Now I have too much money on my CC after balance transfer?!

msallen

If you don't want to contact the card provider about, just spend the £1200 over the coming months (using the card that's now in credit)

callum9999

Ebe_Scrooge said:

OP, all the above replies are correct - I suspect you don't have a full understanding of how credit cards work.  Please don't take this as an insult, it's not intended as such in any way.  But if you're using a financial product that you don't fully understand, that's how problems can arise.

You are given a credit limit.  You can spend up to this credit limit, and must repay it each month.  It is, as highlighted several times above, against the T&Cs to deliberately put the card into credit.

If you need a larger credit limit then ask for one.  Alternatively, apply for an additional card from a different provider.  Credit limits are assigned on an individual basis, and are calculated using a combination of your income and the data contained within your credit file.

If you do manage to obtain a higher limit, please understand that you need to only spend what you can afford.  You MUST pay the minimum repayment each month.  Ideally, you should be repaying the FULL amount every month, otherwise you'll be charged interest - and paying less than the full amount month after month can rapidly lead to a spiral of unmanageable debt.

So yes - bottom line, if you want a "safety net" then apply for a higher credit limit.  But understand the implications of utilising the increased available credit.

While I agree they're factually correct, I completely disagree with the scaremongering.

The odds of them having the credit card "taken away from them" are tiny. They will most likely be able to have the excess transferred to their bank account (no idea who charges a "cash fee" for this - that's not something I've ever encountered) or, if the agent is more on the ball, it might be sent back to the original card.

I don't think any of you understand what they mean by "safety net" either - they want cash, not "available credit". I do similar by withdrawing cash from my Clarity card then transferring the balance when particularly attractive rates are on offer. Better than the advice to get a "money advance" which generally costs more.

Rosco32

callum9999 said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

OP, all the above replies are correct - I suspect you don't have a full understanding of how credit cards work.  Please don't take this as an insult, it's not intended as such in any way.  But if you're using a financial product that you don't fully understand, that's how problems can arise.

You are given a credit limit.  You can spend up to this credit limit, and must repay it each month.  It is, as highlighted several times above, against the T&Cs to deliberately put the card into credit.

If you need a larger credit limit then ask for one.  Alternatively, apply for an additional card from a different provider.  Credit limits are assigned on an individual basis, and are calculated using a combination of your income and the data contained within your credit file.

If you do manage to obtain a higher limit, please understand that you need to only spend what you can afford.  You MUST pay the minimum repayment each month.  Ideally, you should be repaying the FULL amount every month, otherwise you'll be charged interest - and paying less than the full amount month after month can rapidly lead to a spiral of unmanageable debt.

So yes - bottom line, if you want a "safety net" then apply for a higher credit limit.  But understand the implications of utilising the increased available credit.

While I agree they're factually correct, I completely disagree with the scaremongering.

The odds of them having the credit card "taken away from them" are tiny. They will most likely be able to have the excess transferred to their bank account (no idea who charges a "cash fee" for this - that's not something I've ever encountered) or, if the agent is more on the ball, it might be sent back to the original card.

I don't think any of you understand what they mean by "safety net" either - they want cash, not "available credit". I do similar by withdrawing cash from my Clarity card then transferring the balance when particularly attractive rates are on offer. Better than the advice to get a "money advance" which generally costs more.

Hence the suggestion of a combined 0% balance transfer/purchase card. The OP may have paid a balance transfer fee on the additional £1300, whereas using the 0% purchase element would not incur any fees. I think we all understand what the OP means by a "safety net" and there's no "scaremongering" going on here. Cash or available credit, it can (mostly) all be spent in the same way. It's money at the end of the day...

[Deleted User]

callum9999 said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

OP, all the above replies are correct - I suspect you don't have a full understanding of how credit cards work.  Please don't take this as an insult, it's not intended as such in any way.  But if you're using a financial product that you don't fully understand, that's how problems can arise.

You are given a credit limit.  You can spend up to this credit limit, and must repay it each month.  It is, as highlighted several times above, against the T&Cs to deliberately put the card into credit.

If you need a larger credit limit then ask for one.  Alternatively, apply for an additional card from a different provider.  Credit limits are assigned on an individual basis, and are calculated using a combination of your income and the data contained within your credit file.

If you do manage to obtain a higher limit, please understand that you need to only spend what you can afford.  You MUST pay the minimum repayment each month.  Ideally, you should be repaying the FULL amount every month, otherwise you'll be charged interest - and paying less than the full amount month after month can rapidly lead to a spiral of unmanageable debt.

So yes - bottom line, if you want a "safety net" then apply for a higher credit limit.  But understand the implications of utilising the increased available credit.

While I agree they're factually correct, I completely disagree with the scaremongering.

The odds of them having the credit card "taken away from them" are tiny. They will most likely be able to have the excess transferred to their bank account (no idea who charges a "cash fee" for this - that's not something I've ever encountered) or, if the agent is more on the ball, it might be sent back to the original card.

I don't think any of you understand what they mean by "safety net" either - they want cash, not "available credit". I do similar by withdrawing cash from my Clarity card then transferring the balance when particularly attractive rates are on offer. Better than the advice to get a "money advance" which generally costs more.

Doing a BT for way more than is on the card in order to get cash is silly not least because the card in credit isn't likely to give them cash into their bank account, they are much more likely to return it to the sender card. If OP wanted a "safety net" of cash then why not just buy what they needed to in one go, then BT the lot?

It's hardly scaremongering to point out the fact that putting the card in credit deliberately is against the terms of use and can result in the card being closed which is more likely if they do it again or leave the card in credit for months while they clear the credit down.

This is an advice site after all and telling people that they will probably get away with breaching the terms is not good MSE behaviour.

marshybeans

Update on the situation, spoke to my original bank and they are refunding the money to me which I will then transfer over to my new CC. 

I feel like a few have speculated that I'm after cash - absolutely not, its literally for emergencies, let's say my boiler breaks and it costs me £500 that I haven't got or something. 
Also, I have great credit and I pay the minimum payment of my CC every month. Wanted to clear those up but thank you for the advice everyone, glad it is all sorted and was relatively easy to do. 

Ebe_Scrooge

marshybeans said:

its literally for emergencies, let's say my boiler breaks and it costs me £500 that I haven't got or something.

A friendly word of advice - this is precisely why it's always advisable to put money aside each month into an "emergency fund", so that you have the cash available if your boiler needs repairing or whatever.  If you're not able to afford to put a small amount aside each month, then one has to ask the question "how would to pay off the credit card debt if you were to use it"?  Bearing in mind that you'd be paying interest on top of the £500 or whatever.

marshybeans said:

Also, I have great credit and I pay the minimum payment of my CC every month.

What do you mean by you have "great credit"?  If you mean the score you see on your credit report then ignore it, it bears no resemblance whatsoever to how a lender will view you.  If you're only paying the minimum each month to your credit card then your credit record will be far from perfect - quite apart from the fact that you're paying a fair bit of interest on it.

Both of the points I've made here are in no way intended to be insulting - they are offered as a little friendly advice as to how to avoid paying costly interest on debt.

enthusiasticsaver

I am glad you have sorted it out but in the future there are two ways you should deal with this and never balance transfer more than the actual balance on a card. This unfortunately is the way that debt often spirals out of control.  Ideally you should have savings for emergencies rather than relying on credit as there is no guarantee that will always be available.  Extra borrowing on a card is not savings.  Alternatively if you have no savings and the limit on a card is not high enough then you could ask for an increase but bear in mind this may not be at 0% and you need to check how payments to the card are allocated - ie do repayments go towards any interest bearing balance or the 0% deal. Also you should never just pay minimums on cards as that affects your credit record and flags you in perpetual debt.  Pay slightly more.