Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

Moggles_2

PHILG wrote: »

Martin says you can apply for an unlimited amount of 0% deals. I think I have exhausted all the available 0% deals. My first question is that once you have used one card provider (and paid that card off obviously), surely they will not issue you another 0% one a year later, will they?

It's impossible to generalise. Lenders vary in this respect, as with everything else.

Some (eg. HSBC) will not consider applications from former cardholders in the 6 months following closure. The Royal Bank of Scotland stable (which includes Lombard Direct, Mint, NatWest, Tesco & Ulster Bank, as well as RBS itself) makes former customers wait 8 months and in the case of Egg, it's 12 months.

Former cardholders are free to re-apply for another Nationwide credit card, but do not qualify for the 0% introductory rate the second time round.

At the other extreme, there's Capital One, HBOS, Marks & Spencer and MBNA. They accept applicants a month or so after closure.

In all cases, it's advisable to check your credit reports to make certain the account is actually closed down and marked "settled" before you re-apply

Moggles_2

PHILG wrote: »

Secondly, aren't some of the banks related? For example Egg is run by MBNA, so you could not for example apply for an Egg card and then for an MBNA one. Is this right?

There's nothing to stop you from applying for cards issued by the same lender, but you cannot transfer balances between cards underwritten by the same bank.

Also, you may be handed a lower credit limit to compensate for the credit you have already on an existing account

Egg is an entirely separate operation from MBNA.

Moggles_2

PHILG wrote: »

Does anyone know where to find info on which banks are related?

There's a comprehensive list of card issuers here, which is hard to beat:

http://www.stoozing.com/cards.htm

PHILG_3

Thank you to all of you - that is all really useful. I will give it a go.....actually I just cancelled my NAtWest card and they said I could reapply in 8 months if I wanted - so guess it's whatever each one feels like at the time!

Lou33244

Hi there everyone, i'm new to this site, and hoping the great advice posted so far can continue to push me in the right direction. I have roughly 13500 worth of debt, the majority of it being an old loan. My finances went seriously down hill at the end of last year following a bad breakup and me being left with the brunt. To get back on my feet I enrolled a debt management company called Debt Line... That was in March! So far I have paid them £800 and just found out NONE of my creditors have heard from them!! :mad: I dont want to go down the road of IVA etc so decided that a Credit card to transfer these balances would be more suitable to help me manage, however I have been turned down by Capital One, Vanquis, Aqua and Bank of Scotland.

Is there any company out there who would take me on? I know my credit rating is now sooo low but I have a steady income, with my career looking more and more promising, and so far I have been doing really well. This would be the icing on the cake!!

Any advice would be much appreciated!!! x x x x

P.s Sorry for the novel!! lol:o

myownfault_2

Like most of these posts I write asking, nay begging, for advice from any nice/informed reader. I currently have £3200 on a Barclaycard with a limit of £3100 (ok, so obviously that is my first problem), my biggest problem is that I am on a 28.9% interest rate and can only afford to pay a minimum payment of £70-80 per month Also because I missed 1 month's payment i have now gone over my limit and can't afford to pay enough to bring it back down so am also incurring monthly charges.

I have a £700 overdraft with Barclays and £300 with Lloyds. I also pay £120 a month of a very low interest barclays graduate loan.

I have tried to apply for a Virgin Card to transfer my balance but was turned down. I also applied for an Alliance and Leicester bank account (with interest free o/draft) with the thinking that they then might be more inclined to give me a credit card if i banked with them - they turned me down.

I have not used my Barclaycard for over a year and have paid off nearly £1000 but have not reduced the balance at all.

Any advice/suggestions very much appreciated.

Also more specifically does anyone know when you transfer a balance to a cc does it have to be from a cc in your name. Eg could my mum get a cc that offers interest free balance transfers and transfer my card on to it?

JimmyTheWig

Lou33244 wrote: »

I have roughly 13500 worth of debt, the majority of it being an old loan.
...
decided that a Credit card to transfer these balances would be more suitable to help me manage, however I have been turned down by Capital One, Vanquis, Aqua and Bank of Scotland.

There may well be a problem on your credit file. You can check these for free. Do so. There may be a mistake on there that is causing these rejections.
But also, many applications hurt your credit record. The fact that you have applied for 4 credit cards (presumably recently) will make it harder to be accepted elsewhere.
Moreover, I don't rate your chances of getting a decent balance transfer deal for the sorts of amounts that you are looking for when you are finding it hard to get any card at all.
Your question may be better off in a new thread, because I'm not sure that a balance transfer is the right solution. Can you meet your current minimum repayments? What interest rates are you paying on what debts?

JimmyTheWig

myownfault wrote: »

I currently have £3200 on a Barclaycard with a limit of £3100 (ok, so obviously that is my first problem), my biggest problem is that I am on a 28.9% interest rate and can only afford to pay a minimum payment of £70-80 per month
...
I have not used my Barclaycard for over a year and have paid off nearly £1000 but have not reduced the balance at all.

That is exactly the problem with the minimum payments. By paying £70-£80 a month all you are doing is paying the interest, not reducing the debt. If you could increase these payments, even to, say, £90 a month that would start to help. But even that would then take many years to clear.
I'm assuming from what you have said that you can't really afford to pay off much more than this each month. Is there anything you can do to bring in more money (second job, selling stuff on eBay, etc)?
The other thing that you really could do with is getting that interest rate down. A balance transfer is the ideal way to do this, but this isn't looking promising.

Also more specifically does anyone know when you transfer a balance to a cc does it have to be from a cc in your name. Eg could my mum get a cc that offers interest free balance transfers and transfer my card on to it?

Yes, there is no problem with this. Note, however, that the debt would then be in your mum's name. If the credit card company didn't get their money it is your mum's door the baliffs would come knocking at and your mum's stuff they would take.
If she is prepared to do this for you then this may be your answer.

nigey_claim

Hi there all, Wanted to post to share experience with Barclaycard being absolutely rubbish - despite highlighted on the MSE site as the best of the best at the moment.

I started BT tarting last year with a Virgin Card 0% 15 months with around 2k debt (on top of other fixed rate loan). As this came to an end in November 2008 I started to look around for the next move for me. As my credit is quite good, I decided to keep going for a 0% rate deal and following MSE advice for one of the Barclaycards (the one pulse one with an Oyster card feature on it).

Applied online - including a nice flashy feature of a real-time-chat with a female advisor to help with any questions - and got a confirmation screen saying "thank you, your application is being processed, please call this 0844.... number with any questions...we'll let you know".

Waiting 2.5 weeks ish, and hadn't heard anything (Expected a written request for more ID etc). Speaking to the (quite abrupt/rude/hard to hear & talk to) call center they seemed to have no record of my application.

Applied again online (same message on screen) and rang back a few times to check they had it this time. Around 4 times the rep said the system was down, then finally someone said again they had no record of my application. There were no other customer services options to raise the complaint to??!!

So then applied with that rep by phone and got about 8 minutes in to the process, when my mobile reception cut out. Rang back and they had my application on the system (hurrah!) but because it got interrupted it now had a status of "Cancelled" which was eqivalent of declined apparently, meaning I couldn't apply again with them now for 3 months!!! Unless I went into a branch where they might be able to help me.

Bit p***ed now, and started to worry that I might be affected by one or more credit checks having been made. Went to the local branch of barclays who said 'ah what a shame, our system is down so can't do an electronic app with realtime decision, I can fill in a paper app form with you if you like. Oh and also to be honest have no idea whether we can influence a policy of not applying within 3 months again.....'

:mad: Useless. Went back to MSE website, browsed Tescos and Halifax which actually had a better deal (Still 0% for roughly same fee and same duration, but not limited o% only for BTs in the first 3 months - They both have the promotional rate applicable for any BT in the 15/13 month period - like my previous Virgin deal).

Applied online for Tescos with a nice experience, real time decision within 3 minutes of starting to fill out the first page including a quoted credit limit there and then. Fantastic.:beer:

Barclaycard - seemed appalling. Not sure if just that card, or a current problem with their acquisitions systems and customer servicing arrangements (outsourced offshore?).

Tescos - great.


BTW - I work at Amex and work with some of the acquisitions and loyalty areas!!! nice to see a compeitor doing such an appalling job - worse than some of our pieces!!


Nigeyclaim, Sussex.:T

dubsola

Greetings money-savers!

Quick question, hope nobody has asked and answered it already, but after reading ten of fifty pages I have lost the ability to read.

Is it possible to do a balance transfer from a card in someone else's name? I'd imagine so, but just thought I'd check.

Thanks in advance.