Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

Moggles_2

Warning ASDA Reward credit card, issued by Santander.

If you're considering an application to ASDA purely for the 12 months at 0% on BTs, you may want to think again.

ASDA's staff say there's "a problem" transferring balances from some CC providers.

This has been reported twice on this thread in the last 9 days or so. In the first instance a BT involving Saga Platinum, which is underwritten by Allied Irish, wouldn't go through. In the second case a transfer from Barclaycard (only the biggest cc provider in the UK) was held to be incompatible.

If memory serves, another user reported a similar problem on the main CC board earlier this month when attempting a BT from Egg to ASDA. S/he was told their BT request "could not be accepted from that particular lender"

Has anyone requested a BT successfully? If so, which credit card was involved?

skaps

Does anyone know of a cc which you can bt but get the bt cheques?

Moggles_2

skaps wrote: »

Does anyone know of a CC which you can bt [to], but get the bt cheques?

IME, quite a few balance transfer CC providers [eg. Barclaycard, Capital One, Citi, HBoS, RBS] issue credit card cheques periodically. Unfortunately, the cheques cannot be ordered and you never know when the next ones will turn up in the post.

The exception is Virgin and some (possibly all) MBNA brands. You can order credit card cheques from Virgin at any time. This is actually spelled out in the T&Cs. All you have to do is call Card Services

If you're sent some CC cheques, check the accompanying Ts & Cs carefully, as these tend to vary with each promotion.

daku

hey guys

jus a couple of questions.

Been offered a 0% for 6m BT with lloyds, 3%handling fee (interest is charged on fee at the standard rate).

If i trans £1000 - the fee being £30- will i be paying interest on this fee until the full bal is cleared? or will the 1st payment i make effectively clear the fee thus making the fee interest redundant?.

If i transfer £1000 but already have a outstanding bal of £500 (which interest is 15.9% apr) will the interest accrue on that £500 until the £1000 bt is cleared?. Basicaly will I be paying 15.9apr on that £500 during the 6 months in which my BT is at 0%.

many thanks.

jamesd

Ask Lloyds, terms vary.

It won't apply to Lloyds but for example with NatWest you pay interest on the fee until it's paid and payments go to fee before the balance transfer, so the first payment normally clears the fee and interest on it. I made an extra payment of the fee amount plus a couple of days interest as soon as I took the BT, so I paid minimal interest on it.

Moggles_2

daku wrote: »

I've been offered a 0% for 6 months BT with Lloyds, 3% handling fee (interest is charged on fee at the standard rate). If I transfer £1000, the fee being £30, will i be paying interest on this fee until the full balance is cleared or will the 1st payment effectively clear the fee thus making the fee interest redundant?

With LloydsTSB, it's the former.

FYI (and anyone else reading), whilst all lenders now charge transfer fees (a trend started by MBNA), few currently charge interest on the fees.

Capital One, Citi, Co-op, HBOS, HSBC and MBNA have never charged interest on BT fees.

Barclaycard and Egg have now dropped the practice.

This leaves Royal Bank of Scotland (which includes Mint and NatWest cards), LloydsTSB and the Post Office. These providers treat BT fees as purchase transactions, so you will incur some interest.

With RBS cards (as pointed out above by james), you can repay the BT fee and halt the interest.

With LloydsTSB, the purchase transactions are paid off last, so the BT fee is left sitting on successive monthly statements attracting interest.

Moggles_2

daku wrote: »

I've been offered a 0% for 6 months BT with Lloyds, 3% handling fee. If I transfer £1000 but already have an outstanding balance of £500 (on which interest is 15.9% apr), will the interest accrue on that £500 until the £1000 bt is cleared?

Yes, to avoid interest on the £500 spend accruing once your 0% on purchases for 3 months expires, you would need to pay off the balance first, then request your balance transfer(s).

Note: FYI (& anyone else reading), to qualify for the advertised 0% on BTs for up to 12 months, you must request your transfer within 6 weeks of account opening. If you miss the 6 week deadline, 0% on BTs for up to 6 months is still available to online applicants.

first78

Hi!! I'm looking for some advice as I've never transferred the balance of a CC before. I currently have a Virgin CC with an outstanding balance of about £200. Looking at other posts my balance seems very small so I'm wondering if it's worth transferring the balance. Also how do I know what I would be charged for transferring the money...would the charge be from Virgin or from the new CC?
Thanks for your help

Grolsch30

CannyJock wrote: »

MBNA are one of the few providers who will transfer funds directly to your bank account without it counting as a cash advance. No need to involve your other cards to make an overpayment to Zopa.

CannyJock,

Can you just confirm,

That I could phone up my Credit card company who uses MBNA and ask them to transfer monies to my current account.
This will then not be considered as a cash advance?

Also a wee bit off topic,

Is there a list somewhere which tells you which companies are affiliated with MBNA etc?

Many thanks

Moggles_2

first78 wrote: »

I'm looking for some advice, as I've never transferred the balance of a CC before. I currently have a Virgin CC with an outstanding balance of about £200. Looking at other posts my balance seems very small, so I'm wondering if it's worth transferring the balance.

Yes, that's on the low side. Some CC providers (eg. Barclaycard) do not accept BTs of less than £250, so keep this in mind when selecting a new card.

Also, how do I know what I would be charged for transferring the money?

Fees vary between providers, so check the summary box before you sign a credit agreement. You should not submit an application until you know the fee that applies.

Would the charge be from Virgin?

No, CC providers do not charge you for transferring a balance to another card.

... or from the new CC?

Yes, the new card would charge a handling fee, typically between 2% and 3% of the sum transferred.