have each had for many years and as a result we both have a very high credit limit on (thankfully neither are maxed out). The other 2 are from the Halifax that we both took out last year to do a 0% BT on.

My question therefore is, would it be possible to use a combination of the 4 cards to move debt around, with the ultimate aim of having all (or most) on a life of balance transfer rate much lower than any rate we have now, even if the cards are in different names (we only got married last week and have not changed her name with the bank yet)??

I know this would rely on getting a good LOBT deal from one of the card providers and there are no guarantees of this happening, and I also realise that I can’t directly shift debt from Halifax card to Halifax card. But my plan is to clear one card completely and then shift other debt over to the ‘empty’ card to then free up the others, and then see who can do the best deal. Does this sound realistic or am I missing something important?

Is it actually possible to do a balance transfer from another person’s card (the addresses are the same) or does it have to be in your own name? And if not, then would changing my wife’s name make any difference?

Just want to know if it is allowed before I embarrass myself asking.

Many thanks in advance,
DM

CLAPTON

Its normally ok to BT between any cards whether or not they are in the same name as you are usually only asked for the 16 digit number.

Its not usually possible to BT between cards from the same stable (but you already know that).

Without knowing your APRs ande debt amounts its not possible to say whether all the BTing is worth it.. presumably you may have to BT twice to shift the debt .
Also be aware the low LOB cards often give quite low credit limits but something is better than nothing.

But the best way of clearing your debts is to fundamentally review your spending habits, find out where all the money goes, draw up realistic budgets and so free up some more money to repay the debts faster.