Balance transfer from BA AMEX

JohnMBF5

I have recently got a Virgin credit card with 0% balance transfer and fees, with the intention of transferring the balance from my BA AMEX card, which I used recently to buy a car.  Virgin tell me I can’t because this card is USA based.  Is this correct? Is this the same for all balance transfer credit cards - can’t it be done from AMEX? This is not mentioned on the MSE balance transfer info as far as I can see.

[Deleted User]

If it's a non-UK card then it's quite possible they will reject it yes, depends what their terms say

lr1277

I searched this forum using: Virgin Amex as the search words.
There is a thread from 2015 with a title something like balance transfer from Amex to Virgin. The thread was started by @Mulder00.
In it he states exactly what you have found.
Sorry can’t do a link as I am on my tablet.
I read the first post. If you find it, you could read further.

Voyager2002

I cannot believe that the BA AmEx card is based in the USA.

Having said that, balance transfer cards work for some cards and not others, and it is difficult or impossible to know which in advance. My experience with a large balance on a different AmEx card: I was able to transfer balances from it to a Santander credit card with a very generous 0% offer, but only be digging around, finding the AmEx bank details and doing the balance by telephone. Santander online banking could not handle this. I completely failed to transfer any balance from AmEx to the Sainsbury's Bank credit card. However, a visa card issued by Nationwide worked very well.

So you just have to keep trying!

lr1277

lr1277 said:

I searched this forum using: Virgin Amex as the search words.
There is a thread from 2015 with a title something like balance transfer from Amex to Virgin. The thread was started by @Mulder00.
In it he states exactly what you have found.
Sorry can’t do a link as I am on my tablet.
I read the first post. If you find it, you could read further.

I re-read that thread. It has 2 posts.
Ifbyou still interested in finding it, click on the @Muder00 link. Then on the left hand side of the web page is a link for discussions. Click on that then scroll down. This discussion is in the first few.

born_again

Many card providers will not do a balance transfer from AmEX.
In part it was based on them only using 15 digit card numbers. Not sure if that is still the issue though.

JohnMBF5

Thanks.  Virgin said the 15 digit number was part of the problem.  I’ve now applied for a Santander card, been accepted and waiting for card to arrive.  They said 3 working days from yesterday.  Large AMEX bill due to be paid on 29th Sept.  Do I need to wait until the actual card comes and is activated to transfer the balance? I’m worried it is going to be too tight. I can’t pay the bill and don’t want large interest charges by only part paying.  I’ve tried to phone Santander but gave up today after about 40mins

DullGreyGuy

JohnMBF5 said:

I have recently got a Virgin credit card with 0% balance transfer and fees, with the intention of transferring the balance from my BA AMEX card, which I used recently to buy a car.  Virgin tell me I can’t because this card is USA based.  Is this correct? Is this the same for all balance transfer credit cards - can’t it be done from AMEX? This is not mentioned on the MSE balance transfer info as far as I can see.

Have Virgin Credit Card and 99% sure that I have transferred from AmEx to it.

The BA AmEx is issued by AmEx UK not the USA, if you type the first 6 digits of the card number into a service like https://www.freebinchecker.com/ it will tell you which country its issued from

born_again

JohnMBF5 said:

Thanks.  Virgin said the 15 digit number was part of the problem.  I’ve now applied for a Santander card, been accepted and waiting for card to arrive.  They said 3 working days from yesterday.  Large AMEX bill due to be paid on 29th Sept.  Do I need to wait until the actual card comes and is activated to transfer the balance? I’m worried it is going to be too tight. I can’t pay the bill and don’t want large interest charges by only part paying.  I’ve tried to phone Santander but gave up today after about 40mins

Usually you get the option to set up a balance transfer when applying.