Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

SomeoneTuKIt

Hi, I'm really confused about the best way to go about clearing my credit card and hope someone will point me in the right direction, I've read what I should but there's so many different cards with different offers, I've never looked into this before and it's a bit of a mine field??

My Credit Card is with HSBC and I owe approximately £4000.00, I can comfortably afford to pay £120.00 a month back.

I spoke to my bank last weekend who offered me a loan to clear it over 4 years , but now I've thought about it I'm thinking there must be a cheaper way to do it.

I have about £4,000.00 in savings which I don't want to use it to clear the credit card and my bank said I have a good credit rating.

Should I do a balance transfer and which card should I go for? Should I take the loan? Any help appreciated.

Moggles_2

SomeoneTuKIt wrote: »

Hi, I'm really confused about the best way to go about clearing my credit card ... My Credit Card is with HSBC and I owe approximately £4000. I can comfortably afford to pay £120.00 a month back. I spoke to my bank last weekend who offered me a loan to clear it over 4 years. I have about £4,000 in savings which I don't want to use to clear the credit card and my bank said I have a good credit rating. Should I do a balance transfer and which card should I go for? Should I take the loan?

IMO, a 0% balance transfer card is the way to go.

Which deal is best depends, to some extent, on which cards - besides HSBC - you have at the mo. To maximise the 0% period, 15 months is currently available to new customers from Halifax. There's a 3% handling charge

http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/pluscard153.asp

Caution: remember not to spend on the card :eek:

DB10

Moggles wrote: »

It's not an exact science of course but, judging from the posts on here, you're more likely to get a generous credit limit with Virgin/MBNA, than some lenders I could name.

To maximise the 0% period, 15 months is currently available to new customers from Virgin. There's a 2.98% handling charge.

http://uk.virginmoney.com/credit-card-v3/

Forgot to mention I have another credit card with a clear balance, will this harm my credit rating sitting there doing nothing. Wondering if I should cancel it or transfer some of the 11k onto it as it has 0% until March.

Thanks again

Moggles_2

DB10 wrote: »

Forgot to mention, I have another credit card with a clear balance. Will this harm my credit rating sitting there doing nothing? Wondering if I should cancel it or transfer some of the 11k onto it, as it has 0% until March?

Well, a card in the hand, IMO, is worth two on a website.

A card a/c with a zero balance will not harm your credit rating. If I were you, I'd transfer the maximum allowed to this card and take advantage of the 0% rate until March

PATCH_2

just moved back from NZ after trying it for 7months. My hubby has 2 cc's on dd each month, and i want to get a cc to transfer to 0%, but because we have been out of the country we have no credit history anymore, which also makes it difficult to rent a property as our house is rented out for 3 years. does anyone have any ideas

MSE_Dan wrote: »

This is the discussion area for the

Best Balance Transfers: Cut the cost of existing debts Article

Please click reply to discuss

Moggles_2

PATCH wrote: »

Just moved back from NZ after trying it for 7 months. My hubby has 2 ccs on dd each month and I want to get a cc to transfer to 0%, but because we have been out of the country we have no credit history any more, which also makes it difficult to rent a property as our house is rented out for 3 years. Does anyone have any ideas

Have you previously held credit cards in your own name here in the UK?
It's your payment history with all your creditors over the last 6 years that counts, with particular emphasis on the most recent 12 months.

That said, you'll struggle to get credit unless registered on the electoral roll at a fixed address.

Your post raises some other issues and you may get replies more quickly, if you post again on the *House Buying, Renting & Selling* board

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=16

moneysavingmackem

I have a £500 balance on my sky card at 0% until november 08. sky have offered me a 0% interest cheque with a 2.99% fee. as i also have £2,000 on a m&s credit card does it make financial sense for me to firstly, transfer my £500 sky debt to m&s, then, secondly, use a sky cheque to pay the combined £2500, leaving me with the whole debt at 0% on sky. i realise i'll have to pay the handling fee. thanks in advance for any help.

Moggles_2

moneysavingmackem wrote: »

I have a £500 balance on my Sky card at 0% until November 08. Sky have offered me a 0% interest cheque with a 2.99% fee. As I also have £2,000 on a M&S credit card, does it make financial sense for me to firstly transfer my £500 Sky debt to M&S, then secondly use a Sky cheque to pay the combined £2500, leaving me with the whole debt at 0% on Sky. I realise I'll have to pay the handling fee.

You don't mention when the 0% cheque promotion ends, but Sky is part of the Barclaycard stable, so I would guess you've been offered at least 6 months at 0%. If you're currently paying standard interest rates on your M&S card (typically 15.9% APR), you'll save money.

Chief drawback is that you'd lose 6-8 weeks 0% on your current Sky deal and pay some £30 in handling charges to move your £500 to M&S and back (in addition to the £60 fee to shift your £2000 balance to Sky.)

Why not plug some numbers into Martin's Credit Card Calculator? You can then estimate the time it would take to clear the debts at current rates and see the effect of reducing the interest rate to 0% for X months.

http://www.whatsthecost.com/creditcard.aspx

flossie217

Moggles wrote: »

Caution: B'card operates a rate-for-risk policy, so it's important to consider first whether you’ve a realistic chance of being accepted.

Could you explain to me please what exactly is 'rate for risk policy'

Also what are these credit card cheques I have read about here?

Sorry to be so naive but I'm learning.

Moggles_2

flossie217 wrote: »

Could you explain to me please what exactly is 'rate for risk policy'

This means the lender reserves the right to issue the credit card it deems most suitable from its range. In the worst cases you can be sent a totally different & unsuitable card, leaving you with a wasted search on your credit file. Judging from posts to this board, this happens frequently, so it's important to consider whether you’ve a realistic chance of being accepted before you apply for these cards.

Barclaycard, Capital One and Citi all operate a rate-for-risk policy.