Balance Transfer between two cards with £0 CURRENTLY outstanding

TwoFrogs

Hi, I have two credit cards with nothing owed on them, one of which has offered me a 0% balance transfer for 2 years plus 

I'm looking to buy a car at the moment... so if I bought it on the one card, could I immediately do the balance transfer, or will I have to wait until the next billing period to update my balance 'properly'?

The 0% offer runs out at the end of October so want to know if this will all work out correctly.

Hopefully this makes sense?

Thanks in advance

[Deleted User]

You can do it as soon as the payment hits the card, however keep in mind dealers are unlikely to accept the payment for the whole car on one card due to the fees they have to pay to the card firm and their card processing company, typically £500 deposit is the most - you need to check first

TwoFrogs

Deleted_User said:

You can do it as soon as the payment hits the card, however keep in mind dealers are unlikely to accept the payment for the whole car on one card due to the fees they have to pay to the card firm and their card processing company, typically £500 deposit is the most - you need to check first

Didn't think of that. I just saw "credit cards accepted" and thought this would be a great way to get 0% finance. Thanks for the advice!

[Deleted User]

You might be able to get a 0% money transfer to get some cash in the bank under 0% and as well put the deposit at least on cards / BT the deposit. Might be worth a call to them and see if they would take the whole payment or not.

TwoFrogs

Deleted_User said:

You might be able to get a 0% money transfer to get some cash in the bank under 0% and as well put the deposit at least on cards / BT the deposit. Might be worth a call to them and see if they would take the whole payment or not.

Yeah, I'll be ringing round to check first. Annoyingly I had a 0% money transfer offer on the same card when I started looking for cars - I checked today and that offer has gone! Maybe I'll phone Barclaycard too...

grumbler

For ~2% (cash advance fee) you can withdraw cash and then transfer the balance.

Brie

I have put the whole of car purchases on cards more than once.  And it was for the exact reason you are talking about.  To get the 0% BT. 

So paid on card 1 and transferred to card 2.  Might have needed to do it more than once if card 1 didn't have a high enough limit for the entire purchase.  So maybe initially £100 deposit to reserve.  And then when I'm ready to purchase pay half and go home to wait 2 days while they prep the car.  And while waiting do the first BT.  Go back after 2 days to pick up the car and pay the balance.  And then at some convenient time over the next few weeks do another BT so as to not pay any interest. 

cymruchris

Deleted_User said:

You can do it as soon as the payment hits the card, however keep in mind dealers are unlikely to accept the payment for the whole car on one card due to the fees they have to pay to the card firm and their card processing company, typically £500 deposit is the most - you need to check first

There may be quite a few dealers that don't take cards - but there are certainly those that do. 

As an example - Arnold Clark who arguably have the largest quantity of used cars in the UK as a 'group' do take credit cards.



If the OP wants to purchase a car on card - it will certainly be possible - but they might need to shop around to find the car and deal they want that also happens to take credit cards. (Which might not be the cheapest overall deal - but when balanced up with what's saved in interest using the credit card promos - might work out better than dealer finance).

When my dad bought his last used nearly new car from a local Suzuki dealer, he paid the entire sale over two credit cards (£16k total). 

Ebe_Scrooge

This discussion crops up time and again.  In my experience, dealers that accept cards for full payment are in the minority.  And I'm always a little suspicious that those who do will inflate the price of the car to cover the fees they have to pay - or maybe I'm just being too cynical!

Although, as you say, it may be that it still works out cheaper overall due to the saving in interest.

[Deleted User]

cymruchris said:

Deleted_User said:

You can do it as soon as the payment hits the card, however keep in mind dealers are unlikely to accept the payment for the whole car on one card due to the fees they have to pay to the card firm and their card processing company, typically £500 deposit is the most - you need to check first

There may be quite a few dealers that don't take cards - but there are certainly those that do. 

As an example - Arnold Clark who arguably have the largest quantity of used cars in the UK as a 'group' do take credit cards.



If the OP wants to purchase a car on card - it will certainly be possible - but they might need to shop around to find the car and deal they want that also happens to take credit cards. (Which might not be the cheapest overall deal - but when balanced up with what's saved in interest using the credit card promos - might work out better than dealer finance).

When my dad bought his last used nearly new car from a local Suzuki dealer, he paid the entire sale over two credit cards (£16k total). 

Clark may take card payments in part, it would be interesting to see if they would take the whole payment, particularly since Brexit and the removal of the EU cap on interchange fees given the amount they will now have to pay