Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

supasavabun

Hi there- i am new here but just wanted to share my joy!
I have just switched my other halfs credit card (on Martin's advice here) from BOS to Virgin. He was paying £80 (min pay) a month intrest on £2000 and moving garnered him his first payment of £60 (to cover 2.98% balance transfer fee) and now he has 16 months free interest on his balance and min payment down to £25. He has upped it to £50 and now has an extra £30 a month. May not sound like a who heap but he is over the moon with me...

So ta Martin- i get the cleaning and cooking done for a week thanks to that top tip ;-) Here is to the first of many savings!

(I also moved my debit card to A+L on Martin's advice before i joined and got £100 for moving everything over! TA!)

kanagokul

MSE_Dan wrote: »

This is the discussion area for the

Best Balance Transfers: Cut the cost of existing debts Article

Please click reply to discuss

can provide nice information on this topic. that will help me to find out some money to me.

grahamjohnyoung

:cool: I recently appillied for a virgin C/C with a view to transfer my on going BUT reducing £7,750 overdraft(started at £10,000 in mar08). from my nationwide a/c on to C/C with the 16 month balance transfer offer. I listed the overdraft details and amounts etc, on the application online. I was in contact with my bank today and although I have had my account for over 25 years and numerous overdrafts with no problems whatsoever, it came to my attention when speaking to my bank that the overdraft will be shortly be reduced to £500 until feb 2009. I have not had a reply from my application with virgin yet, although they have done a credit search, and there does not seem to be any problems on that score. ALTHOUGH I am VERY worried that IF my application is UNSUCCESSFUL with virgin,where does that leave me with my bank etc

grahamjohnyoung

sorry i think i have posted on some one elses thread. but please help! any way

Moggles_2

grahamjohnyoung wrote: »

:cool: I recently applied for a Virgin C/C with a view to transfer my on going BUT reducing £7,750 overdraft from my Nationwide a/c on to C/C with the 16 month balance transfer offer. I listed the overdraft details and amounts etc, on the application online. I have not had a reply from my application with Virgin yet, although they have done a credit search, and there does not seem to be any problems on that score, although I am VERY worried that if my application is UNSUCCESSFUL with Virgin,where does that leave me with my bank etc?

If memory serves, the Virgin online application invites you to transfer credit card balances, not overdrafts.

Note for future reference: rather than complete the BT request section (if there is one) during the application process, it's safer to wait until the new card arrives and you know your credit limit, IMO. Then request your BT(s) when you call to activate the new card. (As with Virgin, there's usually a dedicated, Freefone number for this ) This way you retain some control over what happens and when.

Your post raises some other issues and you may get replies more quickly, if you post again on the *Budgeting and Current Accounts* board

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=20

Bascule_2

Gill_r wrote: »

Just wanted to post to say how p***ed off I am with Barclaycard.
I applied online for BC Platinum card as I wanted to take up 0% BT. After 3 weeks they wrote to tell me my BC had been agreed in principle. They sought additional identity information which was sent by return. Another 7 days later I got an email to tell me that they had approved the card and it would be sent within 10 days. Received card, credit limit £260 - yes a measly two hundred and sixty pounds - which is not really much help. I don't know whether this is something to do with 1) my credit profile (it might very possibly have been affected by another recent check although normally it has an excellent rating) or 2) whether they have sussed they won't make any money off me as I pay off my cards unless I have a 0% deal going, or 3) they are in some kind of holding pattern on credit card applicants because of the financial crisis.
I rung them over a week ago and they said they'll look at it again, but I haven't heard anything yet. It looks as though I am going to have to see what deal I can strike on another card. So at the moment it looks as though I have wasted my time with BC.

I too have had a bad experience with the Barclaycard. I gave up trying to apply online and did it over the phone. On activating my OnePulse card I was told that the balance transfer offer of 0% for 14 months had not been applied to the card! After many fruitless phone calls asking for it to be applied I gave up and have returned the card. I have practically no debt (except mortgage), always pay my card off every month and have only a few cards aquired over the years. No reason was given for me not being able to make a ballance transfer onto the card. I've just applied to Virgin, it worked first time online and was successful. I was able to request and set up the transfer at the time of applying, and the card is on its way already. A much, much better experience than with Barclaycard.

Moggles_2

Bascule wrote: »

I too have had a bad experience with the Barclaycard. I gave up trying to apply online and did it over the phone. On activating my OnePulse card I was told that the balance transfer offer of 0% for 14 months had not been applied to the card! After many fruitless phone calls, I gave up and have returned the card. I have practically no debt (except mortgage), always pay my card off every month and have only a few cards acquired over the years. No reason was given for me not being able to make a balance transfer onto the card. I've just applied to Virgin, it worked first time online and was successful. I was able to request and set up the transfer at the time of applying, and the card is on its way already. A much, much better experience than with Barclaycard.

Barclaycard has figured quite prominently on this thread recently and rarely for the right reasons :rolleyes:

Moggles_2

Bascule wrote: »

I've just applied to Virgin. It worked first time online and was successful. I was able to request and set up the transfer at the time of applying, and the card is on its way already. A much, much better experience than with Barclaycard.

It's good to hear things proceeded smoothly with Virgin. This has been my experience with Virgin/MBNA too.
:beer:

Note for future reference: most lenders will not accept BT instructions until you have received your new card. You either complete the BT request section (if there is one) during the application process or wait until the card arrives and request your BT(s) when you call to activate. (There's usually a dedicated, Freefone number for this )

IMO, it's best to wait until the activation call. That way you keep your options open, avoid unwanted partial transfers, paying the same card twice etc. and retain some control over what happens when. An horrendous story involving LTSB and Capital One was posted on this thread last year. This was an extreme case, but the frequency of slip-ups that crop up on the main cc board has convinced me it's safer to wait until receipt of your card and credit limit. BTs are not easy to reverse and, in attempting this, you could incur two BT fees.

stephensdan

Will the current climate and the recent interest rate cut affect 0% balance transfer deals on cards? I am paying 0% to Abbey at the moment which will expire and go to something like 18% in January. My plan was to move the balance to another card...should I move it now while there's still deals about or do we think these deals will still be around for a while?

JimmyTheWig

stephensdan wrote: »

Will the current climate and the recent interest rate cut affect 0% balance transfer deals on cards? I am paying 0% to Abbey at the moment which will expire and go to something like 18% in January. My plan was to move the balance to another card...should I move it now while there's still deals about or do we think these deals will still be around for a while?

I think we can't assume that they will be around forever. If your long term financial planning involves being able to get a 0% deal in, say, 12 months time then I think you have reason to worry.
However, I have seen no sign of companies pulling them and so I doubt that all of these products will disappear over the next month or so.
What is happening, though, and what may well continue to happen is that companies will judge you more harshly - they will only be looking to give the best deals to the "best" customers - and may be more tight with credit limits.

Remember that it takes time for the application process and the balance transfer. I would have thought you would want to get the ball rolling in December to replace a current deal that ends in January. I see no real reason for bringing this forward a month.