Halifax 0% Mastercard - paying off BT

balsingh

Like many people here, around October last year I signed up for a Halifax Mastercard with 15months 0% on purchases and 6months on BT. I did a BT and since then I have hapilly been spending on it.

The BT 0% ends in a month and I assumed I woudl pay off the amount that I transferred to being with, then the remainder (purchases) doesnt have to be paid up until the 15months is up.

However, on calling the Halifax, I was told that I have to pay off the full balance at the end of the BT period but I can then carry on having 0% on purchases after that till the 15months is up. Is this right?? Why do I have to pay the full amount when I on did a BT for a small chunk of the total balance.

Is this normal or a Halifax trying to pull a swifty?

Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

GeorgeUK

You should NEVER spend on a card you are doing Balance Transfers to.
That is the golden rule.

When people do a BT and spend, that is where the banks make their money. They pay off the lowest interest forst so that they can get more out of you.

Is it possible for you to get another 0% deal from elsewhere?
Then just transfer and DON'T SPEND

CannyJock

balsingh wrote: »

Like many people here, around October last year I signed up for a Halifax Mastercard with 15months 0% on purchases and 6months on BT. I did a BT and since then I have hapilly been spending on it.

The BT 0% ends in a month and I assumed I woudl pay off the amount that I transferred to being with, then the remainder (purchases) doesnt have to be paid up until the 15months is up.

However, on calling the Halifax, I was told that I have to pay off the full balance at the end of the BT period but I can then carry on having 0% on purchases after that till the 15months is up. Is this right?? Why do I have to pay the full amount when I on did a BT for a small chunk of the total balance.

Is this normal or a Halifax trying to pull a swifty?

Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

1. 0% on purchases for 15 month,
2. 0% on BT for 6 months

So they will allocate your payment to the 0% purchase first? Sounds like it to me, so technically you haven't paid anything off the 0% BT part. Which means that they will charge you interest on this once the 6 months is up.

Future payments will be allocated to your 0% purchases part, so they're right in saying that you will have to clear the FULL balance to avoid interest on the 0% BT. Once it's cleared, you can then start spending on it again, but only once you've got a statement confirming £0.00 balance on the card

You've basically been tripped up by the allocation of payments, it's quite a clever trap they've set. Hopefully you'll see what George means about separating 0% balances and 0% purchases.

What you need to do know is look at the amount of the purchases you're doing and the amount of the BT you did, it might be worth just accepting the interest on the BT till the end of the purchase period if it's not going to be significant.