Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by moneysavingexpat
I found this page useful ... etc. etc. - There are plenty of links to help you find alternatives.

What a surprise! :rolleyes:
S/he has already posted six times today with basically the same old suggestion to visit this other site.

It's a profit-driven service that lists some, but not all best buys, due to its commercial relationships.

You can get unbiased BT suggestions here on MSE, if you click on Martin's *Best Balance Transfers* article.

For a comprehensive list of 0% balance transfers cards, updated regularly and not influenced by advertising commissions, see also: http://www.stoozing.com/0fees.htm which is sponsored by MoneySavingExpert

Jo4

A friend has credit cards with Barclaycard, American Express and Citi. They are considering applying for a 0% card but which card should they apply for? Can someone provide me with a link to which companies owns which cards as they do not want to apply for a balance transfer to an exisitng provider?

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by Jo4
A friend has credit cards with Barclaycard, American Express and Citi. They are considering applying for a 0% card but which card should they apply for? Can someone provide me with a link to which companies owns which cards as they do not want to apply for a balance transfer to an existing provider?

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

Basically avoid Skycard and BMIBaby (that leaves plenty of scope ) and they should be fine.

Jo4

Moggles wrote: »

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

Basically avoid Skycard and BMIBaby (that leaves plenty of scope ) and they should be fine.

THANKS! According to your response and Martins "Best Balance Transfers", I think they should apply for a Virgin card. They have an MBNA card but it is a second card on their significant others credit card account. Should they still apply to Virgin for a credit card or try a different provider?

zazzycat

First time trying this, so be patient! Any advice welcomed. Have successfully followed Martin's advice and swopped 2x 37% interest (ouch!!) credit cards to much lower rates (Egg and Sainsbury's). I'm left with one 34% card- but cannot seem to get any other card to agree to change over! Tried writing to explain I want to reduce my outgoings, not take on more credit - but I've been turned down by at least 6 cards now. I don't know what else to do.

joannet143

Moogles, thanks for your reply, the joint account is purely a bills account that we transfer £500 per month each.. This covers bills/food/day trips with kids stuff, so not essential really as we could transfer the funds by other means... If we close this account can we disassociate our finances??? We'll do what is necessary in order to get straight again!! Thanks... Jo

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by Jo4
According to your response and Martins "Best Balance Transfers", I think they should apply for a Virgin card. They have an MBNA card but it is a second card on their significant other's credit card account. Should they still apply to Virgin for a credit card or try a different provider?

Virgin sounds good to me.

You can safely disregard an additional card on someone else's account. This will neither help nor hinder your friend, because the principal card holder has sole responsibility for their account.

CannyJock

zazzycat wrote: »

First time trying this, so be patient! Any advice welcomed. Have successfully followed Martin's advice and swopped 2x 37% interest (ouch!!) credit cards to much lower rates (Egg and Sainsbury's). I'm left with one 34% card- but cannot seem to get any other card to agree to change over! Tried writing to explain I want to reduce my outgoings, not take on more credit - but I've been turned down by at least 6 cards now. I don't know what else to do.

Have you remembered to cancel the 2x 37% cards? Not as dumb a question, have a cousin who "cut up" two cards that he applied for at airports. Problem was they were still on his credit file as active since 2001 - they're now cancelled.

CannyJock

joannet143 wrote: »

Moogles, thanks for your reply, the joint account is purely a bills account that we transfer £500 per month each.. This covers bills/food/day trips with kids stuff, so not essential really as we could transfer the funds by other means... If we close this account can we disassociate our finances??? We'll do what is necessary in order to get straight again!! Thanks... Jo

As far as I know the association stays on your file. As far as I know it's only false associations that you can write to get removed from your file.

Might be a base of just biding your time until the association becomes less significant?

Or try www.moneysupermarket.com and try their Smart Search to see what you might have a better chance of getting without doing an actual search?

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by zazzycat
Have successfully followed Martin's advice and swopped 2 x 37% interest (ouch!!) credit cards to much lower rates (Egg and Sainsbury's). I'm left with one 34% card, but cannot seem to get any other card to agree to change over! Tried writing to explain I want to reduce my outgoings, not take on more credit, but I've been turned down by at least 6 cards now. I don't know what else to do.

Applying for lots of cards, especially in a short period of time, could in itself disrupt your credit rating.

Admittedly, the best balance transfer deals are usually reserved for new customers, but you don't have to apply for a new card to get new credit. If you play your cards right, you can reduce your costs using a credit card or cards you already hold. For details, please see Martin's *Credit Card Shuffle* article.