Balance Transfers

grimble37

I'm pretty new to this type of thing. I've just opened a 0% balance transfer credit card with natwest with 13 month interest free period. I've transferred my 1st ever stoozed balance from my Barclaycard as it was coming to an end and I'm wondering wether I can transfer the small balance from my m&s card too and also, I've just opened a Santander edge credit card with 2% cashback, can I transfer the balance of that once or more times until my balance transfer window closes? 

Nebulous2

All of that should be fine, particularly if your offer from NatWest is fee-free. 

Remember that transfers may not be instantaneous, and you still need to make the minimum payments on the other cards while waiting for the transfer to go through. 

You would also want to avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card and ensure you know when the balance transfer window closes to make sure you don't go over it. Start date may be the date of application, not when you received the card. 

grimble37

Nebulous2 said:

All of that should be fine, particularly if your offer from NatWest is fee-free. 

Remember that transfers may not be instantaneous, and you still need to make the minimum payments on the other cards while waiting for the transfer to go through. 

You would also want to avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card and ensure you know when the balance transfer window closes to make sure you don't go over it. Start date may be the date of application, not when you received the card. 

Thanks, what are the rules when putting in the amount I want to 'transfer' as I noticed that what really happens is natwest just pay the amount that I put down into my Barclaycard, could I have put more down and they would have just sent more money to the barclaycard? 

Nasqueron

grimble37 said:

Nebulous2 said:

All of that should be fine, particularly if your offer from NatWest is fee-free. 

Remember that transfers may not be instantaneous, and you still need to make the minimum payments on the other cards while waiting for the transfer to go through. 

You would also want to avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card and ensure you know when the balance transfer window closes to make sure you don't go over it. Start date may be the date of application, not when you received the card. 

Thanks, what are the rules when putting in the amount I want to 'transfer' as I noticed that what really happens is natwest just pay the amount that I put down into my Barclaycard, could I have put more down and they would have just sent more money to the barclaycard? 

You put the amount you want to pay off the old card in the transfer e.g. if you have a balance of £10k, you transfer £10k and that pays off the amount. Putting the card in credit e.g. transferring £11k is against the terms of the card, at best it will be returned, at worst, the card closed.

You can transfer any number of times within the terms allowed by the new card, provided that the amount is not more than the limit of the new card (plus fee - not in this case but if there was a fee for example as it's added to the total)

grimble37

Nebulous2 said:

All of that should be fine, particularly if your offer from NatWest is fee-free. 

Remember that transfers may not be instantaneous, and you still need to make the minimum payments on the other cards while waiting for the transfer to go through. 

You would also want to avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card and ensure you know when the balance transfer window closes to make sure you don't go over it. Start date may be the date of application, not when you received the card. 

When you say I should avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card what do you mean by that please? 

grimble37

Nasqueron said:

grimble37 said:

Nebulous2 said:

All of that should be fine, particularly if your offer from NatWest is fee-free. 

Remember that transfers may not be instantaneous, and you still need to make the minimum payments on the other cards while waiting for the transfer to go through. 

You would also want to avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card and ensure you know when the balance transfer window closes to make sure you don't go over it. Start date may be the date of application, not when you received the card. 

Thanks, what are the rules when putting in the amount I want to 'transfer' as I noticed that what really happens is natwest just pay the amount that I put down into my Barclaycard, could I have put more down and they would have just sent more money to the barclaycard? 

You put the amount you want to pay off the old card in the transfer e.g. if you have a balance of £10k, you transfer £10k and that pays off the amount. Putting the card in credit e.g. transferring £11k is against the terms of the card, at best it will be returned, at worst, the card closed.

You can transfer any number of times within the terms allowed by the new card, provided that the amount is not more than the limit of the new card (plus fee - not in this case but if there was a fee for example as it's added to the total)

Is the 'minimum payment' what I have to select each time I go on a card for stoozing? I did this on the last barclaycard and found myself having to spend this amount again the following month, is that a normal thing to do? 

CliveOfIndia

grimble37 said:

When you say I should avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card what do you mean by that please? 

It means that once you've transferred the balances, don't go and use the card like an ordinary credit card for buying your shopping with.  Just leave the balance transfers on there and repay the balance over time, making sure you clear it in full by the time the promotional rate expires.

The reason behind this is because of how interest is calculated.  If you've only got BTs on there at 0% then it's fine.  But any purchases will attract interest at the card's standard APR.

But the clincher is that, in common with every standard card, purchase interest is only waived if you pay the balance in full when the statement arrives.  So if you've got a £1000 balance transfer on there and you spend £100, you'd need to repay £1100 at the end of the month, not just the £100 spending.

There are a few cards (I think Barclaycard is one?) which will separate out the BT and spending, so you could just repay the £100 + minimum on the BT and you'd be fine.  But that's the exception rather than the rule - usually, if you spend on a BT card then you have to repay the full balance to avoid interest.

grimble37

CliveOfIndia said:

grimble37 said:

When you say I should avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card what do you mean by that please? 

It means that once you've transferred the balances, don't go and use the card like an ordinary credit card for buying your shopping with.  Just leave the balance transfers on there and repay the balance over time, making sure you clear it in full by the time the promotional rate expires.

The reason behind this is because of how interest is calculated.  If you've only got BTs on there at 0% then it's fine.  But any purchases will attract interest at the card's standard APR.

But the clincher is that, in common with every standard card, purchase interest is only waived if you pay the balance in full when the statement arrives.  So if you've got a £1000 balance transfer on there and you spend £100, you'd need to repay £1100 at the end of the month, not just the £100 spending.

There are a few cards (I think Barclaycard is one?) which will separate out the BT and spending, so you could just repay the £100 + minimum on the BT and you'd be fine.  But that's the exception rather than the rule - usually, if you spend on a BT card then you have to repay the full balance to avoid interest.

Well I had no idea about that, but I think mine is a 0% purchases card for 13 month as well, surely I can spend on that without any interest?

Edit, it's 3 month I have 0% on purchases

Nasqueron

grimble37 said:

Nasqueron said:

grimble37 said:

Nebulous2 said:

All of that should be fine, particularly if your offer from NatWest is fee-free. 

Remember that transfers may not be instantaneous, and you still need to make the minimum payments on the other cards while waiting for the transfer to go through. 

You would also want to avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card and ensure you know when the balance transfer window closes to make sure you don't go over it. Start date may be the date of application, not when you received the card. 

Thanks, what are the rules when putting in the amount I want to 'transfer' as I noticed that what really happens is natwest just pay the amount that I put down into my Barclaycard, could I have put more down and they would have just sent more money to the barclaycard? 

You put the amount you want to pay off the old card in the transfer e.g. if you have a balance of £10k, you transfer £10k and that pays off the amount. Putting the card in credit e.g. transferring £11k is against the terms of the card, at best it will be returned, at worst, the card closed.

You can transfer any number of times within the terms allowed by the new card, provided that the amount is not more than the limit of the new card (plus fee - not in this case but if there was a fee for example as it's added to the total)

Is the 'minimum payment' what I have to select each time I go on a card for stoozing? I did this on the last barclaycard and found myself having to spend this amount again the following month, is that a normal thing to do? 

The card will be set as the minimum payment if that is what you setup on the DD when you applied for it, else you can do it in the NatWest app. I have a NW BT card and the minimum is 1% but I pay a fixed amount every month (more than minimum) as I don't like paying minimum and then clearing the balance at the end as it's a psychological thing for me to worry I might not be able to clear it

I do not spend on the card though, just clear the balance down monthly

grimble37

Nasqueron said:

grimble37 said:

Nasqueron said:

grimble37 said:

Nebulous2 said:

All of that should be fine, particularly if your offer from NatWest is fee-free. 

Remember that transfers may not be instantaneous, and you still need to make the minimum payments on the other cards while waiting for the transfer to go through. 

You would also want to avoid making any purchases on the balance transfer card and ensure you know when the balance transfer window closes to make sure you don't go over it. Start date may be the date of application, not when you received the card. 

Thanks, what are the rules when putting in the amount I want to 'transfer' as I noticed that what really happens is natwest just pay the amount that I put down into my Barclaycard, could I have put more down and they would have just sent more money to the barclaycard? 

You put the amount you want to pay off the old card in the transfer e.g. if you have a balance of £10k, you transfer £10k and that pays off the amount. Putting the card in credit e.g. transferring £11k is against the terms of the card, at best it will be returned, at worst, the card closed.

You can transfer any number of times within the terms allowed by the new card, provided that the amount is not more than the limit of the new card (plus fee - not in this case but if there was a fee for example as it's added to the total)

Is the 'minimum payment' what I have to select each time I go on a card for stoozing? I did this on the last barclaycard and found myself having to spend this amount again the following month, is that a normal thing to do? 

The card will be set as the minimum payment if that is what you setup on the DD when you applied for it, else you can do it in the NatWest app. I have a NW BT card and the minimum is 1% but I pay a fixed amount every month (more than minimum) as I don't like paying minimum and then clearing the balance at the end as it's a psychological thing for me to worry I might not be able to clear it

I do not spend on the card though, just clear the balance down monthly

Yes, it was OK for me to spend the minimum balance that I'd paid again the following month on my last 24 month 0%, purchases but I can see now I can't be doing it on this card, thank heavens I found out about this, I didn't know they'd charge interest on the full balance if I spent some after my 0% purchase period. 

laidbacklady

Hi
I applied for a Tesco balance transfer card 5 days ago. I was pre-approved,a couple of identify and fraud checks were required,but that should have been straightforward. I have not heard anything from Tesco. How long should it take?