Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

TobiasFunke

CannyJock wrote: »

Welcome to the site.

MBNA have their fair share of outraged posters on the forum. The main complaints are:
1. They hike the rates up at the end of their 0% promotions - not relevant if you're planning to clear the debt in full by the end of the 16 months.
2. A direct debit for the minimum doesn't always take the first month's payment so you need to make a manual payments - not a problem so long as you look at the statement when you get it - and there's another trick for making sure your first payment is taken by DD where when you phone to activate the card and setup the DD you ask them to set your statement date to "yesterday". This means you don't get a statement for a full month and gives them plenty of time to setup the DD

For what you want to do, they're probably one of the best cards on the market.

The Tesco card is a good 0% purchase card where you only need to make the minimum payments each month and you won't be charged any interest for 12 months. A very useful card when you're trying to get back to living within your means, in addition to the Clubcard points.

There's no such thing as a "rejection" on your credit report. When you apply for something there's a search made. It doesn't record the outcome of that search.

I'd go for the Virgin Money card as a starting point - it'll let you clear your card balance, your overdraft and a little bit extra to make sure you don't need to go back into your overdraft (for a 4% fee) . Then if not successful for that, appeal the decision. If the appeal doesn't produce a result then apply for another card 3 months later.

Thanks for the info, I think Virgin will be my first port of call - I'm slightly apprehensive over the account issues people seem to be having, but at the same time I think I'm fairly well versed in how to deal with it, in specific escalating complaints up the call centre food chain in order to get a resolution, or then onto the Ombudsman.

Also, the credit search rather than "rejection" clears things up - I guess the key is not to have too many searches in a small period of time. I'm confident that will not be too much of an issue.

The suggestion re the DD date is interesting : am I right in understanding upon activation I should request the date of the day previous to my activation call for the DD date? To be honest, I'm the sort that would make the first payment manually, just in case.

My plan of action, at the moment, is to apply in the next day or so, getting the card before my next pay run at the end of the month, and the day before I'm paid (or as fine a line as I can cut it) making the Super Transfer Balance from the Overdraft and a standard Balance Transfer from the card on the same day - this way so when my pay goes in, I'll have the full benefit from going into a positive balance, closing the Overdraft Facility and concentrate on clearing the new card. Daunting, but better than the overdraft I think.

Longer - Term (6 months plus) I think Tesco would be the next application, in order to then as you say, live within my means.

Again, thanks for the response!

rmhvr6

I subscribe to Experian so that I can keep an eye on my credit history and credit score. I have a Barclaycard which I wanted to transfer to a new card with 0% balance transfer. I applied to Virgin as recommended on your balance transfer page (this was about 5 months ago). They turned me down and advised that I should check my credit score with, yes you've guessed, Experian. My score is 999 out of 1000 and classed as excellent. Does anyone know what score you need to qualify for a new card? I have had this score with Experian for about a year now. I had a poor credit history about 12 years ago and have worked really hard to improve on it which I have now done but am still getting rejects like this.

mcmuffin

Can you balance transfer an overdraft??

I want to put a £3000 overdraft onto a 0% card so i can start paying it off rather than just paying £70 a month in interest and fees!

And if I cant balance transfer an overdraft does anyone have a good suggestion of what i can do?? (I cant afford more than £70 per month)

Many thanks!

molley

mcmuffin wrote: »

Can you balance transfer an overdraft??

I want to put a £3000 overdraft onto a 0% card so i can start paying it off rather than just paying £70 a month in interest and fees!

And if I cant balance transfer an overdraft does anyone have a good suggestion of what i can do?? (I cant afford more than £70 per month)

Many thanks!

Does this help any?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cut-loan-overdraft-costs

mcmuffin

oooo yes it does thanks molley

Moggles_2

rmhvr6 wrote: »

I subscribe to Experian so that I can keep an eye on my credit history and credit score. I have a Barclaycard which I wanted to transfer to a new card with 0% balance transfer. I applied to Virgin as recommended on your balance transfer page about 5 months ago. I was turned down and advised to check my credit score with, yes you've guessed, Experian. My score is 999 out of 1000 and classed as excellent. Does anyone know what score you need to qualify for a new card? I have had this score with Experian for about a year now. I had a poor credit history about 12 years ago and have worked really hard to improve on it, but still getting rejects like this.

Credit scores are at best a very rough guide and not worth paying extra for, tbh. It's easy to be lulled into a false sense of security by these numbers. Then it comes as a shock, when your application is turned down. (Equally, some forum users are put off applying at all, because of low scores.)

That said, credit reports, when ordered directly from Experian are invaluable. The guidance notes that accompanied your Experian report are also a good read.

For tips to improve your chances of credit card acceptance, have a look at the *Credit Rating: how it works and how to improve it guide* especially Martin's *Manage and Improve your credit score* article, to make certain there's nothing obvious working against you
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/credit-rating-credit-score#improve

To help you further, we would need to know which cards - apart from Barclaycard obviously - you have at the mo or have held recently, also which bank holds your current account?

TobiasFunke

Well, just finished being rejected by Virgin when applying online : a letter to confirm this will be sent soon, will this contain details on how I can appeal the decision?

So, from what I've read on the site, if the appeal doesn't work then to wait 3 months before my next credit application?

This doesn't bode well on the mortgage front...

unidentified

Tried searching around but can't find an answer...

Anyone any experience with applying for the Post Office card?

What sort of credit limits did you get?

BadgerFace_2

hi there,

I just got a HSBC BT card with 15 months, only it also says on the promotional rate box that cash advances are 0% for 15 months also. I've not come across this before and am wondering whether to just use it to get cash out the machine as opposed to BT'ing it around to withdraw. Has anyone done this?

Moggles_2

unidentified wrote: »

Anyone any experience with applying for the Post Office card? What sort of credit limits did you get?

Knowing mine or somebody else's credit limit will not help you much, unless you know their circumstances and how these compare with your own situation. Your available credit in relation to your income is likely to be a major factor though.

What credit limits were you handed on application to other lenders? That's normally a pretty good guide, provided that you haven't requested a credit limit reduction or suffered one.