Caution on 0% balance tfrs to Virgin

Vicki_Y

- Having read the responses to this below, it seems its my mistake and that I should have read the article again properly before going ahead with this

Dear All (and Martin!)

Just a note of caution for you all to bear in mind:

At the advice of this site, I transferred my Topshop Card balance to a Virgin credit card which has 0% interest on balance transfers for 9 months.

I then used the same Virgin credit card to pay for a gym membership. When my Virgin statement came in, I paid off the gym cost in full, leaving only my balance transfer amount outstanding. When I received my next statement I found that I had been charged interest of the amount owing. I called Virgin at once to question this and was told that however much you pay off of your Virgin card statement would be used to pay the amounts with the lowest interest first. Therefore, my 0% balance transfer was paid off and now I'm left with the normal 15% interest on the outstanding balance!!

Had this been made clear, I would never have paid for something else on the Virgin card without having paid off my balance transfer first. MARTIN :money: - perhaps you should make this clearer when suggesting people transfer balances onto the Virgin credit card.


Vicki Y

Cardinal-Red

To be fair Vicki I think it's made pretty clear in the article that you shouldn't then spend on the card once you've made the transfer.

This paragraph appears in a big box just 5 or 6 lines into the article about balance transfers:

WARNING. Never, ever, ever, ever spend on a card after balance transferring to it!

(http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1107182516,76509,)

Also there have sadly been a lot of cases on the discussion boards of late where people have fallen foul of this rule... you should be able to find them quite easily with a little effort.

However interesting point made today was that even though this purchase will now attract interest, you're "probably" still a lot better off than you would have been before the transfer...

Anyway, I'm sure you'll never make the same mistake again! Keep those cards safely hidden away!

GlennTheBaker

In the majority of cases you should never make purchases on a card to which you have transferred a balance at a promotional rate for the very reason you have discovered (to your cost).

Martin does explain why this is the case in his articles.

*EDIT* Beaten by Cardinal-Red!

margaret_3

Vicki----you are being terribly unfair to Martin.
I couldn't understand why my cc balance wasn't coming down more quickly, until I joined mse and Martin EMPHASISED that one shouldn't have a balance transfer and purchases on the same card. Since reading his advice I've had no more problems.
Get another cc for purchases and pay THAT one off each month.
Margaret

Vicki_Y

Sorry everyone, it seems I didn't read his article properly.

Sorry Martin - I love you really !

Vicki Y