Can I balance transfer credit cards and my overdraft onto a new 0% credit card?

kaka-e

Looking to consolidate my existing credit cards and also my overdraft onto one balance transfer card.  Is this possible and if so, what is it called? I'm unsure what exactly I'm searching for 

born_again

Overdraft NO.
Only way would be a money transfer card.

Balance transfer is for other credit cards.

kaka-e

Thanks, so I would need to have two cards, one money transfer and one balance transfer.  Is it possible to pay into my bank account from a credit card?

kaka-e

So I can avoid having two different cards?

born_again

kaka-e said:

Thanks, so I would need to have two cards, one money transfer and one balance transfer.  Is it possible to pay into my bank account from a credit card?

No you get a money transfer card that would cover the amount of your current debt.. If you can.

Paying into a bank account from a credit card is counted as cash. As such is usually very expensive interest rate + fee. So best avoided at all costs.

CliveOfIndia

As BA says, you can transfer the card balances onto another card.  For the overdraft, you'd need a Money Transfer card, whereby money is deposited into your current account and you use that to repay the overdraft.

For the card-to-card balance transfers, be aware that you can't transfer from one card to another one owned by the same banking group.  A quick Google will show you which bank owns which cards.  One I know offhand is that M&S is owned by HSBC, so you couldn't transfer between those two, for instance.

Do some eligibility checks first to get an idea of whether you're likely to be accepted.  Be aware that you might be offered a limit that is too low to transfer all your balances - in which case, transfer what you can.

flaneurs_lobster

My CC from Virgin allows both balance transfer and money transfer, so you can transfer up to 95% of your credit limit to your current account (and thus onwards to clear overdraft). 

vacheron

kaka-e said:

Thanks, so I would need to have two cards, one money transfer and one balance transfer.  Is it possible to pay into my bank account from a credit card?

Some cards offer both, but generally not both on a promo (like a 0% fee or something), however, one way to do this is to buy something expensive that you (or a friend or familty member) needs on your old card before you do the balance transfer, and then have them pay you back in cash which you can then use to pay down the overdraft.

kaka-e

Thanks, I was hoping there was something like a combo card but it appears that isn't the case.  I have 4 different credit cards plus my overdraft at the moment totalling £5000, so I suppose reducing it to two payments is an improvement

eskbanker

kaka-e said:

Thanks, I was hoping there was something like a combo card but it appears that isn't the case.  I have 4 different credit cards plus my overdraft at the moment totalling £5000, so I suppose reducing it to two payments is an improvement

Not necessarily - it may be from a psychological one, but consolidation in itself makes little difference financially and in fact often makes things worse when people in your position acquire additional lines of credit and fail to close down the old ones, ultimately increasing debt.  Minimum repayment levels can sometimes affect the comparison but lowering interest burden should be the key driver.

kaka-e

I feel that it would be easier to keep on top of fewer payments, as I'm having to be aware of when the interest free period expires on four cards at the moment.  The plan is to cut up the old cards so I don't have access to them