Another credit card??

PRAISETHESUN

doublemm wrote: »

Thanks All, Checked the Eligibility Calculator and have some options. Top four are Barclaycard Platinum, with a different promotional period and BT fees from 1.99 to 0% (of course on the shortest period).
So My question is..if we go for the card that looks like offers the longest free period (and a fee of 1.99%BT) how does the balance transfer work? How we arrange this? Can this be rejected to do it? And if say, we want to purchase something with this (new) credit card, this purchase pay off will be still eligible for promotional period (of course depends when the period ends) or this is only promotional period to pay off balance transfer?

The general rule is to not mix BTs and purchases on the same card, unless you understand the T&Cs very well - often their are clauses about having to pay off purchases in full every month to retain the BTs at their promotional rates.

As for how to do the BT, simply contact the card provider once the account is open and request it, if there isn't an option to do it during the account application. In my experience they generally won't reject it, unless it'll put you over 95% of your credit limit. You'll be charged the BT fee on the balance you transfer, which typically gets added onto your balance left to pay.

doublemm

thats clear! thank you!
And for future. If we want to use CC for a purchase, and on our CC is 19.9% interest, we should not be using BT card, Can we then close the CC with this high interest? And open one for a purchase free interest?

JimmyTheWig

doublemm wrote: »

And for future. If we want to use CC for a purchase, and on our CC is 19.9% interest, we should not be using BT card, Can we then close the CC with this high interest? And open one for a purchase free interest?

Don't use the BT card for purchases until you've cleared your balance on it down to zero.
Use either of your other cards if you need to buy something. If you pay it off in full on time then you won't pay any interest.
If you can't afford to pay it off in full on time, think about whether you absolutely need to buy it before doing so.

JimmyTheWig

Eternal1 wrote: »

Sorry to piggy back on the OPs thread but since it seems to be well established around here that your credit SCORE is meaningless, how do you know how likely you are to be accepted for a card or not?

For example say you have 6 months of perfect credit history, how do I know if a credit card company will value this as excellent, good or maybe even poor? Getting rejected for credit cards or getting hard searches on your history affect your credit negatively so I'd like to avoid that if possible.

If you walk into a bar, how do you know who is going to find you attractive?
The answer is you don't. But equally there are some things you can do to improve your chances.

PRAISETHESUN

doublemm wrote: »

thats clear! thank you!
And for future. If we want to use CC for a purchase, and on our CC is 19.9% interest, we should not be using BT card, Can we then close the CC with this high interest? And open one for a purchase free interest?

That is correct - avoid using the BT card for any purchases. Put these on a separate card.

If you can afford to pay off anything you buy with your savings, then by all means pay for it using your existing 19.9% card and then simply pay off the balance in full at the end of the month and no interest will be charged. There is no absolute need to have a 0% purchase card if you can manage your spending well.

Personally, I wouldn't close any cards as lenders like to see an active account open for a longer period of time - this shows stability. The only times you would probably want to do so is if you are tempted to overspend because you have access to easy money, or if you are getting rejected because you have too much available credit and your affordability is bringing you down.

[Deleted User]

Eternal1 wrote: »

Sorry to piggy back on the OPs thread but since it seems to be well established around here that your credit SCORE is meaningless, how do you know how likely you are to be accepted for a card or not?

For example say you have 6 months of perfect credit history, how do I know if a credit card company will value this as excellent, good or maybe even poor? Getting rejected for credit cards or getting hard searches on your history affect your credit negatively so I'd like to avoid that if possible.

They use their own internal scoring system.
As you rightly found out on your own thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5893338/experian-showing-excellent-score-which-cant-be-true

You don't find out how they rate you - industry secrets and all that