5 credit cards into one?

Ebe_Scrooge

Himindoors70 said:

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,

Hang on, are those the credit limits you've quoted, or the outstanding balance?  What do you mean by "fully loaded" - do you mean cleared?

Himindoors70 said:

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.

I'm struggling to understand what you mean, or indeed what your goal is.  If the cards are all "paid up" (cleared, i.e. zero balance??) then you wouldn't have a balance to transfer.

Would it be possible to explain in a little more detail exactly what your goal is?  It doesn't make an awful lot of sense to pay a Balance Transfer fee for a relatively small amount of £900, assuming that the interest rate you'd be paying on your Halifax card would only be marginally better than what you're currently paying (I assume it's not a 0% promotional rate?).  If you're on track to clear all your cards in a couple of months then just do that.

Himindoors70

Sorry my wordings not helping here.My final goal is to keep all the credit from the 5 cards and have it all added to the Halifax card. Yes these are credit limits and I still owe £900 on card 5,when thats paid all cards will have zero balance and I will be fully loaded credit wise,only wanted to know if this credit can be shifted to the halifax card and the other cards cut up,I understand there will be fees for each card.

MorningcoffeeIV

Still as clear as mud. What does 'fully loaded credit wise' mean? 

You can't transfer credit. You can only transfer debt.

cymruchris

Himindoors70 said:

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.

So £6900 across Cards 1 - 5 - and a £1000 already on Halifax.

What's the limit on the Halifax card?

This is where a bit more detail on the APR's would be useful - but to run an example aimed at clearing the balance without any further spend:

Staying as you are:

Cards 1 - 5 plus your Halifax balance  - leaving them as they are - average APR 30% (I think your APR's on Cards 1-5 will be higher than this though)

Total debt £7900 - making a payment of £400 a month across the cards until settled.

You'd repay the total balance by February 2025 and the interest would cost you £2597.


Transferring all the balances:

The percentage you pay for a transfer varies by credit history - but for example let's say it's 5% - so you move all the balances (£6900) across to Halifax - that'll be a £345 fee to add to your balance.

So now you've got your original £1000 + Transfer of £6900 + fee of £345 - total: £8245

So same as 'staying as you were' - paying £400 a month to Halifax until cleared- you'd repay the balance by March 2025 and the interest would cost you £2881.



So on the face of it - moving everything to one card if everything else stayed the same would be £284 MORE in interest. 

(To get more accurate figures - you'd have to delve into providing APR's and the balance transfer fee if you were offered one -  - I'm not sure I'd bother transferring the balances - and keep working to reduce the debt)

So by NOT transferring the debt - and paying it off through your existing cards - based on the above example - you'd 'potentially' save the value of a brand new TV:

Ebe_Scrooge

Himindoors70 said:

Sorry my wordings not helping here.My final goal is to keep all the credit from the 5 cards and have it all added to the Halifax card. Yes these are credit limits and I still owe £900 on card 5,when thats paid all cards will have zero balance and I will be fully loaded credit wise,only wanted to know if this credit can be shifted to the halifax card and the other cards cut up,I understand there will be fees for each card.

OK, so the simple answer to the first part of the question is yes, you can potentially shift the debt from the other cards to the Halifax card - if they give you a balance transfer offer.  But ... you say the Halifax card has a £1000 limit, and you want to transfer £900 to it?  Add in the Balance transfer fee, and you're going to be close to the £1000 limit, meaning you'll not be able to use the Halifax card for any further spending.  So what benefit would that give you?  If anything, you'll be paying a BT fee pretty much needlessly.  Just pay off the £900 by January as you said you'll be able to, job done.

Secondly, why do you want to be "fully loaded credit wise" if you're planning on cutting up the cards?  What's the point in having available credit if you're not planning on using it - responsibly, of course?

Just pay off the remaining £900, then keep the Halifax card for responsible everyday spending in the future, if that's what you're wanting to do.

EDIT.  Actually, I've just thought - do you mean you want to have the available credit limit from your existing cards moved onto your Halifax card?  You can't do this.  You can, as mentioned earlier, potentially shift outstanding debt from other cards, but you can't port limits across.  If you want a higher credit limit you can ask Halifax if they'll give you an increased limit.  They'll either say yes or no.

Zuzi

Do you mean you want to have the total of the current 5 cards' limits as the credit limit on the Halifax CC?

That is not possible. If you have no outstanding balance your total credit limit will of course remain whatever the sum of the five is. But you can't move *that* onto a single card, it will remain on the individual 5 cards.

Brie

Himindoors70 said:

Sorry my wordings not helping here.My final goal is to keep all the credit from the 5 cards and have it all added to the Halifax card. Yes these are credit limits and I still owe £900 on card 5,when thats paid all cards will have zero balance and I will be fully loaded credit wise,only wanted to know if this credit can be shifted to the halifax card and the other cards cut up,I understand there will be fees for each card.

Nope - doesn't work that way.  You can't move your available credit from one card to another.

What you could do is cancel/close any card that is fully paid off and then ask Halifax to increase your limit.  You will need to have a gap between when close the card and when  you ask for an increase so that Halifax can do whatever checks to see if this works for them.  I've had best success with increasing a card limit when I wanted to do something specific like use is to pay for a car.

Himindoors70

Clear as mud now..I can,t transfer credit only debt! Thanks all for your help.I will keep everything as it is.

cymruchris

Himindoors70 said:

Clear as mud now..I can,t transfer credit only debt! Thanks all for your help.I will keep everything as it is.

I misunderstood what you were asking

If as other's have said - it's moving the credit limits - not what you owe - then no that can't be done.

You can request credit limit increases from any of the cards at any time - but they'll decide whether or not to grant them based on your history and circumstances.  (Some card providers have specific 'rules' as to when and why you can request an increase - such as having the card for 6 months).

My first credit card post-bankruptcy had a £400 limit - I've just had an increased limit on one of my existing cards that's taken my available credit to £40k. So over time, with a well-managed credit history - increases are possible - but it isn't something that happens in the space of a few months. 

fatbelly

Himindoors70 said:

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

Halifax card 1000

See if you can get any 0% deals. If not, try the credit card shuffle.

Both strategies are in this factsheet

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards/

Hope you get debt-free soon