3 way credit card switch

The_Boss

Just wondering if this would work.

My girlfriend has £4000 on her Egg card and £3200 on her Barclaycard. She is paying shedloads of interest per month (around 14% and 18.9% monthly interest) but tonight I came up with an idea involving balance transfer rates

Can I transfer her entire balance from the Barclaycard onto my Capital One card, then transfer the Egg balance onto the Barclaycard and then transfer from my Capital One back to the Egg? So basically we are swapping the Egg and Barclaycard balances. Would this qualify for balance transfer rates if we did this so soon after 'transfering off' the balance? Cos then she would be paying a third of the interest on Barclaycard and half of the interest on Egg. Not sure if they would wise up to this and not give the promotional rates

Clariman

Hi Boss

This should be possible to do - I don't see how the card companies would have direct visibility of what you were doing. However, a couple of things you should check out. Firstly, do any of the 3 cards charge fees for Balance Transfers ? If all 3 charged 2% with no maximum fee, then the moving around could cost you £224. If the Egg card is pre-May 2005 then it should still be on the old Ts & Cs (but check) so there may not be a BT fee. I am not saying that any fees should stop you doing it, but remember to factor them in before you decide whether it is worth doing.

Secondly, how much do you trust your girlfriend ? That is not a glib question. I am serious - it is important, because the moment you BT her Egg card debt onto your CapitalOne card, you become liable for it not her. You would have to make any monthly payments if the BT back to Barclarcard was delayed, not her. And, ultimately, if she refused to take the debt back on to her cards then you would owe the card company not her.

Thirdly, there may be another way of doing this without involving your cards, depending on what her Egg credit limit is. Egg is an SBT card i.e. it allows you to do a BT from a bank account which means that the Egg card can send money to a bank. If her Egg credit limit is at least £7200, she could:

1. BT £3200 from her bank account onto her Egg card. This would send £3200 from Egg to the bank, giving the Egg card a balance of £7200 and having a 'spare' £3200 in her bank account.

2. Pay off her Barclaycard from her bank account i.e. pay £3200 to Barclaycard.

3. Do a BT of £4000 from Egg to Barclaycard.

Clariman

Milarky

The_Boss wrote:

Just wondering if this would work.

My girlfriend has £4000 on her Egg card and £3200 on her Barclaycard. She is paying shedloads of interest per month (around 14% and 18.9% monthly interest) but tonight I came up with an idea involving balance transfer rates

Can I transfer her entire balance from the Barclaycard onto my Capital One card, then transfer the Egg balance onto the Barclaycard and then transfer from my Capital One back to the Egg? So basically we are swapping the Egg and Barclaycard balances. Would this qualify for balance transfer rates if we did this so soon after 'transfering off' the balance? Cos then she would be paying a third of the interest on Barclaycard and half of the interest on Egg. Not sure if they would wise up to this and not give the promotional rates

So you are proposing to take advantage of a life of balance rate [of 6.9?] available on the Barclaycard?

NoW
Egg(14.9)____Barclaycard(18.9)
4000________3200

TheN
Egg(14.9)____Barclaycard(6.9)
3200________4000

The_Boss

Yeah, thats basically it, though I thought the EGG one might have a special transfer rate. Think we will call first to make sure

As for my girlfriend, we are moving in together soon so its all kosher, plus she has a much better job than me so has money. Just doesnt want to pay back the balances until we have put down a deposit and settled in for 6 months or so

I've applied for a 0% on balance transfers card as well so hopefully they will give me a yes and we can use that instead of the Egg if there is no promotional BT rate.

Strange isnt it. She earns over £40k but keeps being refused, whereas I earn about £15k but have high expense bills every month (about £2000 - I am a mystery shopper) that I pay off in full. I would have thought the salary would be more important than the repayment history!!

By the way, each of her cards is at the limit, but the third idea sounds good for in future

Cheers guys