0% interest credit card transfers

fish1071

I've seen many times about transferring the balance from an existing credit card to a 0% interest one. Having been told that it will take 20 plus years to pay off my current cards at minimum payment rate, I am wondering if it's possible to transfer two existing cards to one 0% Interest card. Total combined debt for both is £1600. 
Any help appreciated.

EssexHebridean

It usually is, I think. I'm sure that when I've done 0% BTs in the past it's let me enter the first lot of details and then asked me if I want to add another transfer. 

If you haven't already seen it, the Martin Lewis Money Show from last night has a segment all about 0% transfers - it will probably be worth you watching. 

Brie

Yes it's possible as long as the new card with the 0% offer has a sufficient credit limit.  So if you have debt on 2 cards totaling £1600 the credit limit you need has to be around £1800 as your BTs can't exceed 90% of the limit with the transfer amount plus any fee charged.  Normally.

Other things to watch out for
- look for a card that is NOT in the same banking group as the ones you already have as you are unlikely to be able to transfer between them.
- always set up a DD to ensure the payment is made every month.  It can be for the minimum amount or something higher.  Make sure you are aware of the length of time of the 0% period.  So if it's 12 months you want to ensure that you have cleared the transferred amount before that ends else you normally get hit with the cash transfer interest rate.  So say the total at 0% is £1800 (including fee) and you have 12 months you might want to set the DD at £150 a month to ensure it's cleared in full.
- check the statements to ensure you can see precisely what date the offer ends.  It may be advertised as a 12 month offer but you might only have time to make 11 payments by DD.
- don't use the new BT card for purchases as they accrue interest from the day of purchase as you hadn't cleared the balance after the last statement.  I've only seen only card where this doesn't apply other than where you get a purchase offer along with your BT offer.  
- make sure you are applying for BT offer and not a money transfer offer.  They are similar but not the same and in my experience BT fees are less than MT ones.  

Also with a bit of fancy footwork you might be able to get BT offers on your current cards and transfer the balances across to the other but still working on the the above rules. 

MEM62

fish1071 said:

Having been told that it will take 20 plus years to pay off my current cards at minimum payment rate.

fish1071 said:

Total combined debt for both is £1600. 

You would not have to increase payments by much to vastly reduce that horizon.  If you cannot get any of this debt shifted to interest free, paying some extra each month would make a big difference to your situation.   

EssexHebridean

So - for any 0% cards AND any other cards that you have a balance on and ARE NOT USING. Set the monthly payment to be a little above the minimum - so if the minimum is £163 you might set your monthly to £170. That makes life better on two levels - firstly you pay the same amount each month which makes budgeting easier. Second, because the monthly amount stays static rather than tailing off as the balance falls, you make more impact on the balance in a faster timescale. Think of it as "stealth debt clearance". It is important that you keep an eye for anything from the card provider telling you that the percentage payable as a minimum is changing though - as an increase could leave you paying short if not spotted. Also that you never spend on a card you are treating in this way - as an increased balance will mean a new minimum potentially above the level you are paying at.  This approach can make a massive difference to the speed with which you clear the card. 

inthezeroroom

It would be better to look seriously at how quickly you can pay off the £1600 if you really try. If you can do it within a few months then the interest will be trivial. No need to mess about with balance transfers.

EssexHebridean

inthezeroroom said:

It would be better to look seriously at how quickly you can pay off the £1600 if you really try. If you can do it within a few months then the interest will be trivial. No need to mess about with balance transfers.

Allowing that at that level of balance this could be a fee free transfer I would disagree - even if just for a few months, no interest is better than the OP paying interest! 

CliveOfIndia

As has already been mentioned, yes you can transfer from any number of cards to a 0% BT card, as long as there's sufficient available credit on the BT card, and as long as you're not transferring from another card owned by the same "group".  You say you've got balances on current cards - are they standard credit cards?  The only reason I mention it is that sometimes you run into difficulties if you want to transfer from a store card to a BT card.  Some will allow it, some won't.

But in essence, the answer to your question is "yes".

One important thing to bear in mind is, once you've done the balance transfer, you must then prioritise paying off that card by the time the promotional rate expires - otherwise you're back to square one.  You can pay an amount each month (more than the minimum) such that the debt will be cleared when the promotional rate expires.  Or you can pay the minimum each month, and at the same time put money away into savings each month, so you've got the money available to pay off the balance when the time comes.

You may be able to shift any remaining balance to another BT card when this one expires - but there's absolutely no guarantee that you'll be able to do so.