Least damage possible....

Jono2000

hi all, I've got a 12-24 month requirement for a lot of unsecured cash to complete a holiday villa project.

What would be better for my credit score, and leave most options open - get a loan from the bank, then use the Credit card cash transfer offers on my 4 (empty) credit cards currently?

Or the other way around... take advantage of the 0% cash transfer offers (with a charge, so not really 0%), and then get a loan to finish my project.

Total amount needed approx £40k on current predictions.

Which approach hits my credit record the least?

Nasqueron

Ignore the gimmick credit score, nobody but you sees it

A loan will entail a new hard search on your file either way. 

Given the debt will be the same near enough, the 0% cards will be marked as promotional rate so is better for your credit history 

A loan at the end would be based on the assumption you are going to spend it, not pay off the cards, as they cannot force you to do that, so any loan amount will be done based on loan + CC debt and if that is affordable - so paying down the CC more than minimum AND having a plan to pay them off if you can't get a loan would be sensible.

CliveOfIndia

It makes no difference from the point of view of your credit file.  Your score is completely immaterial, but any lender will be interested in the amount of debt you're carrying - they don't care where that debt is sitting.

If you take advantage of a Money Transfer offer on your credit cards then that's likely to be at a reasonably low rate of interest.  You do have to factor in the fee, as you've already noted.  But the other major consideration is that you must be able to clear the cards when the promotional rate expires.  You may be able to transfer any remaining balance to another BT card, but it is a dangerous gamble to just assume you'll be able to get accepted for one - or one with a high enough limit.

From that perspective a loan is kind of a safer bet - you know how much you'll be paying every month, and you know that after 24 months or whatever, it'll be paid off.  But there's a good chance that you'll pay a higher rate of interest on a loan compared to a MT offer.

In summary, it makes no difference to your credit file, you need to do the sums and just work out which option will cost you least in interest.  But do bear in mind the caveat about having to pay off the credit cards in time, if you decide to go for that option.