Balance Transfer To Credit Card

byronwells

I am very sorry to ask this because I am not sure if this is possible or not so please bear with me because I am new to credit cards, etc

I have got a Nationwide Member Credit Card, or a a MBNA Credit Card..  However my wife has just admitted something to me that I am totally shocked about..  She has got an Ocean Credit card and owes about £1,500 on it and she is paying back over £100 per month to it

I am wondering if I am able to take over her debt as such?  Transferred her balance to one of my cards?  Because at the moment the minimum payment is about £25 or £35 per month.. A lot less

kimwp

How is your minimum payment calculated? (It's different for different cards)

You want the debt to be on the lowest interest possible.

Brie

I have found that MBNA have frequently (almost continuously!) offered me 0% balance transfers with a fee of about 5% of the amount being transferred.  Furthermore they seem to be unconcerned about whose card you transfer to and from.  So my OH's MBNA card has been used for a BT to my M&S card when we've made a special high value purchase (car or similar).  So that seems completely doable.  

That said - by transferring to your card the debt then becomes yours.  I suspect you already knew that but thought it best to mention it.  And what is your wife going to do about her Ocean card?  Is she going to stop using it?  Last thing you want is this to become a revolving door solution for her.   Also with a BT there's a set period for it to be at 0% and you need a plan to pay it off by then.  Setting aside enough is one way or you can also set your monthly DD with MBNA to a certain amount to pay the same amount every month rather than the minimum so you clear it completely within the set period. 

Altior

The minimum payment is [almost] irrelevant. It's not a great idea to have the regular payment set to the minimum, as that will flag up on credit files. Set a fixed amount just over the minimum if it can be done (ideally higher if the account is attracting interest).

What is significant is the interest rate being paid vs the interest rate on the card that the balance is potentially being shifted toward. 

Brie

Altior said:

What is significant is the interest rate being paid vs the interest rate on the card that the balance is potentially being shifted toward. 

Even a regular BT on MBNA is likely to only be charged at maybe 26%?  While Ocean is more likely to be nearly twice that.  48% maybe?  so any BT is likely to help.  But stopping the spending on Ocean is important as well.  

Altior

Brie said:

Altior said:

What is significant is the interest rate being paid vs the interest rate on the card that the balance is potentially being shifted toward. 

Even a regular BT on MBNA is likely to only be charged at maybe 26%?  While Ocean is more likely to be nearly twice that.  48% maybe?  so any BT is likely to help.  But stopping the spending on Ocean is important as well.  

That may be true, however MBNA minimum payment is 1% of the balance. So the interest being paid on MBNA overall could easily end up being much more overall to clear the balance down.

I suppose there's three elements for the OP to consider overall. The rate, the length of time to clear the balance, and the regular payment affordability. The point I was aiming at is that the minimum payment is not necessarily related to the overall cost (ie that a lower minimum payment is generally a bad thing if the account is attracting interest). 

The MBNA offers that give a much lower rate over a specified period of time with no fee would be well worth considering (ensuring to clear the promo balance over the offer period). 

Brie

Altior said:

Brie said:

Altior said:

What is significant is the interest rate being paid vs the interest rate on the card that the balance is potentially being shifted toward. 

Even a regular BT on MBNA is likely to only be charged at maybe 26%?  While Ocean is more likely to be nearly twice that.  48% maybe?  so any BT is likely to help.  But stopping the spending on Ocean is important as well.  

That may be true, however MBNA minimum payment is 1% of the balance. So the interest being paid on MBNA overall could easily end up being much more overall to clear the balance down.

I suppose there's three elements for the OP to consider overall. The rate, the length of time to clear the balance, and the regular payment affordability. The point I was aiming at is that the minimum payment is not necessarily related to the overall cost (ie that a lower minimum payment is generally a bad thing if the account is attracting interest). 

The MBNA offers that give a much lower rate over a specified period of time with no fee would be well worth considering (ensuring to clear the promo balance over the offer period). 

Quite true - which is why I suggested setting a payment that would clear the balance over a set number of months rather than just the minimum.  But still the most important thing is stopping the spending on Ocean.

enthusiasticsaver

Ideally she would not be paying minimum on credit cards.  Is the credit card at 0%?  That is the question to be asked. If she is able to move it to a 0% card to save on interest and then repay as she is at £100 a month it will be gone in 15 months.  

Why do you want to take over her debt? 

Altior

Brie said:

Altior said:

Brie said:

Altior said:

What is significant is the interest rate being paid vs the interest rate on the card that the balance is potentially being shifted toward. 

Even a regular BT on MBNA is likely to only be charged at maybe 26%?  While Ocean is more likely to be nearly twice that.  48% maybe?  so any BT is likely to help.  But stopping the spending on Ocean is important as well.  

That may be true, however MBNA minimum payment is 1% of the balance. So the interest being paid on MBNA overall could easily end up being much more overall to clear the balance down.

I suppose there's three elements for the OP to consider overall. The rate, the length of time to clear the balance, and the regular payment affordability. The point I was aiming at is that the minimum payment is not necessarily related to the overall cost (ie that a lower minimum payment is generally a bad thing if the account is attracting interest). 

The MBNA offers that give a much lower rate over a specified period of time with no fee would be well worth considering (ensuring to clear the promo balance over the offer period). 

Quite true - which is why I suggested setting a payment that would clear the balance over a set number of months rather than just the minimum.  But still the most important thing is stopping the spending on Ocean.

Yep! It doesn't look like they'll return to the thread, but my key take out of the OP was that it seemed like the concern was the amount of the minimum payment over and above anything else. If all the OPs wife is going to do is pay the minimum balance off whatever card, they'd end up better off in the long run with a card that has a higher rate and a large mp (as the lowest mp is the worst with that scenario). 

I recall many years ago my Dad had some kind of credit account (Dixons) that had a tiny minimum payment and very high APR. He'd been making payments for years and the balance hadn't budged! There are of course ways this could be achieved in the OP wife's case paying zero interest. But I felt it was prudent to point out that a lower minimum payment does not equal better. Even possibly in the case where the APR is a higher one.