Credit Card Balance Transfer

lindabea

Just wondering if it would be acceptable to take out a zero balance transfer card and do a bal transfer to another credit card that has a zero balance on it.  So for example, transfer £1000 to an old credit card with zero bal, giving you £1000 credit bal and while you spend on that card you don't need to make any payments as all transactions will be offset against that credit bal.  In the meantime, you don't incur any charges on the new card as it's 0% interest and 0% bal charges.    

Brie

No need to do a transfer until you have started to spend money.  And besides most CCs don't like (sometimes won't allow) you to have a credit balance.  Might work for a couple of days but you run the risk of the amount being bounced back to the BT card which means you will have the transfer fee to pay but be no better off.  

So better to spend on C2 and when you get your statement do a BT from C1 for just that amount so no interest is charged.  Repeat the following month assuming you still have a suitable balance available on C1.  Nowt the matter with doing £600 in month 1 and another £200 in month 2.  If you have a available balance of £1000 you will need to ensure you take account of the fees.  So if there's a 5% fee BTing £600 will cost you £30 so you will have only another £370 available.  Check the T&Cs as most cards will only allow 90% BTd so you may only be able to shift £900 total.

Also, stating the obvious, ensure that you have at least a minimum DD set up on your cards to avoid causing them to cancel the deal and you immediately reverting to a silly interest rate.    

grumbler

lindabea said:

Just wondering if it would be acceptable to take out a zero balance transfer card and do a bal transfer to another credit card that has a zero balance on it.  So for example, transfer £1000 to an old credit card with zero bal, giving you £1000 credit bal

Sometimes you can get away with this, but generally this isn't acceptable as is against all CCs T&C to put them in credit deliberately.

lindabea

Thank you for your replies.  I didn't realise that having a credit balance on a credit card is against the T&C.  Can I please clarify a couple more questions:

1 When you do a bal transfer, would the transfer be treated as a payment coming from you, or would the provider still expects a payment from you to avoid a 'missed payment' and reported to CRA's

2 When you take out a bal transfer card, can you specify the 16 digit number of your debit card instead of another credit card so that the money will be in your bank account.  

grumbler

lindabea said:

1 When you do a bal transfer, would the transfer be treated as a payment coming from you, or would the provider still expects a payment from you to avoid a 'missed payment' and reported to CRA's

2 When you take out a bal transfer card, can you specify the 16 digit number of your debit card instead of another credit card so that the money will be in your bank account.  

1. It will be treated as a payment. It doesn't matter where any  payment comes from.
2. Balance transfers are only for (from) credit cards. If you want cash in your current account, you need a money transfer and will give your bank account details, not a debit card number.

lindabea

grumbler said:

lindabea said:

1 When you do a bal transfer, would the transfer be treated as a payment coming from you, or would the provider still expects a payment from you to avoid a 'missed payment' and reported to CRA's

2 When you take out a bal transfer card, can you specify the 16 digit number of your debit card instead of another credit card so that the money will be in your bank account.  

1. It will be treated as a payment. It doesn't matter where any  payment comes from.
2. Balance transfers are only for (from) credit cards. If you want cash in your current account, you need a money transfer and will give your bank account details, not a debit card number.

Thank you for your explanation.  After I put the question, I looked at the T&C's of the Natwest credit card, and although there is no fee for BT,(only if MADE IN THE FIRST  3 MONTHS) it states that they charge 2.05% for MT.  So very glad I checked.