Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

CopperJack

Hi all.
After some advice please.

I have around £5000 (only debt apart from mortgage) on an MBNA Capital One mastercard but the rate went up last year to something ridiculous like 26%.

I tend to keep a balance of between £3-5k on the card due to spemding patterns.
I won't be able to pay this off all in one go.

No other cards and have been with them for years.

Looking to transfer the balance to either Life of balance, a 0% deal or a lower rate but simply cannot get to grips with all the offers.

It isn't a problem at the moment but know that I should not be wasting my money on this rate.

I bank with Santander who offer some low rate cards and balance transfers but would be most appreciative if anyone could suggest what else would be good at the moment.
Many thanks in advance.

jimmyfitz

Hello all
I just applied for and received a Barclaycard Gold to take advantage of their 12 month 0% on balance transfers. I logged in online to try and do a balance transfer and it said I did no have the option. I rang them up to say I wanted to do a balance transfer, firstly they said I did not have this option and then when I said the paperwork I received does say I have this option a I was told my card had been cancelled and that they have the right to do this whenever they wanted to.

Is this normal? Any advice would be welcomed

CannyJock

jimmyfitz wrote: »

Hello all
I just applied for and received a Barclaycard Gold to take advantage of their 12 month 0% on balance transfers. I logged in online to try and do a balance transfer and it said I did no have the option. I rang them up to say I wanted to do a balance transfer, firstly they said I did not have this option and then when I said the paperwork I received does say I have this option a I was told my card had been cancelled and that they have the right to do this whenever they wanted to.

Is this normal? Any advice would be welcomed

No, not normal, but they're within their rights to do it.

Dhingrav

Hi Guys,

I need your expert advice!!!:eek:

I have a very good credit rating. I need to raise £20,000 within the next month and a half and I need this money for the next 1.5yrs.:mad:

Are interest free balance transfers the best and cheapest way to get this money? I opened a card with RBS (0% BT for 15months but 3%fee, I bank with RBS) they gave me £3.55k automatically, I intend to ask them to increase it to 10k and get Santander to do the same (0% 12months and 0%fee as I bank with them also).

I'm not sure if credit cards are the cheapest way for me to find the money. It's high risk as I will need to refinance in 12 months time. But I hope that nationwide and another will come to the rescue at that time. I used egg and virgin about 8yrs ago for free money before fees.

The min repayments are 3-5% of the balance with RBS and I think the same with Santander so that’s a maybe £600 a month which I will be able to afford.:T If its 1000 a month then I'll need to think smart...??

A loan will be at least 8% PA and I’ve have to actually pay the loan back during its term.

What do you think??:o

CannyJock

Dhingrav wrote: »

I have a very good credit rating. I need to raise £20,000 within the next month and a half and I need this money for the next 1.5yrs.:mad:

In theory, you can borrow the money for the money transfer fee, so about 4% APR.

MBNA cards have historically been decent with their limits and minimum is only 1%. They allow SBT to your current account. Their also known to hike the interest rate up towards the end of the 0% promotion.

Basically all you can do is apply for cards that allow transfers to your current account http://www.stoozing.com/sbt.php

With the cards, you can pay the minimum during the 0% period while building up your savings in a high interest current or savings account. When it gets towards the end of the 0% period, take the savings and interest and pay down as much of the cards as possible so you've got a smaller amount to refinance.

Let us know how you get on.

Chuffy

I currently have no debts but would like to borrow around £5k to £7k. Is it still possible to shift an overdraft 'debt' to one of these cards (I'm not currently overdrawn though)? If so I'd transfer a balance to my current account thus putting it in credit whilst effectively creating a balance on the card. Any thoughts?

Dhingrav

Credit card plans scuppered, Post Office and RBS will charge me to move my own move. If i get the credit i want and then try to move it from RBS to Post office RBS will charge me the 2.9% handling fee as expected but then post office will charge me 2.98% handling fee for moving my own money, the card being in credit! So if i can move 10k to any of hese cards to put them 10k up they will charge me to move my 10k out!!!!

Anyone got any bright ides on how to avoid this? all i can think of is finding a card that does not charge me to move my money out when in credit. I need to move money from one credit card to another then to a current account...any ideas?

CannyJock

Chuffy wrote: »

I currently have no debts but would like to borrow around £5k to £7k. Is it still possible to shift an overdraft 'debt' to one of these cards (I'm not currently overdrawn though)? If so I'd transfer a balance to my current account thus putting it in credit whilst effectively creating a balance on the card. Any thoughts?

Yes - use the search facility for things like "cash from credit card" "transfer overdraft to credit card" and you'll find it gets asked regularly. Answers still apply.

CannyJock

Dhingrav wrote: »

Credit card plans scuppered, Post Office and RBS will charge me to move my own move. If i get the credit i want and then try to move it from RBS to Post office RBS will charge me the 2.9% handling fee as expected but then post office will charge me 2.98% handling fee for moving my own money, the card being in credit! So if i can move 10k to any of hese cards to put them 10k up they will charge me to move my 10k out!!!!

Anyone got any bright ides on how to avoid this? all i can think of is finding a card that does not charge me to move my money out when in credit. I need to move money from one credit card to another then to a current account...any ideas?

Bit of research would have done you good here.

You'll now realise that not all cards like large credit balances.

Look at an Egg Money card where you can have a credit balance and can withdraw the positive balance to your bank without any fees.

marks77

I have a £3900 on one credit card - Mastercard that I want to transfer. I have a fair credit profile but that is only due to a number of credit card searches that I've made in the last few months trying in vain to transfer the balance to a better rate!!
The rest of the profile is full of Green 0's and satisfactory accounts no CCJ's defaults or missed payments.

Can any MSE's put me in the right direction in succeding a balance transfer???

Thank You.