Newbie tart advice

KenCo1964

Hello everyone, before I start I would just like to say that, I stumbled across this site about a week ago, purely by accident and have visited every day since. This is an excellent site, most informative and truly appreciated, many thanks.
I have read most of this sites articles and forum topics, I have also applied for the free stuff, haven’t been able to get the argos codes yet but still, that’s not a complaint, with the information you supply on here I’m sure I should be able to save money somewhere or somehow.
The thing is we have never dabbled in credit cards, they have always frightened us, so have always paid cash for purchases. Saying that, we are not financially sound and could not afford to make mistakes. However, reading all I have on this eye opening site, has done just that, you have opened my eyes and I can see the potential, whilst knowing there is a risk with everything and the importance of being extremely vigilante with 0% deadlines, even my wife can see the benefits of credit cards if used correctly, (and that’s going some for her to be happy).
We have purchased our first home only a year ago and currently have a mortgage with the Halifax with an outstanding balance of only £25,000 along with all the other normal utility bills and insurances, which are all paid by direct debit we have a £5,000 loan from the TSB. It’s about a year old now and the payments are £1.05 per month.
I am interested in the tarting of a super balance transfer….i am thinking of applying for a credit card, super transfer the balance to a high interest savings account, paying only minimum payments and after the 0% ends transferring to another credit card hopefully with 0% and on and on.
We are also interested in purchasing a new TV, as the one we have is on the blink, we are contemplating getting a plasma tv but would have to wait or get credit for this. So would consider if possible buying this on plastic and then tarting that card.
We would also be interested in paying off the loan if at all possible and as above tart that card from then.
My question is which if any would work for me, bearing in mind we have never had cards before. I do believe we should have a good credit rating but have not received my pin back from Experian for me to check yet. Which of these would be the most sensible or most profitable for me to do first, or would a combination work better.
Many thanks in advance for any suggestions and keep up the good work.

Martinslovechild

We have a £5,000 loan from the TSB. It’s about a year old now and the payments are £1.05 per month.

First question - what is the duration of the loan? Even if the rate was 0%, I calculate that it will take you nearly 397 years to pay it off ... ???

KenCo1964

sorry the amount should be £105.00 per month and i believe it is over 5 years but may be wrong, without the paper work in front of me.

Martinslovechild

KenCo,

Check out this

t_i_g_e_rr

If I couldn't immediately pay back an amount on a credit card, and I was in a responsible mood (which I'm not always) I would use a low life of balance credit card. This way, should I ever not be able to do a balance transfer to continue the 0% credit, I would never worry about getting stuck with the high interest rate after the 0% ends (which would be more expensive than a loan).
A flawless history doesn't always mean the credit companies will like you. I have a flawless history, but I don't get large balances because I don't have a very long history. However, having a house will help you I would think.

KenCo1964

Thanks for your help.
KenCo

jellyhead

i haven't stoozed myself, i can't get hold of large credit limits and am instead using any 0% cards and a 3.9% life of balance card (texaco) to keep my debt at low interest rates. i think that by the time i've repaid my debt the credit card companies will be wize to stoozing lol!

i have a friend with huge savings and a well paying job but he was recently turned down for a credit card because he has no credit history, he's never needed to borrow money. you may find the same thing, or that you're only given very low credit limits to begin with.

so anyway, i don't have much experience but try applying for a credit card with 0% for 9 months or even longer if you can find it. looking here (sorry if martin has one of these too, but i don't think he'd mind any of us reading 'the fool' ) http://www.fool.co.uk/cards/cards.htm HSBC has a 0% for 9 months card for you to transfer a balance to. i don't know about your circumstances but i found that no card would give me a credit limit higher than 2 thousand so if you're looking to transfer your whole loan then you might need alternative arrangements. check out the interest rate you're paying on that loan, you might be better off putting some of it onto a low life of balance card such as texaco. hopefully between those two cards you might get credit limits high enough to cover your loan. if the loan is at a high rate of interest then see what your bank offers you for overdrafts. i always find that my bank offers me sky high loan rates but reasonable overdraft rates. you could make minimum repayments on your two credit cards and use the rest of the £105 loan repayment you've budgeted for to clear the overdraft ASAP if you had one.

i think sainsburys do a card with 0% on purchases for a year so that might be a good one for a TV purchase. their balance transfer rate is 5.94.

anyway, sorry i've waffled so much. my way of doing things only really applies to people who like me can't get hold of large credit limits and are denied access to the best credit cards due to credit history problems. you might find that any one of those cards offers you enough credit to shift your entire debt.

Robert_Sterling_3

I once visited a Ford Maindealer. I spent about three hours negotiating the price of a new car. When I arrived they already had the new car marked as £2,800 off RRP. I had a credit card which subject to certain limits got money off a new ford. I was able to get £1150 off on this basis. They also had "Minimum £1000 off your trade in car providing you drove it to the main dealers". This was our sticking point. I argued for three hours that if the minimum was £1000 then you would get £1000 even if the car had no value at all and that as my car did have some value they ought to offer me more than £1000. It was a classic negotiation. The salesman, Mr Niceguy, kept having to speak to his boss, Mr Nasty, and so on and on. After three hours I said I would have to consult Roberta. At this pint Mr Nasty became Mr Nicerguy. We quickly agreed a figure above £1000 for my trade in car. We also agreed delivery would be in 24 hours and not in 10 days time. At this point out of the blue he introduced the idea of four years interest free credit. I had expected to pay cash on day one. He wanted me to use Ford Credit. The deal was pay half the "initial value" of the car and then 48 monthly installments at 0% interest on the other half.
Apart from mortgages this was the first credit I had ever had. The two halves of the price I paid were very unequal halves. For credit purposes the price of the car included "£2,800 off £1,000+ the trade in value etc etc" which came to £14,000 so the free credit came to £7000.
The half for which I paid cash was less than £3000.
I paid off the 0% loan in 48 monthly payments.
I established a good credit history with four years of payments all made in full and on time. It is a funny old world.

MarkyMarkD

Wow, nice going RS.

As I was following through that post I thought they were going to end up paying you to take the car off them!

I don't agree with you about the minimum PX, by the way, but you did well on that. In most circs if they are offering that I would get rid of my car privately and buy a wreck, OR tell them I was going to buy a wreck and to knock of £1,000 anyway.