Balance transfer to another person?

MoneyMon555

I have credit cards with balance transfer options on them (some with 3% fee , some 3.4% fee), that I have never used and have no spending on at all - If I were to transfer a balance to a family member to pay off their credit card, then other than the fees incurred, do you foresee any issues? Thanks (and by issues, I don't mean personal ones with family member, I mean financial ones around the transfer)

CliveOfIndia

Some lenders won't allow you to transfer someone else's debt to your card, though anecdotally there's usually no problem if you do the BT online rather than over the phone.

More importantly, you must understand that if you do BT their debt to your card, the debt then becomes solely your responsibility.  It's your responsibility to repay the debt, and you have absolutely no come-back whatsoever against the family member (if, for instance, they've promised to repay you but fail to do so).

MoneyMon555

Many thanks for info. I appreciate the advice

Alex9384

CliveOfIndia said:

Some lenders won't allow you to transfer someone else's debt to your card, though anecdotally there's usually no problem if you do the BT online rather than over the phone.

I've never heard of this. Isn't that against T&C? I don't think it's difficult for them to find out the cardholder's name?

DullGreyGuy

Alex9384 said:

CliveOfIndia said:

Some lenders won't allow you to transfer someone else's debt to your card, though anecdotally there's usually no problem if you do the BT online rather than over the phone.

I've never heard of this. Isn't that against T&C? I don't think it's difficult for them to find out the cardholder's name?

It may be but like all the sole traders using a personal bank account for their business many banks decide to turn a blind eye to it.

Pre the open banking reforms it wouldnt have been easy for them to check who the monies were being transferred to beyond who the issuing bank was. In theory now it should be simple for them to check however its something that would require IT budget to build and so may or may not have been done... certainly was able to do cross name BTs last year with two different card issuers. 

horsewithnoname

MoneyMon555 said:

I have credit cards with balance transfer options on them (some with 3% fee , some 3.4% fee), that I have never used and have no spending on at all - If I were to transfer a balance to a family member to pay off their credit card, then other than the fees incurred, do you foresee any issues? Thanks (and by issues, I don't mean personal ones with family member, I mean financial ones around the transfer)

I’ve done it quite a few times, always done it on line and never had an issue. This is from someone with a totally different name and address to me. 

MoneyMon555

Ok, done this and it would seem that a BT from my TSB to Halifax will not work (and I would imagine it is as the above person mentions), but other providers it does work fine (Virgin and Barclays)