Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

cc427

sfax wrote: »

You may well get rejected based on your credit limit to income ratio but there is no harm in trying. One application will only leave one search on your credit report and 1-2 searches in a 6 month period are OK.

Your credit report will not show that the application was successful or unsuccessful although that could potentially be assumed by considering future credit agreements

Your address should match the electoral roll. Not sure on the exact rules for how much time you have to be there in relation to using the address as your account address

Thank you very much for your answer. That was exactly the information I needed. I'll give it a go then.

pbfhpunk

Hi sorry if this has been asked before, so many pages!

I have an RBS MasterCard with 2k on and paying interest. I also have a Sainsbury card with 2,400 on interest free finishing in April. I've applied for an RBS platinum with 24 month interest free and with a limit of 5,900 so I'll move the Sainsbury money but can't transfer RBS to RBS.

So question is can I move from Sainsbury to RBS then RBS to Sainsbury then Sainsbury to RBS?! All within 3 months? Thanks in advance.

sfax

pbfhpunk wrote: »

Hi sorry if this has been asked before, so many pages!

I have an RBS MasterCard with 2k on and paying interest. I also have a Sainsbury card with 2,400 on interest free finishing in April. I've applied for an RBS platinum with 24 month interest free and with a limit of 5,900 so I'll move the Sainsbury money but can't transfer RBS to RBS.

So question is can I move from Sainsbury to RBS then RBS to Sainsbury then Sainsbury to RBS?! All within 3 months? Thanks in advance.

Yes but on the 2 legged transfer you'll pay double the fees

pbfhpunk

sfax wrote: »

Yes but on the 2 legged transfer you'll pay double the fees

So one fee from Sainsbury to RBS and 2 for the RBS to Sainsbury to RBS?

We're only paying minimum on both at the moment but wanting to pay them both off by this time next year so guessing the fees will be worth it and will be less than the interest paid.

Have I got that right?

sfax

Yes.

Not sure on interest but even on the more expensive 2-legged transfer it will be about 6% of the total so that's roughly equivalent to 6% APR if borrowed over 2 years. It's likely to be cheaper than whatever you're paying on the credit card standard rate so worth doing if accepted

Asianchick

Hi,

I currently have a £7.5k balance on a barclaycard with the 0% BT deal running out in exactly a month. I also have an MBNA card with zero balance and c. £10k limit but no 0% BT offer. I have called MBNA and all they can offer me is a "6.9% for the life of the balance" transfer.

My credit is very good so I applied for, but didnt complete, a new natwest card with a 24 month 0% BT offer. I didnt complete it because after I had put all of my details in, it said that all they could offer me was a £3k limit, if my application was successful. Why is the limit so low?

I called Natwest and she suggested it was because I had £10k available to me on the MBNA card and that maybe I should close it down and re-apply. What do you guys think?

I am scared to close the MBNA card down, only to apply for the Natwest card again and be given a low limit. At least if I still have the MBNA card open, there's a chance that a 0% BT offer will come up again.

sfax

Asianchick wrote: »

Hi,

I currently have a £7.5k balance on a barclaycard with the 0% BT deal running out in exactly a month. I also have an MBNA card with zero balance and c. £10k limit but no 0% BT offer. I have called MBNA and all they can offer me is a "6.9% for the life of the balance" transfer.

My credit is very good so I applied for, but didnt complete, a new natwest card with a 24 month 0% BT offer. I didnt complete it because after I had put all of my details in, it said that all they could offer me was a £3k limit, if my application was successful. Why is the limit so low?

I called Natwest and she suggested it was because I had £10k available to me on the MBNA card and that maybe I should close it down and re-apply. What do you guys think?

I am scared to close the MBNA card down, only to apply for the Natwest card again and be given a low limit. At least if I still have the MBNA card open, there's a chance that a 0% BT offer will come up again.

Just ask for the limit to be reduced on the MBNA account. You can set it to anything below your current limit.

You should bear in mind this could also have a negative effect because you will increase your debt utilisation and people say 30-40% is OK but 70%+ is seen as bad.

Also, Natwest have already credit scored you. If you re-apply, that's two searches and you will have to wait 6 months for these to become insignificant. It's wise to keep searches to 2-3 max in a 6-month period

sfax

teknipure wrote: »

Thanks for the tips and Congratulations

:spam: reported

twiglet98

After months of musing - and tossing ideas around on here (grateful thanks to sfax for your observtions) I am starting to get somewhere.

Nationwide Select CC approved, £3500 at 0% with half-price fee offer so £3445 shifted onto it from Barclaycard's horrible 21.9%, for a fee of £53.40.

Santander full balance just over £2800 moved back to Barclaycard at 0% until September - my fixed monthly payments will be reducing the rest of the balance, about £4400. Santander limit £3500, balance now zero and their current BT offer of 0% until October expires in two days.

Old Egg account, now another Barclaycard, presently £3200 at 17.9% being paid by a fixed £200/month.

Initial thought was to move £3400 from the 21.9% BCard to Santander, which would leave me four cards all with balances in the £3500 to £4400 range, with all current 0% offers utilised but two of them only until Sept/Oct 2013... so I just used the MSE Eligibility Checker, which suggests 90% chance of acceptance for Lloyds 21 months and Halifax 'up to 25 months', 80% NatWest or RBS for 24 months, and 70% chance of MBNA 23 months. If I could get say, £3500 on one of these, I would either dent the 21.9% Barclaycard again, or move the old Egg balance and close that account to reduce the number of cards.

What experiences have people had with the eligibililty checker - pretty accurate? Do Lloyds, Halifax, Natwest, RBS or MBNA have a version of 'soft search' like Nationwide?

Thanks.

sam4sam

Does getting a new credit card for a balance transfer effect your credit rating negatively?

Does it show up on credit reports as something of a negative that you needed to use a balance transfer int he first place?