Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

Moggles_2

glockdanny wrote: »

I'm looking to balance transfer about 7K, so I need a provider who is reasonably generous with its credit limits. I earn 60K and have a faultless credit history. I was intending to apply for an Abbey card as I'm currently with Virgin. Any recommendations?

I've no recent experience of Abbey but, from feedback here, you would be best advised to apply in branch. Online applications are often subject to long delays, apparently :rolleyes:

I can't help thinking you'd be better off transferring to another lender. Abbey's customer service is dire. The following is fairly typical of posts to this board, unfortunately. If you use the search facility, I'm sure you'll turn up some others.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1434971&highlight=Abbey+zero

OTOH, 13 months at 0% is currently available to new customers from Halifax on balance transfers made in the first 90 days. There's a 3% BT fee.
Minimum monthly payment is just 1% of the balance shifted

http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/pluscard136.asp

glockdanny

Thanks Moggles. Virgin went from about 1.75% of balance as a minimum monthly payment to about 0.3% Hence the 7K balance still

It's really the credit limit I'm most interested in. Would you happen to know if Halifax are fairly generous with theirs? I had one of their cards a few years ago but I can't remember tbh. Sounds like I should steer away from Abbey then.

Moggles_2

glockdanny wrote: »

It's really the credit limit I'm most interested in. Would you happen to know if Halifax are fairly generous with theirs? I had one of their cards a few years ago but I can't remember tbh.

Even if you could remember, things change over time.

It's not an exact science of course, but IME (and from feedback here), Halifax tends to hand out generous credit limits, though possibly not quite as high as Virgin/MBNA.

That said, none of us knows in advance the limit we'll be handed. The only way to find out for certain is to apply.

Very best
M

JemJam

Hi all, I've been thinking for a while about trying to transfer my just under3k barclaycard balance to an interest free (or low low interest rate) card such as virgin - no purchases just to pay off my debt.
Then whilst on the moneysupermarket credit card smart search (my result was 'good' btw), I came across the vanquis visa card and I was just curious to know when looking at the balance transfer section it said the Rate was 'none' and the Duration was 'until repaid'. Does this mean that there is no fee and it's interest free until you've repaid it (provided you obv dont purchase anything on it), or does it mean there is no balance transfer available on these cards??

Thanks for any info!

Moggles_2

JemJam wrote: »

I've been thinking about trying to transfer my 3k Barclaycard balance to an interest-free (or low interest rate) card such as Virgin... I came across the Vanquis visa card and when looking at the balance transfer section, it said the rate was 'none' and the duration was 'until repaid'. Does this mean that there is no fee and it's interest-free until you've repaid it (provided that you don't purchase anything) or does it mean there is no balance transfer available on these cards?

It means balance transfers are not available on Vanquis cards. Sorry to disappoint you.

The Virgin deal you mention is a market-leading BT card though.
16 months at 0% is currently available to new customers. There's a 2.98% handling charge

http://uk.virginmoney.com/credit-card-v3/

amz_b

hi, im new to this site and wondered if i could get some advice? when i was 18 i had a fairly good job and lived at home, when i tried to get a credit card i found i couldnt due to never having had any credit. so my plan was to take out a high interest card, buy one thing and pay it off to improve my credit score. then cancel the card and get a lower interest one. Unfortunately due to personnal circumstances i became unemployed shortly after. as a result of this i ended up spending £500 on the card and im starting a degree in sept so wont be in fulltime work for a while. every month i am paying the minimum payment and cant afford to pay a higher amount each month. i am over the credit limit, so when i pay each month nothing is coming off the balance as i get more charges each month than the amount im paying back. as this is the only credit card ive ever had i cannot transfer the balance as everyone else regects me. Any advice?
xxxx

Moggles_2

amz_b wrote: »

My plan was to take out a high interest card, buy one thing and pay it off to improve my credit score, then get a lower interest one. Unfortunately, I became unemployed. As a result of this, I ended up spending £500 on the card and I'm starting a degree in Sept so won't be in full-time work for a while.... I cannot transfer the balance as everyone else regects me.

Until you find regular employment, a balance transfer credit card is not an option, as I think you realise.

I would concentrate on paying as much as possible off your high interest card each month. Clearing the debt ASAP will reduce the interest you pay and you'll be building a better credit history in the process.

This is not really a balance transfer question and you may get replies more quickly if you post again on the *Debt-Free Wannabe* board. You'll get lots of advice and support there from users who have faced similar situations

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=76

gsy67

Hi there.
Know this site but just joined the Forum.
Not sure about all this transfer business.
I originally had debt on an MBNA account, card I still have.
I transfered that to a Barclaycard when I joined them 12-14 months ago.
The 0% transfer is nearly up.
Can I enquire about doing a Balance Transfer back to MBNA again??
If not, will look at what the site suggests but any suggestions of who to move to?
Thanks in advance. :beer:

Moggles_2

gsy67 wrote: »

I originally had debt on an MBNA account, card I still have. I transferred that to a Barclaycard when I joined them 12-14 months ago. The 0% transfer is nearly up. Can I enquire about doing a balance transfer back to MBNA again?

Absolutely no reason why not

Very best
M

gsy67

Thanks for that.............will ask the question