Managing transfers from a few cards

PUFC86 · 5 March 2018 at 1:31PM

Hi all, had a good look around the forum but couldn’t quite get the info I needed so thought it’s best to just join and ask, apologies already for the post.

Here goes...:money:

I currently have the following credit card deals all on 0% which end in the next 6 months or so

Halifax with £3.6k (4K limit) 0% ends in August 2018

MBNA with £2k, (2k limit) 0% ends in September 2018

Lloyds with £9.6k (9.8k limit) 0% ends in October 2018

Tesco Bank £4.7k (4.9k limit) 0% ends in July 2019

My income is 30k and I have a mortgage no kids or other loans

I want to transfer as much onto new cards with 0% deals as possible but I’ve never applied for a BT transfer card so not sure realistically how much I can bank on getting? I know it’s completely circumstantial but even a rough idea might help as with the 0% deals ending in the next 6 months or so it’s starting to stress me out and just want to get it sorted.

One thing I thought is I have a lot of credit currently so that may be a positive however I am using almost all of my available credit so that’s obviously going to go against me. I’m not a reckless spender or anything, most of the stuff on credit cards has been due to furnishing our first house which we bought, driving lessons and a car for the mrs and training for her to get herself a job. I’m also 30 years old if that matters?

Thanks in advance for any advice it’s greatly appreciated

[Deleted User] · 5 March 2018 at 1:33PM

There's no way of predicting any limit you may get - but with such a large amount of debt to your name, and being maxed out on all lines, keep your expectations modest.

If you are accepted, don't decline any limit you may be offered.

Nebulous2 · 5 March 2018 at 1:52PM

You wont know until you try. It looks as though it could be a struggle to shift all of it.

A couple of thoughts - I've a long-term 0% MBNA card and just paid off a chunk of it. They then bumped up my credit limit substantiallly. They also regularly offer 0% deals. Not very long ones, but its better than nothing. So a BT from MBNA might then allow you to move some more back on there at 0%

Is your wife now working following her training? If she doesn't have any debt she might be able to get a card and BT some of your debt. It then becomes her responsibility, so there needs to be quite a degree of trust, but it sounds as though some of the debt was for her anyway.

PUFC86 · 5 March 2018 at 2:10PM

Thanks so much for the replys, I might call snider the MBNA option although it runs out in September anyway so unless they extend a 0% deal (is that even something that they would do) it might not be worth it.

Also I forgot to ask, when should I start applying for the BT cards? Unsure wether to do it now as still have 6 months left at 0% on some.

Thanks again !!!55357;!!!56835;

[Deleted User] · 5 March 2018 at 2:14PM

I would start now. On the assumption you;re not going to get a huge limit, if at all, it would give you some breathing space while you further pay down some of the debt, which could in turn open up further options later in the year.

And if you're declined now, you know that you have some work to do before reapplying.

PUFC86 · 5 March 2018 at 9:48PM

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will look round and try some soft searches and elegantly checker to see what I can get.

Will also get my Wife to see what is available to her as she doesn’t have any credit cards.

Hopefully will get some positive results

Many thanks again :money:

SuzieSue · 5 March 2018 at 11:06PM

PUFC86 wrote: »

Will also get my Wife to see what is available to her as she doesn!!!8217;t have any credit cards.

:money:

Tesco won't allow your wife to do a BT from your card but most other lenders will as long as you do it online as they don't ask for the name on the card.

cjv · 5 March 2018 at 11:42PM

If you are not aware, you can hold 2 credit cards with Tesco.

SuzieSue · 6 March 2018 at 9:43AM

cjv wrote: »

If you are not aware, you can hold 2 credit cards with Tesco.

Yes, you and/or your wife could apply for a 0% purchases card and do all your day to day spending on there and use the money saved to pay off your balance transfer cards. If your wife then applies for another Tesco cc then she should be able to transfer the credit limit between the cards to the one which is most useful.

Or you could apply for a 0% BT card and transfer the balance of one of your other cards to Tesco. Tesco have been very generous with credit limits with me and my husband but we have had cards and current accounts with them for over a decade.

PUFC86 · 8 April 2018 at 11:19AM

So to update...

Took the great advice from you guys and after using the eligibility checker, applied for a credit card with HSBC, didnt hear anything from them at all for a good 2-3 weeks and there didnt seem to be any searches on my credit file so I applied for another card with Tesco, which got accepted and then the next day the acceptance letter from HSBC dropped through my door!

So I now have two cards I can use for balance transfers which is great, the limits i got were also good too. I couldnt believe it, I got £5200 on a 32 months 0% with HSBC and £3200 for 15 months 0% will th Tesco.

On another note once I have done the BT and paid off some of my cards do I close them, lower my limit or just keep them?

Thanks to all for the advice and I hope someone else reading this in a similar position to myself will get some benefit from it.

Nebulous2 · 8 April 2018 at 11:38AM

PUFC86 wrote: »

On another note once I have done the BT and paid off some of my cards do I close them, lower my limit or just keep them?

Sounds like a good result for you.

I'm not very good at closing cards and tend to keep dormant ones, but I'd potentially close some of these. Halifax have never made me any decent offers, it might be a candidate for closure.

As I said before MBNA regularly make me good offers and may well increase your limit after you close it off. The offers they make are never as good as you can get on a new card, but could be useful as a reserve.

I don't like messing around with limits and would never choose to reduce them.

What do you use for day-to-day spending? It's preferable not to mix purchases with a 0% BT deal in most cases. A card without a balance used for expenditure you would make anyway (petrol groceries etc) and paid in full every month is a useful addition to your collection.

Managing transfers from a few cards

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