Abbey or RBS 29 January 2008 at 1:51PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Stoozing: Free Cash from Credit Cards 8 replies 1K views

andyf1873

I currently have the following cards:

Virgin - £5000 (till November)
Barclaycard - £4000 (till December)
Ulster Bank - £3000 (2 weeks left)
Halifax One - £2200 (till August)

I also have an Egg Money card which I use for purchases and as my "mule" for BTs

My question is what should I apply for next, the Abbey card with 13 months and 2.5% BT Fee or the RBS Gold Card with 13 months and 2.9% fee?

What limits do each offer, are they fairly generous?

Can a BT to Egg Money be done easily? (Halifax One wouldn't let me do it so I maxed that out with purchases instead)

I would ideally apply for the Capital One no fee card or the 1.7% fee one but I don't think I will qualify for the excellent credit rating

YorkshireBoy

Of the two, I'd go for Abbey:

Smaller BT fee
£5 per month min payments (after the first [2.25%?] one)
Hopefully they've inherited MBNA's high credit limit setting since they brought their cards in house?

RBS have a reputation for 'responsible' lending!...and you already have a card from their stable (Ulster).

Re the failed Egg Money BT to Halifax...was this online? If so, it's a known glitch, but telephone requests seem to go through OK.

Have you seen the stoozing card table at www.stoozing.com/0fees.htm? Might be one or two that you've missed.

andyf1873

Yes the BT to Egg Money from Halifax One was done online

Ok I think Abbey is the winner (also noticed it offers SBTs)

However this is what it says on the Abbey website regarding minimum payments:


Each month you must pay at least the minimum payment set out in your statement. The minimum payment will be the lesser of:

• 2.25% of the balance shown in your statement (minimum £5, or the full balance if less than £5); or
• the total of payment protection premiums plus interest and fees charged on the statement, plus £5.

As I understand it this is saying that if your balance is above £5 then the minimum payments are 2.25%

Where exactly does it say the minimum payments are fixed at £5 a month??

Could someone who has this card possibly shed some light on this

YorkshireBoy

andyf1873 wrote: »

Where exactly does it say the minimum payments are fixed at £5 a month??

The second bullet in your quote above.

"the total of payment protection premiums plus interest and fees charged on the statement, plus £5"

So, £0 + £0 + £0 + £5 = £5

Your first min payment will be £5 + the BT fee.

midnite

andyf1873 wrote: »

Yes the BT to Egg Money from Halifax One was done online

Ok I think Abbey is the winner (also noticed it offers SBTs)

However this is what it says on the Abbey website regarding minimum payments:


Each month you must pay at least the minimum payment set out in your statement. The minimum payment will be the lesser of:

• 2.25% of the balance shown in your statement (minimum £5, or the full balance if less than £5); or
• the total of payment protection premiums plus interest and fees charged on the statement, plus £5.

As I understand it this is saying that if your balance is above £5 then the minimum payments are 2.25%

Where exactly does it say the minimum payments are fixed at £5 a month??

Could someone who has this card possibly shed some light on this

Based on your statement above the lesser of the 2 clauses is implemented. Therefore £5 will always be less than 2.25% unless your balance is £5 or less. You won't have any interest or payment protection and you will only have a fee in the first month.

So you BT 1000
the charge is 25
new balance is 1025

2.25% of 1025 is 23.06

BT fees plus £5 is £30

therefore in your first month you pay 23.06

after you will pay the remaining fee plus £5 which is £6.94 from then on you pay £5

I cant find the T&C's on the abbey site to check but i think this is correct based on what you said.

YorkshireBoy

midnite wrote: »

after you will pay the remaining fee plus £5 which is £6.94 from then on you pay £5.

I don't think that's how it works midnite.

There is no "remaining fee" to pay.

The new balance is £1,025.00 - £23.06 = £1,001.94

Therefore, the second minimum payment is the LESSER of £22.54 (£1,001.94 x 2.25%) or £5...therefore it will be £5.

midnite

Yes Yorkshire Boy quite correct thanks.

£5 min payment after the first month.

A nice low payment to Stooze with:)

andyf1873

Ok I understand it now, I obviously chose to ignore the second statement

I'll be applying for it as soon as I'v closed my Ulster bank card which should be in the next 2 weeks

So 13 months, 2.5% BT fee, £5 min payments and SBT facility: surely this makes it one of the best cards around!!! Have I missed something that puts people off this card because there doesnt appear to have been much mention of it on this forum in the past??

dc

Beware Abbey customer services are new and disfunctional if anything goes wrong. Take fortnight to acknowledge complaints, god knows how long to resolve.I sent off form for BT on 24 Oct, first indication that application accepted, was a statement dated 2nd Nov for BT carried out on 30th Oct.(card arrived 2 weeks later) that was the last statement I have managed to get out of them despite hours on the phone, letters and faxes. As far as they are concerned the statements were sent out, so tough. 3 attempts to get intenet account, nothing arrives in post to complete setup, yes they have my correct address.