Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by 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???

Yes. Your partner's previous current account would probably be the best one for credit card applications. Lenders like stability, so the longer he's been with his bank, the better.

Once your current a/cs are separated, write to the credit reference agencies and ask for a notice of disassociation, to prevent your credit history affecting his in the future and vice versa

Jo4

Moggles wrote: »

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.

Moggles, may I say a huge THANK YOU for all your help!! :A

yorica

Hi gang

I have 2500 pounds on my Post Office Mastercard with 15% interest charge.

My Lloyds TSB card has offered me a 4.9% balance transfer for a rather disappointing 6 months with a 3% fee.

Should I take them up on their offer?

Is there a internet tool or a simple maths equation you could supply to let me work it out?

Thanks again

talc

Need some advice / help. I currently have nine credit cards with approx. £47K outstanding, and I am struggling to make the minimum payments. However, what really narks me is the interest rate on two of the cards:
MBNA £3500 outstanding at 19.90% interest, and Egg £3800 outstanding at 16.90% interest. Even though I have nine cards and a hefty mortgage almost £100k, I checked my Experian report yesterday and my credit score was 750.
I would like to transfer the balance on these two unscrupulous :mad: credit card companies to a new credit card (s). Don't want to get knocked back when applying - so has anybody got suggestions for credit card companies (lenient ones) with either low lifetime balances or introductory 0% offers.

I have credit cards with the following companies :-
Barclaycard, Lloyds TSB, American Express, Mint, Tesco, Halifax, Capital One, and as stated above MBNA and Egg.

Footnote
MBNA are like Vultures - they asked me if I wanted a loan (Nov 2006), so I said yes please and applied for £7k (balance at time) at 7.90% fixed rate. They then turned me down for loan saying that I couldn't afford it, and the next month upped my interest rate on the credit card from 15.90% up to 27.90%. When I complained, they said they had reveiwed every persons accounts and adjusted interest rates accordingly. I had to spend a very long time on the phone numerous times scraping to them to get them to reduce the rate. They did down to 23.90% then down to 19.90% - and they expect me to be grateful. So be warned avoid MBNA 0% BT offers like the plauge.

Thanks in anticipation.

Julz

I have credit card debt of 9,900 (1 credit card - Lloydstsb). On looking at transferring to Barclaycard 0%, their terms and conditions state I can only transfer between £250 and £5,000 or 90% credit whichever is lower. The Virgin card doesn't tell me how much I can transfer???? I was hoping to transfer the whole debt from my card to just 1 card is this not possibile????

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by yorica
I have £2500 on my Post Office Mastercard with 15% interest charge.
My Lloyds TSB card has offered me a 4.9% balance transfer for a rather disappointing 6 months with a 3% fee. Should I take them up on their offer?

In round figures, the Lloyds TSB offer would save you about £60 over the 6 months. Obviously, better deals are available, especially to new customers.

Is there an internet tool or a simple maths equation you could supply to let me work it out?

Martin's *Stoozing Calculator* on the main site will give you a good idea.
Don't forget to factor in the balance transfer fees

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by talc
Even though I have nine cards and a hefty mortgage almost £100k, I checked my Experian report yesterday and my credit score was 750.

It's easy to be lulled into a false sense of security by these scores.

The credit reports themselves are valuable. Additional services like credit scores are a nice little earner for the credit reference agencies, but of little practical use to most people.

It's important to realise, there is NO universal credit score applicable to all lenders and all products. None of us - including the agencies - knows how individual credit card companies view our applications. Lenders do not divulge this information.

IMO, it's not your credit score you need to worry about, but your total exposure to debt in relation to your income.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by talc
I currently have nine credit cards with approx. £47K outstanding and I am struggling to make the minimum payments. However, what really narks me is the interest rate on two of the cards: MBNA £3500 outstanding at 19.9% interest and Egg £3800 outstanding at 16.9% interest. I would like to transfer the balance on these two unscrupulous credit card companies to a new credit card(s). Don't want to get knocked back when applying, so has anybody got suggestions for credit card companies (lenient ones) with either low lifetime balances or introductory 0% offers?

I have credit cards with the following companies :-
Barclaycard, Lloyds TSB, American Express, Mint, Tesco, Halifax, Capital One and, as stated above, MBNA and Egg.

A 0% BT may not be an option at the mo, TBH.

Lenders launch these interest-free deals, which are sometimes heavily advertised, to draw in new customers. Often they are flooded with applications and can afford to cherry-pick applicants. They are all going to view your available credit in relation to your income.

Currently, life-of-balance deals are few and far between. The best is Citibank's LOB card which charges 5.8% for life, provided that you shift the balance(s) within 90 days of account opening. Credit limits tend to be low though.

For tips to improve your chances of acceptance, have a look at the *Credit Rating* articles on the main site, especially Martin's *Manage and Improve your credit score* article to make sure there are no other factors working against you.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by Julz
I have credit card debt of £9,900 (1 credit card - LloydsTsb). On looking at transferring to Barclaycard 0%, their terms and conditions state I can only transfer between £250 and £5,000 or 90% credit whichever is lower.

Also, Barclaycard currently turns away some 50% of applicants and credit limits tend to be low so, if I were you, I would certainly look elsewhere.

The Virgin card doesn't tell me how much I can transfer????

Normally 95% of your credit limit, but if you request the transfer by phone when you activate your card, you may be able to wheedle a little more from this lender.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by Julz
I was hoping to transfer the whole debt from my card to just 1 card. Is this not possible?

None of us knows in advance the credit limit we will be given.

On the plus side, you have a healthy limit on your existing card. That said, the so-called credit crunch may mean that, this time round, you're handed a lower limit.

If the worst happens, transfer what you can. You'll still save money. Don't leave an offer unused out of exasperation. It's already on your credit file, so you may as well use it (Please see Martin's *Credit Card Limit: Didn't get what you wanted?* article on the main site).