Did I !!!! myself by not applying for a money transfer offer?

theone999

I had an email from Halifax last month about a balance transfer / money transfer promotion @ 5% for 36 months with unlimited times on my credit card. I didn't do anything at that time because i don't have another credit card, although i do have an overdraft with HSBC, and also I thought it was bad to transfer any sort of money from a credit card. And I was busy with work, so I left it.

With unexpected car repair bills that came to nearly 2k that pretty much maxxed out my credit card and news from HSBC that my overdraft APR will be doubled from march the next year (something I've never paid off in 8 years), I vaguely remembered the offer but the promotional period was over.

Would money transfer not have affected my credit score and could I have used successive money transfer from the credit card into current account to pay off the higher APR of 23% already on the credit card?

If above is true then I !!!!ed myself? I'm stuck now with a maxed credit card at 23% and an HSBC overdraft that will charge 40% next year.

SnowTiger

theone999 wrote: »

I had an email from Halifax last month about a balance transfer / money transfer promotion @ 5% for 36 months with unlimited times on my credit card.

[...]

If above is true then I !!!!ed myself? I'm stuck now with a maxed credit card at 23% and an HSBC overdraft that will charge 40% next year.

Check your online account or phone Halifax to find out if there are any offers currently available to you.

IMO Halifax offers are usually quite poor. However, in your case paying a 5% transfer fee would (probably) be far cheaper than paying 23%+ interest for the next three years.

If you don't have any balance transfer offers available from Halifax you could have a pop at applying for a money transfer card elsewhere.

[Deleted User]

theone999 wrote: »

I had an email from Halifax last month about a balance transfer / money transfer promotion @ 5% for 36 months with unlimited times on my credit card. I didn't do anything at that time because i don't have another credit card, although i do have an overdraft with HSBC, and also I thought it was bad to transfer any sort of money from a credit card. And I was busy with work, so I left it.

With unexpected car repair bills that came to nearly 2k that pretty much maxxed out my credit card and news from HSBC that my overdraft APR will be doubled from march the next year (something I've never paid off in 8 years), I vaguely remembered the offer but the promotional period was over.

Would money transfer not have affected my credit score and could I have used successive money transfer from the credit card into current account to pay off the higher APR of 23% already on the credit card?

If above is true then I !!!!ed myself? I'm stuck now with a maxed credit card at 23% and an HSBC overdraft that will charge 40% next year.

since oyu have no "credit score" to be affected, this is a moot point.

If you are not getting by day to day without having to rely on credit cards and overdrafts, I suggest a statement of affairs is in order to see what can be cut back on to stop this happening.

theone999

theone999 wrote: »

I had an email from Halifax last month about a balance transfer / money transfer promotion @ 5% for 36 months with unlimited times on my credit card. I didn't do anything at that time because i don't have another credit card, although i do have an overdraft with HSBC, and also I thought it was bad to transfer any sort of money from a credit card. And I was busy with work, so I left it.

With unexpected car repair bills that came to nearly 2k that pretty much maxxed out my credit card and news from HSBC that my overdraft APR will be doubled from march the next year (something I've never paid off in 8 years), I vaguely remembered the offer but the promotional period was over.

Would money transfer not have affected my credit score and could I have used successive money transfer from the credit card into current account to pay off the higher APR of 23% already on the credit card?

If above is true then I !!!!ed myself? I'm stuck now with a maxed credit card at 23% and an HSBC overdraft that will charge 40% next year.

SnowTiger wrote: »

Check your online account or phone Halifax to find out if there are any offers currently available to you.

IMO Halifax offers are usually quite poor. However, in your case paying a 5% transfer fee would (probably) be far cheaper than paying 23%+ interest for the next three years.

If you don't have any balance transfer offers available from Halifax you could have a pop at applying for a money transfer card elsewhere.

I don't think I can apply elsewhere, I'm self employed and low paid / high rent. My current borrowing facilities were simply given to me when I was a student years and years and grew organically over the years. Mainly because I have never went over a limit or missed a payment.

But I am paying a lot of interest now and this morning I felt so depressed and panicked because I didn't know what money transfer was and !!!!ed myself into paying an extra 2k a year in interest.

theone999

!!! wrote: »

since oyu have no "credit score" to be affected, this is a moot point.

If you are not getting by day to day without having to rely on credit cards and overdrafts, I suggest a statement of affairs is in order to see what can be cut back on to stop this happening.

What do you mean? Everyone has a credit score?

For the love of God don't get all preachy

[Deleted User]

theone999 wrote: »

What do you mean? Everyone has a credit score?

For the love of God don't get all preachy

No they don't.
There is no "universal credit score" or otherwise.

yksi

Forget the numbers, they're made up by the score companies to sell you products. It's your credit HISTORY that matters, and whether you pay your bills on time. If you log into your free credit club account in here, you can see whether you are likely to be approved for a 0% transfer card from someone else, which would reduce your interest costs - just make sure you don't continue to increase your debt with silly spending.

born_again

yksi wrote: »

If you log into your free credit club account in here, you can see whether you are likely to be approved for a 0% transfer card from someone else, which would reduce your interest costs - just make sure you don't continue to increase your debt with silly spending.

So that means balance transfer and close the old account .
On new account cut up the card to make sure you can't use it. Set up a repayment schedule that means it's paid off by the end of the 0% period.:T

theone999

yksi wrote: »

Forget the numbers, they're made up by the score companies to sell you products. It's your credit HISTORY that matters, and whether you pay your bills on time. If you log into your free credit club account in here, you can see whether you are likely to be approved for a 0% transfer card from someone else, which would reduce your interest costs - just make sure you don't continue to increase your debt with silly spending.

What do I put for income? I'm self employed and sometimes also work from home and my income as worked out by my accountant is very low.

This is why I don't dare apply for anything. I've just waited for the banks to offer me something to which I can just say yes. But this time I didn't know what they were offering me and I !!!!ed myself by not taking up the offer?

If you were to ask about my credit history, in 12 years I have never went over any overdrafts or credit limits or had DD rejected and only once did a credit card transaction bounce because I forgot how much was on the card. I on r had a reducing overdraft from 1 of my 3 banks which I now no longer borrow from because they were !!!!! calling it on despite me never gone over limit, they did say on the phone that it wouldn't affect my credit score. It was fully paid off last year and took about 3 years.

Part of the reason why I'm so sad and angry that HSBC is going to double my overdraft EAR next April because they're not allowed to charge people more for unauthorised overdrafts now.

[Deleted User]

theone999 wrote: »

What do I put for income? I'm self employed and sometimes also work from home and my income as worked out by my accountant is very low.

This is why I don't dare apply for anything. I've just waited for the banks to offer me something to which I can just say yes. But this time I didn't know what they were offering me and I !!!!ed myself by not taking up the offer?

If you were to ask about my credit history, in 12 years I have never went over any overdrafts or credit limits or had DD rejected and only once did a credit card transaction bounce because I forgot how much was on the card. I on r had a reducing overdraft from 1 of my 3 banks which I now no longer borrow from because they were !!!!! calling it on despite me never gone over limit, they did say on the phone that it wouldn't affect my credit score. It was fully paid off last year and took about 3 years.

Part of the reason why I'm so sad and angry that HSBC is going to double my overdraft EAR next April because they're not allowed to charge people more for unauthorised overdrafts now.

Why are you using your overdraft on a regular basis?

Ben8282

Would money transfer not have affected my credit score

The money transfer would not have adversely affected your ability to obtain credit. Your credit score is meaningless so any effect that the money transfer may or may not have had is not important.
As from your above replies it appears that you don't ever actually apply for credit I am curious as to why you are so concerned about your meaningless credit score anyway.

could I have used successive money transfer from the credit card into current account to pay off the higher APR of 23% already on the credit card?

Within the offer period yes you could. You could also have used the money transfer offer to repay the overdraft which will be having a detrimental effect on your ability to obtain credit, far more than the existance of a balance on your credit card.

my income as worked out by my accountant is very low.

If your income is very low do you really need to pay an accountant to work it out for you?