Are decent 0% balance transfer cards with 0 fees a thing of the past?

[Deleted User]

shicky said:

MalMonroe said:

There has been some information about this on the site and I know Martin's discussed this very subject on one of his TV shows - a while back though.

Deals did seem to dry up a short while after covid hit. 

I've seen quite a few people on this forum commenting that they've been finding it difficult to get 0% balance transfers, even when they have good credit and few debts. 

Nobody can predict whether or not the current trend is here to stay. But things aren't what they used to be. (I think there's a song in there somewhere . . . ) 

I don't suppose the articles on here or the TV show dealing with this would be easy to find? I'm not having success thus far

All he'll have talked about is the generally more risk averse nature of lenders while people are on furlough or may be at risk of job losses and thus they're not as inclined to offer deals to people they may consider to be more of a risk. 

onlyfoolsandparking

shicky said:

cymruchris said:

If you're in a position to deal with the debt - then deal with the debt - nothing in future is guaranteed, so if you are still on a 0 percent deal, begin targeting the balance and bring it down. There are currently deals available with transfer fees, but who knows what might happen over the next 12 months. The debt has to be dealt with eventually, so you might as well try and do something about it now if you're able to. 

It'll need paid off indeed but no point paying off prematurely if the debt is essentially eroding over time. To me it makes more financial sense to carry some debt, I've heard this tends to look better as long as you're meeting payments etc.

Worst case I could clear it quickly but of course I'd be keen to avoid such a situation. The question was basically for me to assess whether I needed to start paying it down a little as I'll be scuppered by absence of deals soon. To me it makes more sense to have money invested elsewhere while this erodes. Obviously there's risk involved so not for everyone

If your in a position to clear it quickly as you put it and not incur any interest and are not at any stage RELYING on a new BT offer then your in clover imo.

I like to use a 'golden rule' with BT's and MT's and that is if I can't pay it off before the 0% deal ends I won't use one. I have many years ago relied on getting new deals when I've had say 10k on an 18 months deal and was only paying say 300 a month leaving me with an end balance of around 4600 to transfer and I was successful at moving debt around but I don't need to bother these days as my current debt is just big purchases I make every now and then that I can easily pay off in whatever length deal I'm given.

Sounds like your on top of it all to me.

[Deleted User]

shicky said:

cymruchris said:

If you're in a position to deal with the debt - then deal with the debt - nothing in future is guaranteed, so if you are still on a 0 percent deal, begin targeting the balance and bring it down. There are currently deals available with transfer fees, but who knows what might happen over the next 12 months. The debt has to be dealt with eventually, so you might as well try and do something about it now if you're able to. 

It'll need paid off indeed but no point paying off prematurely if the debt is essentially eroding over time. To me it makes more financial sense to carry some debt, I've heard this tends to look better as long as you're meeting payments etc.

Worst case I could clear it quickly but of course I'd be keen to avoid such a situation. The question was basically for me to assess whether I needed to start paying it down a little as I'll be scuppered by absence of deals soon. To me it makes more sense to have money invested elsewhere while this erodes. Obviously there's risk involved so not for everyone

Not paying it off when you are paying interest is not that good an idea as you are paying more than you need to. Carrying debt and paying interest as you are not paying off on time doesn't make you look better, it makes you look like you can't manage your finances and thus are more of a risk. Payments on 0% promotional rates are different as they have a different flag but again once you pay interest it's a problem

MEM62

shicky said:

Are these deals drying up and is this a trend that is here to stay?

It has always been the accepted wisdom that you should not look at these deals being available in the long term.  Personal circumstances and the lending market are subject to change - in some cases very quickly as we have seen in the past year or so.    

goldieandblackie

Best deal I found a couple of months ago was a 1% fee to move over £3900 to an MBNA 0% card for 28 months interest free.

shicky

Deleted_User said:

shicky said:

cymruchris said:

If you're in a position to deal with the debt - then deal with the debt - nothing in future is guaranteed, so if you are still on a 0 percent deal, begin targeting the balance and bring it down. There are currently deals available with transfer fees, but who knows what might happen over the next 12 months. The debt has to be dealt with eventually, so you might as well try and do something about it now if you're able to. 

It'll need paid off indeed but no point paying off prematurely if the debt is essentially eroding over time. To me it makes more financial sense to carry some debt, I've heard this tends to look better as long as you're meeting payments etc.

Worst case I could clear it quickly but of course I'd be keen to avoid such a situation. The question was basically for me to assess whether I needed to start paying it down a little as I'll be scuppered by absence of deals soon. To me it makes more sense to have money invested elsewhere while this erodes. Obviously there's risk involved so not for everyone

Not paying it off when you are paying interest is not that good an idea as you are paying more than you need to. Carrying debt and paying interest as you are not paying off on time doesn't make you look better, it makes you look like you can't manage your finances and thus are more of a risk. Payments on 0% promotional rates are different as they have a different flag but again once you pay interest it's a problem

Just to be clear I'm not paying any interest, it's all at 0%