Views on likelihood of banks pulling zero percent deals for BTs

stevehyn12

I saw that MSE is advising people this morning that banks are likely to pull zero percent deals on credit cards following the spike in interest rates and advising people to take deals when they can. I was going to move my current card balance to NatWest's zero fee deal later in the year when my current deal expires. Do you think I should go ahead and do this now, losing a few months of zero on my current deal? I know that banks can pull deals at any time, and obviously there is always a risk that deals can be pulled. But is it more risky than before to wait and losing a few months of zero would be worthwhile. 

Nebulous2

You need to make your own mind up, but peace of mind for an extended period might be worth it to you. 

0% and 0 fee deals are pretty scarce already, with the NatWest one being a bit of an outlier. 

However - even taking the hit with a deal which includes a fee is likely to be considerably better than letting your current deal roll onto interest.  

th081

I was going to wait until July and apply to my bank NatWest but last night browsing just applied to MBNA and got 10k for 14 months. I still had 1 months left on my virgin deal. It was worth it as without a zero deal I was looking at almost 4k interest across those 14 months 

th081

My taking the MBNA deal was not driven particularly by the threat of deals being pulled and to answer your question I think you should go for the 0% with zero fee. 

That deal might go but I think the general risk of 0% deals being pulled is low. It is a real money maker for the banks, entice people in with a zero deal and then some won't be able to leave at the end and you rake it in from interest. I read somewhere UK consumers pay 150 plus million a day in interest alone !

stevehyn12

It is more a cashflow management need for me rather than affordability, as I could pay it off in full, but would prefer a longer pay down period. NatWest was attractive as it is the only zero percent fee. Might just look at applying now and foregoing some of the zero percent time I have left on my current card. Thanks

fergie_

stevehyn12 said:

I saw that MSE is advising people this morning that banks are likely to pull zero percent deals on credit cards following the spike in interest rates and advising people to take deals when they can. 

I read that too this week. Strangely, last week I received some of the best balance transfers (for dormant existing cards) offers I had received in at least a couple of years. They had actually seemed to disappear toward the end of 2022 and when they came back, the fees were high and periods pretty short.

In answer to your question, what is your contingency if you don't get the offer you need? Sometimes better to take a shorter period or hedge your bets rather than waiting until the last minute. If for example you had an offer with 3 months to activate, it gives you much more of a window, however if its a no fee transfer and you can clear the balance in the allowed time, is there really a problem?

stevehyn12

fergie_ said:

In answer to your question, what is your contingency if you don't get the offer you need? Sometimes better to take a shorter period or hedge your bets rather than waiting until the last minute. If for example you had an offer with 3 months to activate, it gives you much more of a window, however if its a no fee transfer and you can clear the balance in the allowed time, is there really a problem?

My contingency would be to use cash savings, which of course would get built back up again if I didn't have a card to pay off. So not worrying about it from that perspective. Just would be easier for cashflow management

daivid

The last time 0% BT really dried up interest rates were near rock bottom. What will put banks of is if they think they become too risky i.e. people will end up failing to pay back. Currently that I know of Natwest group (3 cards in all), Sainsbury’s, HSBC and Barclay card all offer 0% zero fee cards. They are short term compared to the 'good old days' but there are enough there to keep a stooze pot going. If you are worried OP get the new card now you can then look again in 6-12 months.

HillStreetBlues

Just had a look at my TB "offers"
Best of them are
28 months 3% fee
15 months no fee

fergie_

HillStreetBlues said:

Just had a look at my TB "offers"
Best of them are
28 months 3% fee
15 months no fee

Is the no fee for an existing card? Who is that with? Its unusual to have them for existing customers.

FreeFallerSaver

fergie_ said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Just had a look at my TB "offers"
Best of them are
28 months 3% fee
15 months no fee

Is the no fee for an existing card? Who is that with? Its unusual to have them for existing customers.

Not that unusual in my experience with MBNA, I've had (and still have) no-fee BT offers on my card ever since I've had it.