Using purchases and balance transfers on same card

mangled

Hi All
Want some advice on new credit card got coming my from Halifax

Basically been approved and accepted for £3500 credit limit with fee paid and now have 23 months 0% BT and 9 months 0% purchases

Wondered if anyone could confirm my potential usage of this card

I have up to £1700 want to balance transfer and £1500 want to buy goods

So yes understand the rules re both ie have 90 days to do the balance transfers so that these are 0% over the 23 months
And know the purchases must be made within the first 9 months for the 0% during these nine months

What I asking is if I firstly say buy £1500 in first month and transfer the £1700 month after.

So for example at month 2 I got £3200 to pay off.

By month 9 when my purchases 0% period ends, wanted to know if for instance by month 9 in total I paid off £1000, where does that £1000 come off.

Ie Is it totally off the first transaction ie £1500 purchases so by end month 9 - I have £500 starting be on 20% charge now and the remaining £1700 not charged still until month 23

Ie so what want to know if have both balance transfers and purchases on the same card which does the payments made since pay off - is it half and half or the first one incurred

Obviously its more suitable me pay off purchases first then the balance transfers - is this possible ???

[Deleted User]

Payments will come off the highest rate balance.

If both are at the same rate, payments will be allocated as specified in the terms.  There's no option to choose.

mangled

I not understand your comment

9 months 0% purchases

23 months 0% balance transfer

So are you saying the payments will pay off purchases first because after 9 months the rate will be 20% and the balance transfers will remain intact until all purchases paid off and then after 23 months they both be at 20%

Is that what you saying

jonesMUFCforever

mangled said:

I not understand your comment

9 months 0% purchases

23 months 0% balance transfer

So are you saying the payments will pay off purchases first because after 9 months the rate will be 20% and the balance transfers will remain intact until all purchases paid off and then after 23 months they both be at 20%

Is that what you saying

.....Yes ...

molerat

The card T&Cs will state exactly how payments will be allocated, all cards have slight variations.  You need to confirm your particular card states the same but below is a general Halifax example.

B7.4 How we apply your payments
We use your payments to clear any overdue amounts before we apply them to your latest minimum payment.
We will reduce the amount you owe in the following order:
 any overdue amounts from previous statements; then
 the remaining balance on your statement; then
 any recent transactions not yet shown on your statement.
We use your payments to pay off balances charged at the highest interest rate first and so on down to balances with the lowest interest rates. This means the more expensive balances are always paid off first.
If there is more than one type of balance at the same interest rate, they are normally paid off in the following order: cash transactions, purchases, balance transfers and money transfers, and then default charges (plus any interest or charges incurred as a result of those balances). For each type of balance, your payments will pay off the oldest balance (and related fees, charges or insurance) first. We may apply your payments differently if you are in persistent debt (see B7.8).

So any payments made whilst there are statemented purchase will be allocated against those and not the balance transfer providing they are at the same or higher interest rate. The reason for this is due to the above allocation terms and not because the interest rate will be higher at a later date.

jonesMUFCforever

I would also say that the use of purchases and balance transfers should IMO be done on separate cards - much easier to work out what's what.

mangled

jonesMUFCforever said:

I would also say that the use of purchases and balance transfers should IMO be done on separate cards - much easier to work out what's what.

I keep spreadsheets so is fairly easy for myself given the above information to work out from that but appreciate for some it might not be that simple.

kaMelo

mangled said:

jonesMUFCforever said:

I would also say that the use of purchases and balance transfers should IMO be done on separate cards - much easier to work out what's what.

I keep spreadsheets so is fairly easy for myself given the above information to work out from that but appreciate for some it might not be that simple.

You may well be up to the task of doing so, but, spending and balance transfers on the same card always has the potential to lead to expensive mistakes, spreadsheets or not.
Keeping spending and balance transfers on separate cards is good practice as it eliminates any possibility of expensive mistakes later on.