Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

CannyJock

AuntieM wrote: »

Firstly apologies if someone has already asked this question recently - I have done a search but couldn't find anything.....

I have £6600 split between two 0% credit cards, and both 0% deals are ending. (split between 2 cards due the credit limits)
I have been shifting this debt between 0% deals for years.
I have an obscence amount of credit cards so have made the most of all the best deals over the years.

What I can't get my head round is;
am I better off continuing to shift the debt every 6/9months, for years, at 0% using existing cards, but paying 3% fee each time
or
I have a Barclaycard with enough credit limit to shift the whole amount at 6.9% for the life of the balance.

Yes, it'll take me more than 3 years to pay off this debt.
Any clues/advice would be much appreciated.

3% per year is better than 6.9% per year.

3% fee on £6600 is £198.
6.9% LOB interest on £6600 with 2.5% min repayment is £397 over 12 months.

Pip123

Hello!
Rather confused! Have a HSBC card (Visa) with a debt of £5500- I want to balance transfer some if not ALL of it to a Virgin money BT card. I will not be spending on it and plan to be a credit card tart and stop wasting money on interest! However i have read that you cannot balance transfer a Visa to a Visa etc etc. My HSBC card is Visa and the Virgin one is MBNA. Is Visa part of MBNA or are they entirely different credit card companies?! Sorry if this sounds ridiculous-i've googled but to no avail!
Can i balance transfer a VISA to a MBNA card is the short question?!

jamesd

You can transfer the HSBC balance or part of it to the Virgin card with no problem at all. Just do it.

You can transfer Visa and Mastercard to each other with no problem at all. Visa and Mastercard are two major credit card operating groups and don't decide whether you can or can't have credit or do balance transfers, they mainly just provide services and branding to the banks or others who issue cards. So you can completely ignore whether it's Visa or Mastercard for most purposes.

MBNA is a US bank that is behind many of the branded cards in the UK. It provides the card and also handles billing and other services beyond those provided by Visa and Mastercard. It's a customer of Mastercard.

Virgin is one of the brands that MBNA handles. MBNA won't let you balance transfer from one of the brands it handles to another or to or from one of those brands to its own MBNA brand cards. It will let you move credit limits from one to another, though, and that can be handy sometimes.

HSBC is a bank like MBNA and is a direct customer of Mastercard, just like MBNA is. HSBC also handles some branded cards as well as its own.

AuntieM

Hello Pip123,
Just to add to jamesd very helpful explanation.
I have a MBNA card and a Virgin Money card, and although you cannot BT directly from one to the other - they do allow a BT into your current account. So the BT can occur, just via your bank account instead.

Pip123

Thanks Jamesd and Auntie M for your helpful replies. I think i got muddled with the whole "you can't BT a Visa to another Visa" etc thing!

Worked it out and if i pay what i am currently paying to HSBC (in interest charges-CHUCKING MY MONEY AWAY in other words!lol) to a 0% card then i would be paying £1680 OFF my HSBC debt by switching (+ the balance transfer fee) which means i'm effectively not paying for having debt! Sounds like a great plan!

Think i'll become a credit card tart and keep switching to 0% deals when the 0% is nearly up. Roll on friday (payday) for when i can pay the fee for a BT. Thanks so much!

mark-o-polo

Evening all,

I have a abbey credit card which has £4000 outstanding. I'm currently only making the minimum monthly repayment of £80 (wrists slapped - I know!)

I was going to get a loan to clear the card but the APR with the bank was about 22%. Having read the article about using a balance transfer instead of a loan, I'm now looking to apply for a card to balance transfer to instead.

Am I right in saying that if I qualify for the 5.9% rate, and pay a fixed amount of £120, the debt will be cleared in about 3 years? Just want to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious before I apply.

Thanks!

jamesd

Pip123, yes, that's the way to go. Let the credit card 0% deals do the work.

mark-o-polo, why not go for a 0% for balance transfers with 3% fee card instead? That will be cheaper than 5.9% life of balance and you just do it again once the 0% deal ends.

You could instead start with a 0% for purchases card. Put all of your normal spending on this card and pay more off the Abbey card with the money you're spending on the new card. Eventually you'll have done a slow 0% balance transfer from Abbey to the new card without paying a balance transfer fee. If it'll take more than two months or so you should go with the balance transfer card instead because that'll end up cheaper.

Mark-W_2

Hi,

The girlfriend is picking up a new car saturday which im going to pay for as i have the spare cash £5,500.
She currently has £2,500 in an isa which will be available in a few days to pay me back meaning she will still owe me £3,000.
As this is a small amount getting a loans is overly expensive so she's looking at the possibility of putting the £3,000 on a 0% credit card.

What would be the best way to go about this?

Sorry if this is a simple question

clairemun

I found that the egg card was best for me, they gave me quite a high limit so have transferred all my balances to there. I applied for a Santander and they declined me. How can companies be so different with their application process?

jamesd

Mark-W, Virgin or any other of the MBNA family of cards that allows balance transfers direct to a bank account for a fee around 4% then 0% interest for 15 or so months.

It's a bit slower but getting a 0% for new purchases card and then putting all of the normal spending both of you do on it will do the job without the need to pay a balance transfer fee initially. As the money is spent, she uses it to repay you, either from her bank account if it's things she'd normally pay for or by having you not do the spending if it's something you'd normally pay for. Job done when the balance on the card or cards hits £3,000. Then use a 0% for balance transfer deal when the 0% for purchases deal is nearly over, if she needs credit for longer.