Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

grahdenn66

With over 300 credit cards on the market today, searching for a cheap credit card can seem like an understandably bewildering task. Luckily much of the hassle has been removed by the host of financial service comparison sites popping up on the net, on an almost regular basis.So u can try any of this 300

born_free_3

I just received an offer through the post from Santander on my existing credit card (which was an Abbey Credit Card) - it is offering 0% on balance transfers for 12 months (3% fee). It is probably not the best offer on the block but if you have been around the block a couple of times with lots of credit cards, it might be one to watch out for. It pays to check your junk mail!

molley

born_free wrote: »

I just received an offer through the post from Santander on my existing credit card (which was an Abbey Credit Card) - it is offering 0% on balance transfers for 12 months (3% fee). It is probably not the best offer on the block but if you have been around the block a couple of times with lots of credit cards, it might be one to watch out for. It pays to check your junk mail!

Wish they would offer me that as I still have that card ( with no balance on it) as well as my new 0% Zero Fee one..Wonder if I should chance asking them ?

unidentified

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.

Just because the first guy got an amount doesn't tell me what I'll get, but if a few people mention what they got could help determine the likely ranges and best and worst case scenarios for a particular company.

To answer the questions though, I don't always think it's a good guide that what you were given from one lender is what you'd be given with another. They don't all seem to work like that. Where one lender might be generous, another might be tight.

Best limits I've gotten have been from Egg a while ago and Virgin Credit Card at around £5000 or so - any other limits were always around half the amount that these both would offer being between £2000 - £2500.

So how does Post Office compare?

And no, never requested a reduction or suffered one.

TCID218

Hi, can anyone help?

My husband currently has a loan with Santander which has two years still to run. To pay off the balance would cost him approx £6500. I have £2000 sitting to pay towards it and my intention was to pay the rest of using my current credit card who I have with Bank of Scotland. This would have to be done by a cash transfer from the credit card in to my current account. Once this had been done I would then transfer the balance on to a 0% card. I went in to Bank of Scotland today, to be told that this may not be feasible as many credit cards will not transfer a balance which has been a cash transfer. Can anyone give me advice regarding this or tell me which credit card would be able to transfer the balance.

Thanks

Moggles_2

TCID218 wrote: »

My husband currently has a loan with Santander which has two years still to run. To pay off the balance would cost him approx £6500. I have £2000 to pay towards it and my intention was to pay the rest off using my current credit card who I have with Bank of Scotland. This would have to be done by a cash transfer from the credit card in to my current account. Once this had been done I would then transfer the balance on to a 0% card. I went in to Bank of Scotland today, to be told that this may not be feasible as many credit cards will not transfer a balance which has been a cash transfer. Can anyone give me advice regarding this or tell me which credit card would be able to transfer the balance?

A few rather special cards, like Virgin, will allow you to transfer cash from the credit card to your current account at balance transfer rates. A 4% handling fee applies, but there are no other charges for the first 16 months from account opening.

Once the new card arrives and you have confirmation of your credit limit, you can request your money transfer by phone. I'd do this when you call to activate. There's a dedicated, Freefone number.

Virgin allows you to borrow up to 95% of your credit limit and the money arrives in your bank account in about 6 days. From there, you can pay off the loan.

Moggles_2

P.S. Whether this is a good idea is another question. If you will have savings to pay off your credit card balance before the 0% period expires, that's great.

Just be aware that Virgin has a habit of raising the standard rate to anything up to 34.9% APR variable, when the promotion ends :eek:

grahdenn66

My Credit Rating "Needs Attention" rather than being overly Bad - I have no CCJ's or Bankruptcy etc. My Student debt was 4 years ago, it was an overdraft with the Halifax which was deffered to a Debt collection agency where I agreed to pay off a set amount each month. This has now been settled in full, but only within the last few months. For the past 4 years I've taken out no loans, I hardly ever use my Credit card & pay just over minimum payment each month. the only credit agreements I have are with catalogues which I always pay in full or on time.

Moggles_2

grahdenn66 wrote: »

My Credit Rating "Needs Attention" rather than being overly bad. I have no CCJs or bankruptcy etc. My student debt was 4 years ago. It was an overdraft with the Halifax which was deferred to a Debt Collection Agency where I agreed to pay off a set amount each month. This has now been settled in full, but only within the last few months. For the past 4 years I've taken out no loans, I hardly ever use my credit card & pay just over minimum payment each month. The only credit agreements I have are with catalogues which I always pay in full or on time.

This is not a *best balance transfer* issue. Please post again on the main credit card board. You'll get lots of replies there.

Claw_back_money

Hi
I've posted on here a couple of times before, and had some fab suggestions about where to transfer CC balances to - many thanks.

I'm now nearly at the end of an interest free period with Play.com, an MBNA card, which expires on the 28th April. I've got the debt down to £700, and I think that I should have half the money on 22nd/23rd April and the other half when I get paid on 30th April. I can't realistically see any substantial money coming from any other sources before that. I believe that as the rate finishes on 28th its best to pay it off a week before that? With that in mind, what is the cheapest way of getting credit for a week or so (how annoying is that!)
I could BT to any of my cards (HSBC visa, Egg, Barclaycard - all clear) but there would be a BT fee. Would it actually be cheaper to leave it where it is, or to pay off from current account and go overdrawn (I've got an overdraft facility at HSBC and Lloyds - both unused now) for a few days?

Many thanks
Cbm