Spending on a BT card

Astraeus

I know it's one of Martin's cardinal sins - to make purchases on a card intended to attract people on the basis of interest-free balance transfers. However, the card has a three-month interest-free purchases period and I am able to repay the FULL amount in May after I get the withdrawal from my savings account.

Am I alright to spend £250 on the card today knowing full well I can repay the transferred balance and balance from purchases in under a month?

NickX

You are correct that as long as the entire balance (both Balance Transfer and Purchase Balance) is paid off before the 3 months expire, then you will not be charged any interest.

However, you would really be better putting the purchases onto another card, so that you can benefit from the full 15 month promotion on the Balance Transfer - you could keep the funds that you have ready to pay off the Balance Transfer in a high interest account for 12 months and make some money from the Credit Card companies :beer:

Astraeus

The problem with that is how much credit I'm able to secure. I'm already overdrawn on two student accounts (with the money in an ISA) and have a £1,100 credit limit C.C. with another bank though only £200 is owed on that card. HSBC have rejected me already for their 0% purchases card and I'm reluctant to put too many searches on my credit file until I've paid off both overdrafts at the end of this year.

As I understand it from your post, if I were to BT £200 and spend £250 on the 0% BT/0% purchases card and then pay it off entirely within the three months, I would then be able to BT across more money onto the card and have 12 more months to pay it off?

If I'm able to do so, I'll take the money from one of my overdrafts and put it on the 0% BT card, being able to repay it in full come August/September.

NickX

Astraeus wrote: »

As I understand it from your post, if I were to BT £200 and spend £250 on the 0% BT/0% purchases card and then pay it off entirely within the three months, I would then be able to BT across more money onto the card and have 12 more months to pay it off?

I think this should be ok, but please do check your Terms and Conditions carefully - sometimes there are clauses saying that to benefit from a Balance Transfer promotion, you need to initiate the Balance Transfer within 3 months of opening the card which may cause you a problem. Good Luck.