Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

HannahJohn

I am new to this forum and really glad to join it. Because here i find some very useful information about money matters and credit dealings.

j1984_2

I followed the advice on the site and researched a few cards before deciding on the Barclaycard platinum with 0% on BT for 2 years. Didn't think I stood a good chance of being accepted, but I have been - £3600 credit limit. Just before I applied for the Barlclaycard, I applied and was accepted for Halifax's clarity card to use abroad as it is charge free for purchases, but the downside was the rate is the highest bracket at 21.9% with a credit limit of £5450. So this one will need to be paid off if there's any balance. However I can now transfer to the barclaycard with it's 0% offer as even with the fee, it works out cheaper than paying interest.

I had an outstanding balance on my Santander credit card and had taken the option to shop around as they had put the interest up to 29.9% (I have NEVER missed a payment and regularly pay £100's off rather than minimum payment. I also bank with them and maintain my overdraft to a good standard.)

I have used credit expert for a few years on and off. Advice: Go to Equifax - much, much better. I also checked the call credit data based on advice from the site. Equifax had an unsettled and payment missed account outstanding for 5 months due to 02 not cancelling my contract during the 14 day cooling off period they offer. It was a faff to get sorted but took a couple of weeks and this moved my credit score with Equifax from poor to good!! Credit expert had no record of this, so lenders checking one agency and not the other were getting potentially 2 completely different credit reports. I paid for the full site access, worth it if you can afford it for a couple of months just to make sure everything is OK.

Had I not done this, I would NEVER have been accepted for 2 credit cards with the balances I've been given. My rates are still not great but I know it was my high outstanding balance causing this, not anything else.

*Louise*

Quite pleased with the Barclaycard 2 year offer - applied for hubby and he got accepted so his old CC can get cut up.:j

Pity I already have a card with them, I have been trying to get away from Virgin for a while and this would have been perfect.

Need to get a new Virgin card anyway just in case I do find something suitable to switch to, have never used it and don't know where it is.

Rah

also having a problem with barclaycard here.
hubby applied for the 0% BT (has about £4k on an egg card wants to transfer), he earns a good salary, however we didn't get an instant decision, said they needed to check some additional info (not sure what) and then when the letter came it said we are offering you a card with a rate of 19.9% apr and sorry this is not the one you applied for! plus the credit limit only £1200 so no use anyway.
but now I am wondering - might the 19% be for purchases? is it possible they would still do 0% for balance transfers?
although unless they will increase the credit limit we will not use it anyway.

is it worth phoning them to discuss? or is the decision final?

plzhelpmesave!

Hi Just a quick question - asking for advice please.

DH and I both have CCs -about 3 each at the moment all on 0% as we've been tarting for the past few years - total debt is about £15k and we are making minimum payments on each card.

We keep getting offered 0% from various cards that we have BT'd from, e.g. Egg have written to both of us with a 12 month 0% offer.

is it worth us taking up this offer??? if so, what is the best way of using it?
Other cards are on 0%.
Mortgage is on a fixed rate (5.39!) so I dont think we'd be able to pull back any money if we overpay towards that.
We currently have £3k in savings (whoo hoo) but this is our only emergency fund & we have an expensive family commitment at the end of this year.

Forgot to add, that hubby also has a £5k overdraft facility with Halifax and I have £2k with Satander. I keep thinking that as we have access to that money, we use it to pay off....something....!! Just not sure what

Shall I just keep ignoring those BT offers?

Thanks

*Louise*

*Louise* wrote: »

Quite pleased with the Barclaycard 2 year offer - applied for hubby and he got accepted so his old CC can get cut up.:j

Pity I already have a card with them, I have been trying to get away from Virgin for a while and this would have been perfect.

Need to get a new Virgin card anyway just in case I do find something suitable to switch to, have never used it and don't know where it is.

Yikes

Hubby got a 4.8k limit, so his card is transferred over, that will be paid off before the rates go up. :cool:

I thought 'what the heck' and applied anyway - got a 'we need to check more details' and thought I would be declined but no - got an email offering me a 15k card :eek: I only need 2k for the transfer lol:rotfl:

jones-taff13

Im just wondering is it a good idea to do a balance transfer on a loan or just change it to a lower rate loan? ive got £9200 of a loan and 2700 on a credit card, which im waiting for a new card to come through the post.

thenudeone

jones-taff13 wrote: »

Im just wondering is it a good idea to do a balance transfer on a loan or just change it to a lower rate loan? ive got £9200 of a loan and 2700 on a credit card, which im waiting for a new card to come through the post.

Loans rarely allow you to pay the off with a credit card (either as a purchase or Balance Transfer) so the only way is to get a card that allows you to transfer funds into your bank account. Many will, but they will charge 3-4% as a fee and almost never have 0% deals.

Kingy100

Hi Forum,

I applied for a 0% balance transfer Barclaycard in January this year but was rejected. Despite repeated calls, I was unable to obtain a reason, but I assume that it was because of my credit rating - no property to my name, history of balance transfers and a missed payment on the mortgage by my ex-partner before I could remove my name from the property we shared.

As my circumstances have not changed significantly since then, I am wondering if I will be any more successful applying for a balance transfer card now. As the monthly interest I'm paying at the moment is significant, any chance to pay off the balance quicker is going to help me in the long run - but not the banks' profits! Yet if I am rejected again, then my credit rating will be hit, and I will have even less chance of obtaining a new card.

Is there anything I can do to increase my chances of being accepted?

bobbingalong123

I have £3800 on an MBNA card (20%) and £4500 on a Barclaycard (23%). Both accounts closed (by me). Which 0% cards should I go for?