barclaycard existing customer confusing bt offer

timswf

Hi.. recently shifted my remaining balance off my barclaycard after 12 months - and was excited to get a letter I got today with a bt cheque for another 0% period.. but it is confusing and contradictory. It starts off saying 0% until october .. however the wording then says "Use the top cheque and you'll pay 0% interest on the transferred balance until January 2006. blah blah handling fee 2%.. blah blah,, Any outstanding balance after your october 2005 statement will revert to your standing rate for purchases: 18.8%.

Terms also say max of £5k per cheque. Couldn't get any sense out of their customer services - so have emailed them.. if it is october I'd make a loss on it according to the stoozcalc.. but january would be tempting..

Interested to know if anyone else has had this letter and got any sense out of them..

rgds

timswf

r_holmes22

Weird! I got the same letter/cheques from Barclaycard, but mine makes no mention of October. Simply states that balances transferred before 2nd August, using the cheque, will accrue 0% interest until January (although,as you state, there is a 2% "handling fee"). Good luck in getting yours clarified, maybe a mis-print or something?

draker

Hi

I also got a letter this morning offering either to extend my 0% balance period until February 2006 without a balance tranfer fee or transfer to a life of balance at 6.9%. Again without a balance transfer fee.

My partner also got a letter from Barclyacard offering him to exend his 0% offer until October or a life of balance transfer of 6.9%. However, for both of his offers he would be chaged a balance transfer fee.

It seems as though Barclaycard are looking at the use of your card and your repayments and are offering different offers.

Regards

draker

timswf

Dear Sir/Madam,


Thank you for your e-mail.

With regard to your query, may I inform you that the balance transfer
offer is for 0% until October 05. However, within the text of the letter
it refers to 0% until January 06 which is incorrect.

jellyhead

my offer from them today was 0% until april 06 but with a 2% transfer charge, also i can only transfer 2 thousand, not my whole credit limit. sorry to sound thick but what's this stoozcalc mentioned? i can't decide if i should do it or not. if i did i'd put it in my boy's junior barclayplus account, i just checked online and at 4.75% that's the best rate i have from my accounts.

Milarky

These 0% offers aren't very good on account of the 2% fee. But in addition they don't mix with life of balance transfers either. Barclaycard must be amongst the most devious of companies for these types of confusion

If you have a life of balance [say at 6.9] and are currently repaying this, and Barclaycard offers you 6 months at 0% then you may think that because '0%' is less than '6.9%' they will have you repaying the 0% first. They won't. They take payments broadly in the order:

1) Fixed period, lowest rate
2) Fixed period, highest rate
3) Life of balance, lowest rate
4) Life of balance, highest rate

So if you take a 0% today it will jst sit there whilst you carry on reducing the 6.9 balance. Good news you may think, but in six months that 0% jumps up to 15.9 [or whatever] and you can't repay it before that happens without clearing out your 6.9 balance as well. [As I say, very devious]

MT_ED

Hi Milarky

I was wondering if they would do that, so would it be possible to transfer all my B/card debt onto say my egg card first and then use the offer to transfer it all back onto B/card so I would then get it all at 0%.

Hope this makes sense, as this is my first posting I apologise in advance for being a thicky

Milarky

Yes MT ED, that's a standard 'trick' - to make use of 'A.N other' credit card to balance transfer to a card on which already have a debt and on which you could get a lower rate, if only you could 'swap' the debt. You'll be charged interest on the Egg card whilst they hold your balance, of course, but nothing more hopefully. Also there is a charge on Barclaycard transfers.

Also if Barclaycard agree to increase your credit limit just before balance transferring back to them you would have the option to pay any extra from your Egg card into your current account and only repay this at the end of the 0% period. [I believe that Barclaycard's fee is capped at £50, so anything transferred above £2,500 is 'fee free']

jellyhead

my credit limit is around 4 thousand so if they would let me transfer the whole lot with me only paying a max of £50 in fees that would be better. my barclaycard is empty, i don't have a 6.9% on it and i don't use it as a spending card because i prefer cashback cards to nectar points. my husband points out that i'd pay £40 in fees to barclayscard (they don't charge interest on the fee do they??) and only earn around £65 in interest during the 9 month period - is that right? so he doesn't think it's worth doing but i've never stoozed before, i was in debt so balance transfers were all about reducing interest paid - this would be purely for profit and even a £25 profit would make me feel a bit smug lol! it's a trip to the cinema.

Hobo_2

Jellyhead, check your letter because mine does not mention a capped BT fee for the cheque just 2% of BT!
Interestingly though it says the "cheques are subject to the 2% cash handling fee"
But they say 0% blah blah followed by ways to BT= cheque/phone/branch,
SO by phoning does that = no cheque fee?

jellyhead

mine doesn't mention a capped fee either, i've heard it mentioned before though. it clearly states that i can only transfer a maximum of 2 thousand anyway, of which 2% is £40.

by branch does that mean barclays? it would be worth phoning to see if the fee still applies over the phone.