Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

L40NAS

Oops only just sorted out the posting rules !!!

I intend to go the EGG / HSBC route to transfer cash into my current A/C.

I note that you advise NEVER spend on purchases on the HSBC card, however the card also offers 0% on PURCHASES for 12 months, therefore as long as i pay min payments and pay whole balance off after 12 months, is this OK ??
I realise that i will only benefit for 12 months (not 2 years) on the balance transfer deal, (due to payment heirachy kicking in after 12 months)however can then just swap the whole balance to another low transfer card after 12 months ??

Thanks for any help in this.

Moggles_2

christie81 wrote: »

I am thinking about transferring my balance to a card offering 0% interest ...Can you STILL use the card that the debt has been cleared off or should this be avoided too?

Once the balance on the old card is reduced to zero, you can shop interest-free provided that you always settle your monthly statement balance in full by the due date.

Moggles_2

L40NAS wrote: »

I intend to go the EGG / HSBC route to transfer cash into my current A/C.

I note that you advise NEVER spend on purchases on the HSBC card, however the card also offers 0% on PURCHASES for 12 months, therefore as long as I pay min payments and pay the whole balance off after 12 months, is this OK?
I realise that I will only benefit for 12 months (not 2 years) on the balance transfer deal, (due to payment heirachy kicking in after 12 months) however can then just swap the whole balance to another low [rate] transfer card after 12 months ??

There's nothing wrong with this plan in principle. It's your call really.

hood

Cheers YorkshireBoy, just what I was looking for..

clarissa

I want to buy a car for £8000, I have £4000 savings and no debts. I can afford up to £350 a month repayments. I have a Tesco Visa I pay off each month and a Morgan Stanley card I've never used. Egg always say I've got a card with them, but I haven't!

Is the best way of doing this buying the car with savings and on the Tesco card, getting a new card to balance transfer to (which one - help!) or is there a better way to do this?

Thanks,

Lisa.

jonnyw72

I have no debt and want to help out my sister-in-law by obtaining a credit card and transferring her £4k (and rapidly increasing) store card debt to it at a 0% balance transfer rate for as long a period as possible. She'll then pay me back over the course of the balance transfer period. Can I balance transfer this third party store card?

JJimmySturo

Thanks great information

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by clarissa
I want to buy a car for £8000. I have £4000 savings and no debts. I can afford up to £350 a month repayments. I have a Tesco Visa I pay off each month and a Morgan Stanley card I've never used.

Is the best way of doing this buying the car with savings and on the Tesco card, getting a new card to balance transfer to (which one - help!) or is there a better way to do this?

Some car dealers will charge a premium for payment with a credit card. Also, with the Tesco card you have a maximum of 46 days interest-free so, unless you line up your 0% balance transfer card before you buy the car, the deadlines for your credit application and balance transfer request could be tight.

It may be simpler to apply for one of those rather special credit cards which allow you to transfer an overdraft to them, in other words, transfer cash from the credit card to your current account. You could then pay for your car by cheque.

Most card providers, including Tesco and Morgan Stanley, would class this as a money transfer and charge you for a cash withdrawal, which is rather expensive.

The exceptions, which charge balance transfer rates, are:

cards issued by MBNA (e.g. Alliance & Leicester, MBNA itself, Sony, Virgin) Abbey, Egg card or the Post Office card

alternatively, you can use Egg Money (not to be confused with the Egg card) in conjunction with any 0% or low-rate balance transfer card.

Mint periodically issues credit card cheques, which can be paid directly into your current account. Unless you already have them, this is the least satisfactory option, as cheques cannot be ordered and you never know when the next ones will turn up in the post.

Which option is best depends to some extent on which cards you have already. To maximise the 0% period, 15 months is currently available to new customers from Virgin and you'll get 13 months with the Egg card. A 3% BT fee applies.

Moggles_2

jonnyw72 wrote: »

I have no debt and want to help out my sister-in-law by obtaining a credit card and transferring her £4k (and rapidly increasing) store card debt to it at a 0% balance transfer rate for as long a period as possible. She'll then pay me back over the course of the balance transfer period. Can I balance transfer this third party store card?

You can shift a credit card balance to another credit card. Transferring a store card balance to a credit card is not so straightforward. I would apply for one of the cards listed in #379 above.

These not only offer new customers 0% on balance transfers, they'll allow you to transfer an overdraft to them, in other words, transfer cash from the credit card to your current account. (Just a handful of credit cards have this capability.)

You then have cash in your bank account equal to the balance on the 0% BT card and can pay off your sister-in-law's store card.

Please bear in mind that the person whose card the £4K balance is shifted to, becomes soley liable for the debt. If you were to fall out, you couldn't ask the card company to charge your sister-in-law for any balance remaining on a card which was taken out in your name.

YorkshireBoy

jonnyw72 wrote: »

...transferring her £4k (and rapidly increasing) store card debt...

Why is it "rapidly increasing"? Is it because the minimum payments don't come anywhere near the monthly interest charged (that would be unlikely IMHO), or because she is continuing to spend on the storecard? If the latter, you should think long and hard before taking on her debt.

She'll then pay me back over the course of the balance transfer period.

The longest 0% BT duration at the moment is 15 months. Are you/is she sure this is achievable? What is plan B if it isn't?