Halifax balance transfer

Bluebirmingham

Hi 

First post as I'm trying to figure out what this means before I do it.

Halifax are offering me a balance transfer of 0% over 15 months with a 3% fee or 5.9% per annum over 30 months, no fee.

Can someone simply explain the cost of the 5.9% per annum if I were to transfer £2000. This account is currently at £0 so no extra fees would be considered.

I normally do balance transfer but 15 months wouldn't be enough for me to pay it off in full as I'm focusing on paying off a different credit card debt, so the majority of my debt pay would go towards this than the Halifax transfer.

Which is why I'm opting for the 30months but can't get my head around how much this would cost me and wether it would be worth me doing this.

Any help would be appreciated thank you

Altior

It depends on what the repayments are, as the 5.9% will be levied on the O/B each month.

You can do a broad cig packet calculation of the interest. Say the balance is £1500 on a statement then do £1500 * (0.059 / 12) = £7.38 (rounded) for that month. If you repay 1% then that would be £15, meaning the O/B only drops by £7.62. 

Consider that you may well have not fully cleared the £2K after 30 months, as your repayments will be somewhat offset by the added interest. 

You will end up paying much more interest than the fee unless it is quickly cleared down. Either way you need to have an exit plan, once the deal runs out. 

Nasqueron

Bluebirmingham said:

Hi 

First post as I'm trying to figure out what this means before I do it.

Halifax are offering me a balance transfer of 0% over 15 months with a 3% fee or 5.9% per annum over 30 months, no fee.

Can someone simply explain the cost of the 5.9% per annum if I were to transfer £2000. This account is currently at £0 so no extra fees would be considered.

I normally do balance transfer but 15 months wouldn't be enough for me to pay it off in full as I'm focusing on paying off a different credit card debt, so the majority of my debt pay would go towards this than the Halifax transfer.

Which is why I'm opting for the 30months but can't get my head around how much this would cost me and wether it would be worth me doing this.

Any help would be appreciated thank you

The question would be how quickly you could pay off your other debts while doing the minimum payments on the 0% offer and then look to do a BT again. You could also minimise interest even on the 30 month one by trying to BT it off again later

Bluebirmingham

The situation I'm in is that my main credit card  currently has £2500 standard balance gaining interest, a 0% ending Feb 26 £1033, 0% ending Sep 26 £5953. Max I can pay each month is £350 onto that card. Currently my interest this month is £45 on the standard balance. 

I also have another credit card which also has a 0% ending in May 27 which I'm not too worried about, currently paying £50 a month which will leave me with a little to pay when it runs out. 

I have also been pre approved for another balance transfer card 0% for 26 months but I am trying not to open a new card as my credit rating will drop again after I've been slowly building it back up.

I could potentially do the Halifax 0% transfer which will take a chunk out of my standard balance now saving me interest, but then that will reduce the amount I put onto my main credit and I'm worried that if I don't put close to the £350 a month I'm currently putting on, when the £5953 comes into play I'll be in the same situation again hoping there's a balance transfer available.

Sorry if too much info but trying to weigh up the pros and cons for each potential move.

Thanks again  

Nasqueron

Bluebirmingham said:

The situation I'm in is that my main credit card  currently has £2500 standard balance gaining interest, a 0% ending Feb 26 £1033, 0% ending Sep 26 £5953. Max I can pay each month is £350 onto that card. Currently my interest this month is £45 on the standard balance. 

I also have another credit card which also has a 0% ending in May 27 which I'm not too worried about, currently paying £50 a month which will leave me with a little to pay when it runs out. 

I have also been pre approved for another balance transfer card 0% for 26 months but I am trying not to open a new card as my credit rating will drop again after I've been slowly building it back up.

I could potentially do the Halifax 0% transfer which will take a chunk out of my standard balance now saving me interest, but then that will reduce the amount I put onto my main credit and I'm worried that if I don't put close to the £350 a month I'm currently putting on, when the £5953 comes into play I'll be in the same situation again hoping there's a balance transfer available.

Sorry if too much info but trying to weigh up the pros and cons for each potential move.

Thanks again  

Don't worry about the fake "rating" especially when it's costing you money in interest - better to have the hard search and pay no interest than have a monthly report of a card not on a promo rate not being cleared every month which looks far worse 

Jami74

Bluebirmingham said:

The situation I'm in is that my main credit card  currently has £2500 standard balance gaining interest. Currently my interest this month is £45 on the standard balance. 

I'd also say, ignore the score. It will go up if you pay your debts regularly but being high is no guarantee of getting new credit.

How much is your minimum payment each month on that £2500 card? I think Halifax charge a minimum payment of 2.5% which would be about £62.50 on £2500. Interest at 5.9 on that amount would be about £13 the first month, so less than the £45 you are currently paying. Obviously, if your current card is only charging you 1% minimum payment then you might not want to transfer to Halifax. If you went with the fee option you'd pay £75 so your starting balance would be £2575, your first minimum payment would be about £65.