Can you transfer from one balance transfer card to another? 30 January 2016 at 3:38PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Credit Cards 13 replies 1K views

waveygravey

Hello,

Last January I took out a 36mnth balance transfer card from barlcays to pay off my student credit card and travel credit card.

Repayments are going well, however have had to use credit cards again (to pay for a new hoover). Repayments to existing balance transfer card are manageable as is, however I don't want to transfer more debt to it and increase them.

I figure I could take out the virgin 38 Month Balance Transfer Credit Card and lower my repayments further and extend the amount of time again.

But can you transfer the debt from existing balance transfer cards to a new one? I figure you should be able to, as they're all credit cards (just with different names). But wanted to check before I made an application and potentially got rejected!

Thanks

CLAPTON

waveygravey wrote: »

Hello,

Last January I took out a 36mnth balance transfer card from barlcays to pay off my student credit card and travel credit card.

Repayments are going well, however have had to use credit cards again (to pay for a new hoover). Repayments to existing balance transfer card are manageable as is, however I don't want to transfer more debt to it and increase them.

I figure I could take out the virgin 38 Month Balance Transfer Credit Card and lower my repayments further and extend the amount of time again.

But can you transfer the debt from existing balance transfer cards to a new one? I figure you should be able to, as they're all credit cards (just with different names). But wanted to check before I made an application and potentially got rejected!

Thanks

yes you can do a balance transfer between CCs

however, you really need to start to budget properly and NO you didn't NEED to use the card again : it was a choice.

grumbler

Yes, you can, but with 2 years of 0% remaining it makes no sense to pay for yet another BT only because of some damn expensive hoover that you can't afford. What sort of hoover is it if even 2.25% of its price added to your monthly payments apparently cause financial problems to you?!
And smaller 'manageable' repayments can be a recipe for disaster if for some reason you fail to transfer the balance after 38 months.

chattychappy

Unless the card you transfer to has a different method of calculating the minimums, then transfering won't reduce your minimum payments.

I'm guessing you've divided your balance outstanding by the number of months left on your 0% deal? (And that is why a transfer would "allow" you to make smaller repayments?)

I would carry on as you are - if you can't make the repayments according to your plan, then lower them when you have to (provided you make the minimums). Try to "catch up" later. If it looks like there will be a balance remaining on expiry of the promo period, then apply for a new BT card nearer the time.

You could consider getting a 0% purchase card for your regular spend. Then throw more money at knocking down the 0% BT card. That is more efficient than paying a BT fee to transfer an existing balance.

Whatever you do, make sure that month-by-month you're overall debt is decreasing. Don't take on extra cards if it will tempt you to spend more.

grumbler

chattychappy wrote: »

Unless the card you transfer to has a different method of calculating the minimums, then transfering won't reduce your minimum payments.

It's 1% for big balances with Virgin vs Barclaycard's 2.25%.

I'm guessing you've divided your balance outstanding by the number of months left on your 0% deal? (And that is why a transfer would "allow" you to make smaller repayments?)

If so, it's not as bad as I thought. In this case indeed it's worth transferring the new 'hoover' balance to Barclaycard and keep making at least the same payments. Then, in 2 years, try to transfer the remaining small balance, if any, to a new 0% card.

chattychappy

grumbler wrote: »

In this case indeed it's worth transferring the new 'hoover' balance to Barclaycard and keep making at least the same payments.

Did you mean Barclaycard? Presumably the OP's window for transferring new balances has passed. With my Barclaycard, I get 0% offers that last a long period of time, but the window for doing the transfer is much shorter.

But it could still be worth it... the OP would have to pay a fee, but it would mean that his/her repayments would be applied to the hoover before the 0% balance. Depends on what interest is being applied on the OP's "other cards" and how soon they will be paid off.

grumbler

chattychappy wrote: »

Did you mean Barclaycard?

Yes.

Presumably the OP's window for transferring new balances has passed.

I have no idea and just relied on the OP:

waveygravey wrote: »

Last January I took out a 36mnth balance transfer card from barlcays to pay off my student credit card and travel credit card.

...I don't want to transfer more debt to it...

What would be the point in transferring more if 0% transfer window expired?

With my Barclaycard, I get 0% offers that last a long period of time, but the window for doing the transfer is much shorter.

For existing customers it can be different, but you might be right: it's 60 days for Barclaycard Platinum current offer for new customers.

But it could still be worth it... the OP would have to pay a fee, but it would mean that his/her repayments would be applied to the hoover before the 0% balance. Depends on what interest is being applied on the OP's "other cards" and how soon they will be paid off.

In this case it would have been wiser just to pay with this card directly, wouldn't it?

Superscrooge

When you took out the original balance transfer card you will have paid a fee for the 3 year promotional period. It seems daft after a year when there are still 2 years left, to pay another balance transfer fee.

chattychappy

grumbler wrote: »

In this case it would have been wiser just to pay with this card directly, wouldn't it?

Yes indeed!

With the positive payment hierarchy it can work well, particularly if you make the purchase just before the statement date and make your repayment just after.

waveygravey

Sorry I didn't realize I had gotten any replies and this has been interesting reading.


yes the balance transfer window to the barlcays platinum transfer card has passed. I would get charged for transferring £250 to that card, so my thought was "yes, extend the payment periods, and then I have more months to pay off the debt and just accept that the virgin card would have a transfer fee"


Another thought is, how do I check what the terms of each of these cards are? i.e the student credit card that I bought the £250 I know is not 0% on purchases, just not sure how much the APR is as cant find the paperwork.


Ditto with the Barclays, not sure how much it would be to transfer a balance now I'm outside the initial 0% transfer window (I just know there would be a charge)

waveygravey

"I'm guessing you've divided your balance outstanding by the number of months left on your 0% deal? (And that is why a transfer would "allow" you to make smaller repayments?)"


Yup exactly. repayments would go from ~£67 month to £42 month, even with adding said new purchase and transfer fee, just because ive increased the number of months.


Also re 0% purchases card, that sounds good and I've not thought of that before. However I am aware I have some debt and don't want to tempt myself with more. First time I used the NatWest cc in 12 months and would rather not use any again