Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

oligopoly

Hello, I’m after a bit of advice if anyone can help please. I have £6,900 outstanding on an existing credit card from a car purchase which has just starting accruing interest. Following the guide on here I have applied for a Lloyds 24 month card to shift the balance onto and work at clearing it within this timeline. The limit I’ve been offered on the new card is £4,100, which I’ve accepted and have applied to transfer £3,895 of debt onto this new card. This leaves £3,005 on the old and £3,895 on the new. I’m comfortable committing £300 per month to clear this debt, which would take 2 years to do.

My question is should I pay £150 to each card each month or £300 to the older one which has the interest? Actually, the interest accruing on the remaining balance of the older card would reduce the £300 I suppose. Because of bonuses I receive at my work I guess my focus should be to clear the old card completely before trying to put money aside each month for savings etc.

Thanks to all in advance.

grumbler

oligopoly wrote: »

My question is should I pay £150 to eachcard each month or £300 to the older one which has the interest?

I think this is obvious that you have to pay the minimum payments to the 0% card and as much as you can towards the interest-bearing one.
That said, it's advisable to pay extra £1 on the top of minimum payments as continuous minimum payments negatively affect your credit scoring.

Thanks to all in advance.

Buy a new keyboard. Your 'space' key is playing up making your posts very difficult to read.

andydgg

interest from savings, 1%, interest on credit cards 25%. Best way to save is to pay off the credit cards. Always attack the highest interest ones first. Look to getting all the balance onto 0% but check the bt fee.

andydgg

I think it's usually best to wait 6 months to a year before applying for them all at once.

oligopoly

grumbler wrote: »

I think this is obvious that you have to pay the minimum payments to the 0% card

Thanks - oh and spaces have been fixed! How can I calculate what the minimum figure will be? (A £3,895 balance on a 0% interest Lloyds 17.9% APR).

grumbler

Check your card Summary Box.
E.g.
Platinum 28 Month Balance Transfer Card Summary box

Your monthly rate is ~1.4%.

Set up a DD and they will do the calculations and take the correct amount. Add, say, £1, by, say, a SO between the due date and the statement date.

oligopoly

grumbler wrote: »

Check your card Summary Box.
E.g.
Platinum 28 Month Balance Transfer Card Summary box

Your monthly rate is ~1.4%.

Set up a DD and they will do the calculations and take the correct amount. Add, say, £1, by, say, a SO between the due date and the statement date.

OK so about £55 per month on this new card and £245 per month on the old interest-loaded card. Thanks again.

chilli_green

Hi all,

Apologies for asking something that's potentially covered elsewhere, I'm an economics layman so all of the options are new to me.

I was just wondering if doing a 0% balance transfer is a good idea for me.

I have one credit card, the standard Natwest Mastercard. I'm not sure of the interest rate exactly. I have about £1100 of debt that I'm paying off around £200 a month, not spending anything on the card until I pay off the majority, or all, of that debt. I'm paying around £20-£30 a month interest at the moment.

I had a look at the calculator and it seemed that the Fluid card could be a good option, at least to save paying that interest over the next 6 or so months.

Is this a wise move or should I just stick with Natwest and avoid branching out into multiple cards?

grumbler

chilli_green wrote: »

Is this a wise move or should I just stick with Natwest and avoid branching out into multiple cards?

What sort of question is it?

The calculator should have told you how much you could save by transferring, although I don't know how you could use it without knowing your APR. Check your statement?

Only you know if it's wise to save £XX.XX or not, but if I owed £1K and didn't have any savings, there would be no question for me.

chilli_green

grumbler wrote: »

What sort of question is it?

The calculator should have told you how much you could save by transferring, although I don't know how you could use it without knowing your APR. Check your statement?

Only you know if it's wise to save £XX.XX or not, but if I owed £1K and didn't have any savings, there would be no question for me.

I just mean as a general concept, assuming I can calculate that I'll save money is adding an extra card to my life and opening a new account a good idea for my financial standings and report?