5 credit cards into one?

Himindoors70

Hello folks,

Newbie here so please be gental with me and answer in laymans terms as I aint the brightest with tech.

So I have 5 credit cards that are mostly paid up.

Aqua and fluid (newday I,m sure)
Vanquis
Capital one and ocean (capital one I,m sure)

I also recently aquired a Halifax credit card,since the Halifax is my main banking account,I hold a current account and saving account with them along with the new Halifax credit card.

So my question is can I swap all my ballances from the above cards and keep the credit amount but transfer all to my Halifax credit card? I just want everything on the one card (halifax) Is this even possible?

I,ve never faulted on any of my cards if that helps.

Look forward to getting some advice. Reguards.

Himindoors.

MorningcoffeeIV

If your Halifax card offers BTs, you have sufficient limit on the card and you're happy with the transfer fees, then yes.

But if the cards are almost paid off, why incur the extra costs? Is there a big difference in APRs?

Himindoors70

I thought there might be a fee from each card and I,m willing to pay them as long as I can have everything on the one card. I,m sure the aprs are all much the same. Thanks for taking the time to answer me. So now I just need to lookout from my halifax credit card for any ballance transfers and follow instructions? Or could I do it over the phone?

grumbler

Himindoors70 said:

I thought there might be a fee from each card and I,m willing to pay them as long as I can have everything on the one card. I,m sure the aprs are all much the same. ?

I still don't understand the advantage of paying "everything on the one card" instead of paying the balances separately.

So now I just need to lookout from my halifax credit card for any ballance transfers and follow instructions? Or could I do it over the phone?

https://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/existing-customers/balance-transfers.html

But again, what's the point in paying for balance transfers?

Ebe_Scrooge

You'd need to receive a BT offer from Halifax - it's not really something you could request (well, I guess you could try, but that's not how it usually works).

But as above, what's the point in paying BT fees if your existing cards are almost paid off anyway?

The other point to bear in mind, if you're planing on using the Halifax card for everyday spending - it can get very confusing to mix BT and spending on the same card, and if you're not careful you can wind up paying a fair bit more interest than you planned.  Far easier to have 1 card for BT and a different one for spending.

cymruchris

Give us an idea of the balances outstanding in £ terms for each of your cards (round them up to the nearest £100 or similar). You don't need to mention which balance goes with which card - just say:

Card 1 £400
Card 2 £500
etc.

Are you actively pushing to pay off your credit card balance in general as quickly as possible? Do you have a target as to when to settle them by? Or are you aiming to pay minimum payment or close-to for some time yet?

Brie

Normally with a balance transfer you will be charged a fee for each BT you do.  So 5 cards, 5 fees.

The current BTs that I'm seeing on MBNA shows a fee of 5% with 0% interest being charged.  So if I transferred £1k that would be a fee of £50 added the transfer amount that I would then need to pay off.  To ensure there are few issues I always have my DD set for a minimum payment and let the card tick down each month until the BT deal ends at which point I ensure I pay the entire balance off at least a couple of days before the end date.  To miss that means I'd pay interest.   

You need to calculate if paying 5% once is better than whatever else might be charged if you didn't do the BT.  So if you have a balance on a card for which you pay 20% interest and are only paying the monthly minimum DD (normally about 2%) and if the BT deal might run for 12 months the difference you are looking at is £50 for the BT fee or paying about £160 in interest if you didn't do the BT.

The other thing of which you need to be careful is using the BT card for purchases.  Most cards only allow an interest free period for purchases if the balance is cleared every month.  So if you transfer £1k and are wanting to pay that off over a year but also use that card for purchases it is incredibly likely that any purchase will accrue interest from date of purchase - not from the date of the next statement or whatever.  That can be very expensive!  M&S cards work a bit differently but they are the exception.

So - in my opinion if you've got a nice shiny new Halifax card why not just use that for your purchases clearing in full each month.  Then see if one of the others (my guess would be Capital One) have any 0% BT offers and see if you want to move any of the money from the others to that card.  Depending on your limit on the receiving card start with the CC with the highest interest charge to save yourself the most money asap and then move on to the next.

cymruchris

Brie said:

Normally with a balance transfer you will be charged a fee for each BT you do.  So 5 cards, 5 fees.

5 cards 5 fees is the same as 1 card 1 fee if the balance was all sat on 1 card. It doesn't matter how many cards there are, it's the percentage that counts. 

Card 1 - £100 - fee 2.5% - £2.50
Card 2 - £100 - fee 2.5% - £2.50
Card 3 - £100 - fee 2.5% - £2.50
Card 4 - £100 - fee 2.5% - £2.50
Card 5 - £100 - fee 2.5% - £2.50

Total fee: £12.50

Or:

Card 1 - £500 - fee 2.5% - £12.50

Same thing

Brie

cymruchris said:

Brie said:

Normally with a balance transfer you will be charged a fee for each BT you do.  So 5 cards, 5 fees.

5 cards 5 fees is the same as 1 card 1 fee if the balance was all sat on 1 card. It doesn't matter how many cards there are, it's the percentage that counts. 
Same thing

Almost.  Some cards have a minimum fee so that might need to be taken into account.  And I was trying to state what others might see as obvious - that it's the receiving card that charges the fee and it gets added on to the amount to be paid off over time.  

cymruchris

Brie said:

cymruchris said:

Brie said:

Normally with a balance transfer you will be charged a fee for each BT you do.  So 5 cards, 5 fees.

5 cards 5 fees is the same as 1 card 1 fee if the balance was all sat on 1 card. It doesn't matter how many cards there are, it's the percentage that counts. 
Same thing

Almost.  Some cards have a minimum fee so that might need to be taken into account.  And I was trying to state what others might see as obvious - that it's the receiving card that charges the fee and it gets added on to the amount to be paid off over time.  

No doubt the OP will be back at some point to expand on the balances.

OP you mention that you think the APR's are all the same - I would hazard a guess that your new Halifax card at its standard APR will likely be better than all of the others you've listed. 

It might be worth going into each account/app or look at the statements to see what you're being charged on each balance - that'll also make it easier to work out whether transferring balances might be beneficial if doing so over a longer period. 

Himindoors70

Card 1 450
Card 2 500
Card 3 1000
Card 4 2250
Card 5 2700

Halifax card 1000

I just want everything on the one card,I have 900 to pay on card 5 and then all are fully loaded,I expect that to be paid in January 23.My idea was to attempt a balance transfer when all are paid up and like I say I don,t mind the fee,s if I can transfer all of the above onto my halifax credit card whilst keeping the same credit from the other cards.