Credit card min payment % question

roo1980

I recently balance transferred my credit card debt to a new card as the 0% period was running out. 

On my old card my min payments were £60-70 a month, so I was surprised to see on the new card my min monthly payment has now doubled! The Balance total when I transferred to the new card only very slightly increased from what it was, so this is not the issue. 

I phoned the new credit card provider (Sainsburys Bank) and I was assured this was correct as they calculate their min payment at 2.25% of the total. So I assume my previous provider had a lower min payment %. 

My question is, is there a way to find this min payment % prior to balance transferring to a new card to avoid any nasty surprises such as this? 

It's all well and good moving to a nice long 0% interest deal, but if the min payment makes such a jump I would have looked at other providers. I do appreciate this will clear the balance quicker, but it would be nice to be able calculate prior to moving to a new card provider. 

ItsComingRome

Yes, read the "summary box" (or some variation of "summary") where it will detail rates, minimum repayment amount and a host of other things.

roo1980

I have since looked on current card (Sainsburys Bank balance transfer card) and I can’t find this info. Possibly liking in the wrong place. 

Naive on my part did not realise there could be such variations in providers min payments. 

ItsComingRome

For Sainsbury's click on "More Information" then "Find Out More" at the bottom and then there is an option on the right for a summary.

roo1980

Thanks for that. 

I’ll certainly be more aware of this for the future.

It would be nice if the providers made this information clearer/easier to find. 

ItsComingRome

roo1980 said:

Thanks for that. 

I’ll certainly be more aware of this for the future.

It would be nice if the providers made this information clearer/easier to find. 

It is easy to find. The product page for every credit card will have it, and as far as I'm aware these summaries are displayed when applying for the card.

Vinknut

The minimum payment varies quite a lot between providers, even between cards from the same provider - and you'll always find that on a summary page.  Which you should obviously read, as it goes through what the APR will be after any promotional rates expire, late fees, allocation of payments, foreign use and non-GBP fees, and a number of other things that seem to trip people up on this forum on a regular basis.

It wasn't particularly hard to find, and it's definitely in the CCA you signed/agreed to as well;

https://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/credit-cards/summary-box/cca-summary-box-lowbt29

On the plus side, it's forcing you to pay it off more quickly.

roo1980

Yup my bad! 🤦‍♂️

Thanks for the replies! 

floppydisk1

As said earlier it's in each card provider summary info. What I  found more worrying though is that you only pay minimum payment and transferring balance after one 0 % deal ends. Pay whatever you can afford, not the minimum and there will be no need to check another deal minimum payment ( that  is normally in range of 1 % - 5 %  of the amount owed ) and no need to get another 0 % deal in the first place. Its getting harder and harder to shift balance to another card ( I do hope that you pay more than minimum payment .. ) and lot more likely to be declined card, loan ( in fact anything ) and once  your bank or a card provider so much as sniffs that you rely on credit  it  might get a whole lot harder..

roo1980

floppydisk1 said:

As said earlier it's in each card provider summary info. What I  found more worrying though is that you only pay minimum payment and transferring balance after one 0 % deal ends. Pay whatever you can afford, not the minimum and there will be no need to check another deal minimum payment ( that  is normally in range of 1 % - 5 %  of the amount owed ) and no need to get another 0 % deal in the first place. Its getting harder and harder to shift balance to another card ( I do hope that you pay more than minimum payment .. ) and lot more likely to be declined card, loan ( in fact anything ) and once  your bank or a card provider so much as sniffs that you rely on credit  it  might get a whole lot harder..

Yeah I understand. But focusing on getting rid of the massive overdraft I’ve had since I was a student (Not always the most sensible with money) once it’s cleared will focus on paying into CC. Thanks to having debt but never missing a payment I have a cracking credit score so I’ve never had an issue transferring balance. But obviously not a cycle I want to be in for ever more.