Help Needed Balance transfers- Should I do it?

tradduh

Hi, 

I need some help/ advise. I have a Aqua credit card which I have had for 7 years, I used it to help me get my credit score up which it has done. 
I currently have £5500 on the card and think I would be best doing a balance transfer to a 0% card, I have checked and have been pre approved for a number of cards. 

My questions are: 
Will I be able to transfer the full amount? 
Will I then still be able to have a limit the same as my current card? 
Will my credit score take a big hit? 

Sorry if these seem basic questions. 

Thanks 

Ebe_Scrooge

tradduh said:

Hi, 

I need some help/ advise. I have a Aqua credit card which I have had for 7 years, I used it to help me get my credit score up which it has done. 
I currently have £5500 on the card and think I would be best doing a balance transfer to a 0% card, I have checked and have been pre approved for a number of cards. 

My questions are: 
Will I be able to transfer the full amount? You won't know what limit you'll be offered on the new card until your application is approved.  But if it's not sufficient to transfer the entire balance, transfer what you can (you can usually transfer up to 95% of the limit).  Anything you're paying 0% on will save you money compared to whatever rate you're currently paying.
Will I then still be able to have a limit the same as my current card? Same answer as above - they'll decide what limit to give you once they've churned your data though their systems.
Will my credit score take a big hit? Your credit score will almost certainly go down, as you'll have a new line of credit.  But the score is irrelevant, and is neither used nor seen by any lender.

Sorry if these seem basic questions. 

Thanks 

My answers in bold above.

Just remember there's usually a fee to pay for doing the BT, but overall you should still save money in interest charges.

You must, however, put plans in place to pay off the BT card in full when the promotional rate expires.  Otherwise you'll be charged their standard APR, with no guarantee that you'll be able to transfer any remaining balance to another card.  And of course, whilst you're paying off the BT card, you also need to be doing all you can to pay off any remaining debt from the Aqua card as quickly as possible, if it turns out that you're not able to transfer the entire balance.

Remember, doing a BT doesn't get rid of the debt, it just transfers it to a different vehicle.  You need to make use of the "breathing space" afforded by the 0% deal to go all out to repay the debt.  If that means cutting back on some luxuries then so be it - your future self will thank you for it in bucket-loads :-)

[Deleted User]

Putting aside the gimmick "score", keep in mind your credit history will be viewed poorly if you are holding lots of debt and not paying it off (assuming the £5500 is not on some sort of promotional rate). If you hold that much debt, you may not get a large limit on the 0% card, if you get one at all, but transfer what you can. Do head over to the debt free pages on this site for help