Any thoughts on this?

taka

Well I have now spent ages trying to decide which is best... anyone got any suggestions?

I have a loan of just over 6k at 7.9% which I have been paying 333 a month At this rate it should be paid off by mid 2009.

I have been sent Virgin money cheques for a BT at 0% interest until my sept statement (mid month) with a 3% fee with just enough of a limit to do this if I transfer the full 95% of my limit. I've worked out that if I continue the 333/month then I would still have around 3k left to move to another card in Sept. This would only be a tiny bit better than keeping the loan on presuming the next BT fee is ~3% and that someone would give me a transfer! (should be ok as I have a decent credit rating ... just got approved for a new current a/c and virgin credit card has just increased my limit too)

I'm hoping to be able to throw a bit more at the debt too by trying to underspend my budgets, surveys, pigsback, quidco, ebaying my junk etc but this is by no means guaranteed!

Anyway........ should I

a) keep the loan on and save any extra to pay off earlier (already making max overpayments allowed)

or

b) transfer to the virgin card and save anything over the min payments to pay off in Sept then transfer the remaining balance again

Have I missed anything obvious which would make either beter or worse? Why am I so indecisive????????? Any thoughts?? Thanks in advance!!

dc

I would be tempted to keep the status quo, option a.

Reasons 1, the 0% period is only roughly 9 months and there have been longer deals around.
2, despite cc's giving you more flexibility with repayments in rough times, they are fraught with penalties for late payment (dd for min payment a must) and exact date of end of 0% and getting last payment there on time to prevent interest being charged. i.e. extra work is involved.

I would be tempted to try and find a low % Life of Balance card with no fee. Or wait till someone offers a BT with no fee, as happens with card companies when they try to get existing users to restart using dormant cards.

I have transferred all my debts to a 0%, 2.9% (in the good old days when Barclaycard lost the plot;) ) and 5.9% on a Sainsbury card. The latter I am playing around some of with the Abbey 0% for 6 months no fee.

taka

Thanks! This is already a dormant card as I haven't used it in around 6 months. I was about to phone up and close the account and try for a LOB card or a new CC in a few months time when the offer came through the door. Hmmm maybe I should chance my arm and see if they will lower or cap the BT fee or give me a few months more 0% to "retain my custom"...