BT and Purchases on the same card 20 August 2018 at 4:31PM in Credit Cards 13 replies 879 views

planteria

i have been stoozing for years, and consistently use credit cards for all purchases, but i've never done the following before:

i have a c£21k balance with MBNA which needs to be cleared before the 0% deal comes to an end on 1st September. i have already moved just under £5k to Nationwide, and i want to move the remainder rather than pay off the balance.

i have a Barclaycard with a £30k+ limit which I have been using for spending, and generating cashback in the process. In order to use this card to transfer the c£16k i was planning to clear the current Barclaycard balance in full, do the BT, and then leave the card at home - potentially spending on the MBNA card as an Amex backup from then onwards.

However, Barclaycard are assuring me that I don't need to. I can complete the BT and leave the purchase balance on the account, and as long as I clear the purchase balance each month they are assuring me that I will be charged any interest at all. I would change my Barclaycard DD from Full to Minimum, and then make a payment from my current account, by FP, each month to clear the full purchase balance by due date.

is this right? or should this really be avoided?

molerat

I would carefully read the t&c as that is not the way it usually works.


edit:

If you pay your main balance (excluding any promotional balance with a 0% interest
rate) plus any instalment plan payments due for that month in full by your payment
due date, the following will apply to that month:
We won't charge interest on new purchases, non-Sterling cash transactions
(transactions made in a foreign currency), balance transfers or money transfers on
promotional rates that have been added to your account since your last statement

Looks like it does work how they have said.

zx81

I didn't think that was the case, but having just looked here, it seems that it is.

http://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/spending_transactions/promotional-standard-rate

I would check the latest t&cs though.

MallyGirl

I agree with Molerat. Usually, in this scenario, you would be caught out by the up to 56 days interest free bit which only applies when you pay the whole balance in full. So you would be incurring interest on purchases from the date of purchase to the date the DD was taken each month.

MallyGirl

Looks like BCD are doing it differently. Always check the t&cs though as this gotcha has caught people before with other accounts.

planteria

thank you for the replies. i agree with zx81 that the link looks very promising. to be able to use the one card for both a BT and purchases does really appeal.. but i am wary.

onlyfoolsandparking

I am almost (lol) sure it works that way, I have had in the past 10k on a 0% deal then used the card for spending and only paid interest on what I,ve spent. Not 100% with this and also the 56 day interest free rule as I rarely clear a card in full at end of month!!

planteria

having clarified further on the phone, i've gone with it. and i'm not expecting to pay interest on any of the balance ofap.. as long as i clear the spending in full each month.

chattychappy

Barclaycard aren't the only ones. I had a BT offer from another provider (I forget which) and they operated the same way.

Perhaps they got fed up with people ringing up and moaning about interest when they had paid off the purchases in full - so they decided to make it a feature!

foxy-stoat

Martin Moneysaving Lewis has ALWAYS said never spend on Balance Transfer Cards - I read that somewhere on some website also.

zx81

To be fair, Martin Lewis doesn't keep up to date with financial services that much.