4.9% for life balance transfer advice

lindze

Hi
I hope you guys can give me some advice. I have the following cards on the go: -
MBNA 4.9% for life
Halifax 18.9% (this card is closed with a balance as I rejected them linking my interest rate to bank base rate)
Virgin - 0 balance and they have just offered me 4.9% life of balance transfer

I really would like to take advantage of Virgin's offer and get the Halifax 18.9% card on to it, resulting in all my credit card debt being at 4.9% for life. However, I do use the Virgin card for emergencies and buying goods of a higher value to get the added protection from purchasing on a card (I then pay this back from savings straight away)

So if I do the balance transfer and need to pay for something in an emergency, that could take a couple of months to pay back, will it mean that the purchase is at a higher rate but I still retain 4.9% for the amount I transferred over?

I have just read everywhere never purchase anything using a balance transfer card....although not sure that I understand why.

thanks for any advice you could give me

[Deleted User]

lindze wrote: »

Hi


So if I do the balance transfer and need to pay for something in an emergency, that could take a couple of months to pay back, will it mean that the purchase is at a higher rate but I still retain 4.9% for the amount I transferred over?

Correct.

In general, you shouldn't spend on a card with a 0% balance as
you won't get the 56 ish day interest free period, even if you clear the purchases in full each month.

lindze

thank you for your help. So I should be okay as long as the card company uses my monthly payment to clear the highest rate purchases first?

I think as long as pretty much all of my debt is @ 4.9% I will be in an infinitely better position than I am currently.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply

bigadaj

After balance transferring and closing the Halifax card it might be worth another card application for use on day to day and majot items. There are 0% purchase options which might suit, though you may not get it dependent on your credit file, however a single application after your balance transfer won't do much harm.

lindze

bigadaj
Good idea re getting another card to use as an emergency card. My credit file should be very good but I am trying to just get rid of every card as quickly as possible and this seemed a good way of doing it, giving me a good rate with no worry of a rate expiry date and no handling fee.

Current income to debt ratio is not ideal, so I think if I applied for another card the limit would be next to nothing.