Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

CannyJock

ashbart wrote: »

We currently have 2 Virgin credit cards, 1 each. Mine is £3,200 and DH is £3,600. We are looking to apply for the Barclaycard 0% for 15 months.

Do we apply for two separate cards (as it is now) or apply for a joint card and consolidate the debt so it is easier?!? Will we get a credit limit of £7,000??

Barclaycard 0% deal is limited to 90% of credit limit, maximum of £5k. So you'd each need to apply for a card separately and hope for the best. http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal-home/cards/balance-transfer/index.html

If you can wait and quote a higher income figure then it won't do any harm even if it doesn't do much good.

ashbart

Thanks CannyJock, you're a star! 2 cards it is then!

moneybimbo

Hi all,

I am not sure if this is the right forum to post this in but I'ma recent university graduate, I've paid off my overdraft now and I'm going travelling in a couple of months. Any recommendations on the best credit cards (as an emergency) to get?

Thank you!

Moggles_2

ashbart wrote: »

It's that time again for me and DH to transfer our balances. We currently have 2 Virgin credit cards, 1 each. Mine is £3,200 and DH is £3,600. We are looking to apply for the Barclaycard 0% for 15 months. Do we apply for two separate cards (as it is now) or apply for a joint card and consolidate the debt so it is easier?

Couples cannot hold a credit card jointly. As the principal cardholder, your husband is solely responsible for the debt on his Virgin card, just as you are solely responsible for the balance on yours.

Relying solely on one credit card provider is not necessarily a good idea. You've already doubled up on Virgin. Given that you'll have to submit two separate applications, one each, why not apply to two different providers? That way you double your BT opportunities. This arrangement has lots of other advantages.

To help you further, we would need to know which cards - apart from Virgin obviously - you have at the mo or have held recently, also whom you bank with.

Moggles_2

moneybimbo wrote: »

I am not sure if this is the right forum to post this in, but I'm a recent university graduate. I've paid off my overdraft now and I'm going travelling in a couple of months. Any recommendations on the best credit cards (as an emergency) to get?

Welcome to MSE!

This is not a *Best Balance Transfer* question. Please post again on the main credit card board. You'll get lots of replies there

i_wanna_be_debt_free

Ok, I've been a MSE fan for ages especially after my mum showed me how much she got abck from the banks with regards to the whole unfair bank charges fiasco. Anyway, I just became a member as its only now I need a bespoke question answered, its a long one so please bare with me:

I have a Halifax CC account which gives me 4.9% for the life of the balance and an empty MBNA card, I also have a £1,500 overdraft which halifax refuse to transfer any balances into. After reading the MSE report on this I found out only MBNA cards allow transfers into current account, the problem is MBNA are not offering me any deals what so ever. Infact when I went to close the account I had to stop the girl from completeing my request as I was only bluffing to get a good retention deal. So now I came up with a solution but need to verify whether it will work or not. I was thinking about transferring £1,500 into the MBNA account from Haifax and then closing the MBNA account and depositing the £1,500 into my current account. I dont need the MBNA account and having it is actually hindering my attempts at getting a new 0% credit card as most on offer are MBNA affiliated. Could I get some advice on whether a) this is possible and b) it is legal.

Many thanks.

Moggles_2

i_wanna_be_debt_free wrote: »

I have a Halifax CC account which gives me 4.9% for the life of the balance and an empty MBNA card, I also have a £1,500 overdraft which Halifax refuses to transfer any balances into.

You've got your terminology a bit muddled. If you requested a balance transfer from your current account to your Halifax CC (to pay off the overdraft), the money would flow in the opposite direction.

I came up with a solution, but need to verify whether it will work. I was thinking about transferring £1,500 into the MBNA account from Halifax and then closing the MBNA account and depositing the £1,500 into my current account.

Personally, I wouldn't risk putting a credit card in credit. Credit cards - other than Egg Money - are not designed to carry a positive balance. Most lenders are relaxed about modest sums that arise temporarily (due to a refund, for instance, or making a one-off manual payment too close to your direct debit payment date). That said, those same providers may take a dim view if you breach your Ts & Cs and set out to put the account in credit deliberately.

Have you considered Egg card? This CC is one of the few, that allow you to transfer an overdraft (in other words, transfer cash from the card to your current account). A 3% handling fee applies, but there are no other charges until 1 April 2011

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,,3_11060--View_819,00.html

Gonzonator

New Question:

Can I use a cash currency card to transfer the balance of my credit card to another card? For instance use a new 12 month interest free on purchases card to purchase money on a FairFx card with 0% currency exchange fee, then use the Fairfx card to pay off the old card, therefore bypassing the 3% balance transfer fee?

Can anybody see any holes in this theory? For instance is there a difference between buying and selling rates on the fairfx card and what is it??

Cheers, Gonzo.

stphnstevey

Nice thread

joeytinker

Hi,
Hoping someone can help here. We've got £1700 on a Tesco Credit Card at 0% on purchases until the end of May. We have the money to pay it off, but it's sitting in an ISA earning some interest, so we figured we may as well earn interest on it until we have to pay the credit card off.

However, I can't quite work out whether it's better to do a 0% balance transfer, pay a fee, (thinking that I might be getting more interest in the ISA than the fee charge?), or is it better just to pay it off (i.e. will the fee be more expensive than the ISA is). It's a Barclays Golden Cash ISA that it's in.

Any help much appreciated. I realise it's probably not going to be much difference, but even £10 or so gained is £10 gained!