Tesco club card wont issue new card for balance transfer

bryant.tami · 11 May 2019 at 3:35PM

Hi 🙂 , my boyfriend has just taken a £5000 0%credit card with Halifax to transfer the balance from his Tesco clubcard account

The Tesco clubcard has a balance of around 3000 on it , when he looks on his account it says he has an available balance of 5000 with a limit of 8000 but his card is out of date,

He called Tesco and asked for a new card as he was trying to do a balance transfer and he was told because, although he has always made his payments he made too many late payments a couple of years ago and now they wont issue a new card 😳??

we asked them to explain what account he had then as it wasnt a credit account if he has no access to the credit available on the account ? and surely this was now just a debt account but they couldn't answer? we asked them what fees were payable for using this "credit" account and to explain them which they couldn't?

Doas anyone have any idea what he can do?

Halifax wont do a transfer without an active card

molerat · 11 May 2019 at 3:53PM

Tesco are within their rights not to issue a new card and not allow further access to the available credit, semantics over what you want to call the account are irrelevant. Has he phoned Halifax and explained that he no longer has a card on that account ? They should be able to BT without an expiry date just using the card number. Alternatively is there a MT option for the Halifax card ?

SnowTiger · 11 May 2019 at 4:45PM

bryant.tami wrote: »

He called Tesco and asked for a new card as he was trying to do a balance transfer and he was told because, although he has always made his payments he made too many late payments a couple of years ago and now they wont issue a new card 😳??

Tesco Bank doesn't have to issue a new card if it doesn't want to.

Is an expiry date really needed for a balance transfer? Halifax ask for it when you attempt to do one by phone, as does their online service. However, would they know or care if you made one up?

You could try that. What's the worst that could happen? The balance transfer fails.

Another approach would be to ask Halifax if they would do a 0% money transfer instead of a balance transfer. Either to your bank account so you could pay the Tesco card off yourself or directly to the Tesco credit card.

A third option would be to use a 'mule' card. Withdraw £5,000 in cash from the 'mule' card and use it to pay off the Tesco credit card. Then balance transfer from the 'mule' card to the Halifax card. Fees, the difficulty of withdrawing £5,000 from a credit card and the fact you may not have one with £5,000 free on it laying around probably makes this a non-starter.

eco_warrior · 11 May 2019 at 5:06PM

Seems an odd process by Halifax.

I would do as the previous poster said and give them a false expiry date. I’d just add 3 years on as that’s how it would work had the card been renewed.

Ben8282 · 11 May 2019 at 8:51PM

I am surprised that Tesco didn't write to you advising you that they wouldn't be issuing a new card prior to the expiry of the current card or at least when the card had expired. I am equally surprised that you failed to contact Tesco when a replacement card failed to arrive at the time of the expiry of the current card. Clearly you have not been using the card. Late payments a couple of years ago also seems an odd reason to give unless of course the account has been closed to new spending the entire time since then. When did you last actually try to use the card? If you have successfully applied to Halifax and been given a 0% BT card with a £5000 limit, there cant be anything too untoward in the credit history.
I agree with the advice given. Make up an expiry date and see what happens. Three years from the expiry date of the current card seems a good idea.

molerat wrote: »

Has he phoned Halifax and explained that he no longer has a card on that account ?

This may be unwise and as there is no knowing how Halifax will react after being told this. They may think he is trying to make a BT to a closed account or an account in collection (which it may well be) and react aversely in some way.