Can't get a balance transfer

sandinista · 6 February 2005 at 5:53PM

Any help with this one would be much appreciated.My Girlfriend is a student nurse with just over one year left on her course.She currently owes £5400,in total, on a Barcley Card(19% apr approx) and Dorothy Perkins store card(29% apr) ,£4200 on the Barcley Card and £1200 on the DP card respectively.

This excellent site gave me the idea that it would be good for her to cheapen her debt by a balance transfer.She applied for a LloydsTSB Advance card and a Texaco card but was turned down by both.She gets a tax free Bursary of £6000 approx per annum and also does part time work and is well able to meet the minimum payments.The trouble is she is being ripped off and cannot eat into her debt.It looks like she is stuck with this punitive rate of interest for another year :mad:

dag_2 · 6 February 2005 at 7:03PM

It looks like she is stuck with this punitive rate of interest for another year

Afraid so. If she's got any available credit on her barclaycard, I'd advise transferring as much of the dorothy perkins balance as possible onto barclaycard.

If she has any balance left on the dorothy perkins card, then she should only make the minimum repayment on the barclaycard - and pay any spare cash towards the dorothy perkins card.

Does she have an overdraft? Is it interest free? Even if it isn't, chances are the overdraft is a lot cheaper than the DP card - so take as much as possible out of the overdraft to pay off DP too.

When she applies for cards, it's best to apply for two or three in one go. Then wait for six months before applying again.

Once she qualifies, she can realistically expect to start earning over £20k a year before tax.

sandinista · 7 February 2005 at 5:12PM

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply Sylvey,I'll pass all the info on and see if anything is feasible,but she is pretty maxed out on everything.

She did receive a pre-approved card application from citi-bank last week so we have filled that in with the option of transfering the DP balance over.Worth a try,as its 0% for 12 months :rolleyes:

Cheers Jim

Galstonian · 8 February 2005 at 1:06AM

Pre-approved does not actually mean she'll get a card. She has been "pre-approved to apply" - basically a meaningless marketing phrase I'm afraid and after two rejections the chances are a third will follow. Has she tried her own bank?

sandinista · 8 February 2005 at 8:11AM

She has been "pre-approved to apply" - basically a meaningless marketing phrase I'm afraid

Thanks for the advice Galstonian,I suspected as much myself. :mad: She hasn't tried her own bank yet but I think that will be the one and only last chance for her.

Best wishes Jim

takethemoney · 8 February 2005 at 8:22PM

given that the texaco card is issued by Lloyds TSB doesn't that mean she has basically been refused by the same people? don't give up there are loads to try, most of which will get her a better APR. also it could turn out that Barclaycard becomes her best friend . following the advice of this site i just transfered a balance to barclay card for an upfront fee of 2% of the balance transfer, and then an APR of 2.9% for the life of the balance (£5000 max). but you must ensure all the money is balance transfered off the card first and then back onto it.
as for other cards with good life of balance APR's, mint and capital one have been good. as for cards to take advantage of shifting money between cards, what about Egg. dont give up!

sandinista · 8 February 2005 at 8:48PM

Thanks Takethemoney,we'll see what transpires with the citi-bank card then look at some of the other options.

" but you must ensure all the money is balance transfered off the card first and then back onto it."

Can you explain how this works or am I just a bit dim.

Thaks Jim

takethemoney · 8 February 2005 at 11:21PM

basically as an existing barclaycard holder she should be entitled to transfer a balance from another credit to the barclaycard and enjoy the '2.9% for life of balance deal'. however the debt already on the card would still accrue interest at the much higher rate of 19% APR. if she can get another c/card with sufficient credit limit to transfer all the money off the barclaycard onto the new card and then back again to her existing barclaycard, she would have the whole balance on the '2.9% life of balance deal'.

sandinista · 9 February 2005 at 5:11PM

Thanks for clarifying that Takethemoney,we've got a fair few options to go at now.Hopefully we might get a breakthrough.

sandinista · 21 February 2005 at 5:09PM

Citibank have accepted her application for a cedit card with the balance transfer from DP store card.

The next step will be to speak to Barclays direct to see if they will offer her a lower life of balance transfer on the Barclaycard balance.At least we're getting somewhere.Thanks to all of you who have replied with advice.

Cardinal-Red · 21 February 2005 at 7:31PM

takethemoney wrote:

basically as an existing barclaycard holder she should be entitled to transfer a balance from another credit to the barclaycard and enjoy the '2.9% for life of balance deal'. however the debt already on the card would still accrue interest at the much higher rate of 19% APR. if she can get another c/card with sufficient credit limit to transfer all the money off the barclaycard onto the new card and then back again to her existing barclaycard, she would have the whole balance on the '2.9% life of balance deal'.

Moving away from the OP's point a little, but is this still true re: Barclaycard?

Checked on their site today and their existing customer life of balance offer is 5.9% (still good for the OP but not so for me)...

Or is this a 'phone up and see' kind of situation?

Can't get a balance transfer

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