0% Balance Transfers

JCR

Hi - apologies if this has been asked before, but can I just clarify something please.

If you B/T an amount from one card to another with say an interest free period of 12 months, but don't use the card for anything else, would I be correct in assuming that you don't have to pay anything until the 12 month deadline and would incur no interest. However, if you did use the card for purchases during that time then interest would be added to the amount of the purchases?

I haven't come across this problem exactly myself as I am paying a monthly amount off my card in order to clear before the end of the interest free period, but my sister did a B/T and then used for some purchases and she was having a mininum amount payable and threats of interest if she didn't pay this off, and then the minimum amount increased.

I am a bit of a novice on this B/T thing and want to make sure I don't incur any pit falls if I do it myself again.

Thanks:rolleyes:

CLAPTON

All credit cards require a monthly minimum payment (well with an odd exception) so if you BT to a credit card (even if 0% ) you have to make the minimum monthly payment.
If you make no purchases then there should be no interest charged however.


If however, you then make a purchase on the 0% BT card they will charge you interest on the purchases. All your monthly repayment will to allocated to the debt with the lowest interest charge (i.e. the 0% BT amount) so you will continue to pay interest on the purchases until the whole amount on the card is cleared to zero.

This is why it is said NEVER to make purchases on a 0%BT card.

Hopefully the spend was small so the interest is small.

JCR

Thank you Clapton - I think my sister must have mis heard some information, she had thought that you didn't have to pay anything on a BT for the interest free period (no minimum payment) and that you could put the money away and have the interest it would accrue and then pay it all off at the end. Now that I am absolutely clear, I will make sure that I avoid any of these pitfalls and make sure I always read the small print. Although I do think they put it in such a way sometimes that it is quite hard to absorb.