Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by cherrypie556
We pay [NatWest]about £43 a month purely on interest and payment protection (although didn't ask for this?)

Completely off topic but, if I were you, I'd tackle this first and save some money at a stroke. A phonecall to Customer Services is normally all that's required to cancel payment protection insurance.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by cherrypie556
Hubby has a credit card from Natwest with £2800. We have in the past applied for a balance transfer to a Mint card, but they only gave us a £300 limit so the card never got used.

Mint belongs to the same stable as NatWest (Royal Bank of Scotland Group), so would not accept balance transfers from NatWest.

Also, if you apply for more than one credit card from the same lender, the credit limit(s) on each subsequent card may be reduced to take account of the credit already available on the older card(s).

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by cherrypie556
As far as I am aware, he has never cancelled either the Mint or MBNA cards.We did apply for an Abbey one a while ago, received the card, just never activated it (can't remember why)

May I suggest your husband checks his credit reports? Both the leading contenders offer a 30 day free trial of their online subscription service or the reports can be ordered online and usually arrive by post within 3-4 days. (For help, see the *How to obtain credit reports* sticky.)

You will then know exactly which cards and credit limits he has at the mo in addition to his NatWest card and which, if any, were closed. This is important, as I think you realise, because applying for more than one card from the same camp is frowned on by some lenders (although RBS doesn't seem to mind) and, as noted above, can affect credit limits.

cherrypie556

Moggles wrote: »

May I suggest your husband checks his credit reports? Both the leading contenders offer a 30 day free trial of their online subscription service or the reports can be ordered online and usually arrive by post within 3-4 days. (For help, see the *How to obtain credit reports* sticky.)

You will then know exactly which cards and credit limits he has at the mo in addition to his NatWest card and which, if any, were closed. This is important, as I think you realise, because applying for more than one card from the same camp is frowned on by some lenders (although RBS doesn't seem to mind) and, as noted above, can affect credit limits.

He has used the free trail with experian i think not 100% and his credit score is good. I have applied for a post office one this morn and got accepted straight away, so hopefully the stupid interest will be a thing of the past!!

Junglebear

Good Afternoon
I am a new user to this site and im very impressed witht eh advice give, brilliant job!!

I have a credit card with Lloyds TSB for £1500.00 DR and i pay roughly £40.00 per month just on interest. Unfortunately due to series of events in the last year ive ran up quite a lot of debt and cannot afford to repay any more than this on the card each month.

i was just wondering if anyone could give me some advise? with the balance transfers firstly;

1) do i need to open a credit card with another provider before i request the balance transfer?

2) the last time i checked my credit score it was fair, this was before christmas, does anyone know how long it taked to turn good providing i havent mised any dd payments etc?

Any advice is appreciated

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by cherrypie556
I have applied for a Post Office card this morning and got accepted straight away, so hopefully the stupid interest will be a thing of the past!!

Congratulations & thanks for keeping us posted :beer:

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by Junglebear
I have a credit card with Lloyds TSB for £1500.00 DR and I pay roughly £40.00 per month just on interest. Unfortunately due to a series of events in the last year I've run up quite a lot of debt and cannot afford to repay any more on the card each month.

Do I need to open a credit card with another provider before I request the balance transfer?

Yes. A balance transfer, by definition, is when one credit card repays debts on another credit card, so you owe the money to a different card, preferably at a lower interest rate. For a full explanation, see Martin's *Best Balance Transfers* article on the main site.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by Junglebear
The last time I checked my credit score it was fair. This was before Christmas. Does anyone know how long it takes to turn good provided that I haven't missed any dd payments etc?

You don't say where you checked your credit score, but it's important to realise, there is NO universal credit score applicable to all lenders and all products. None of us knows how individual credit card companies view our applications. Lenders do not divulge this information.

To help you further, we need to know which other credit cards - besides LloydsTSB - you have at the mo.

Junglebear

Moggles wrote: »

You don't say where you checked your credit score, but it's important to realise, there is NO universal credit score applicable to all lenders and all products. None of us knows how individual credit card companies view our applications. Lenders do not divulge this information.

To help you further, we need to know which other credit cards - besides LloydsTSB - you have at the mo.

Hi Moggles

Thanks for your reply

I have only got one credit card, however I have a loan with Tescos with two years left on it with a balance of approx £5300.00 and another loan with Lloyds TSB with approx £4600.00. Monthly i pay £213.00 for Tescos and £155.00 with Lloyds TSB. At the moment my income just about covers my monthly expenses with about £40.00 spare at the end of it and im scheduled to be clear of loans in 2010. Ideally i would like to do a balance transfer on my credit card with the aim of reducing paying the interest until the loans are paid off because i would be able to pay off the balance relatvely quickly then. The experian check i did was a free experian like the one posted earlier. Ive just put an application in for the Virgin credit card offer mentioned in this email. If this balance transfer is successful then i will continue to pay £40.00 a month to reduce the balance, but it all depends on the application. Do you think i am making the right move?

Again any informatin is appreciated.

Thanks

Ams

Hi, I'm not very up on anything financial which is why I'm double checking my options on here. I'm 24 and live with my parents, I'm on incapacity benefit but also hav a casual job but it's only when I can go in and also what ties in the with what the law says I can work. Anyway I have around £1200 on my capital one platinum card after purchasing a laptop and I want to transfer the balance to a 0% deal. I've applied for Virgin but was not successful because I wasn't in long term employment. Is Egg definitely now the way for me to go? Is it even worth me applying to them? Any advice would be great, thanks!