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corriera
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Joined: 15 Mar 2005
Posts: 6
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 Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:43 pm Post subject: A few questions for those in the know.... |
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Hi - very new to this, so a little specific advice would be helpful.
Firstly, I get the concept of SBT CC accounts reasonably clearly. I believe I have a squeaky clean credit rating. I have applied for, and apparently I am about to receive, 0% Virgin and Egg cards shortly - both with reasonable levels of credit. According to my discussions with both providers, I am assuming I can transfer the credit directly to my main bank account (not with either of these), then maximise my return wherever. So far, so good? Now the questions, I am afraid.
If I'm not at the (according to a number of posts on here)) £15,000 'maximum' credit of the Egg card - should I go for that first, before I start transferring balance out to my bank account?
I've seen some advice on this board that you can transfer credit from other 0% cards (non-SBT) to an SBT card.... interesting - easy enough to open an acount, but what specifically do you ascertain, and then ask for, from these providers ? Is it simply, can you provide, then please provide, a balance transfer out to another credit card, e.g. to my Egg card?
If I go down the route of having an early transfer balance out from my SBT card, then get more credit from, say HalifaxOne, then transfer credit to the SBT card as in the previous point - will the SBT card provider then simply use that to reduce the balance of debt I already have - or will I be able then to 'top up' my balance transfer out - up to the level of my SBT card credit again?
Now a couple of questions which may just show how 'squeaky-clean' (or just perhaps how naive?) my CC dealings have been in the past
Firstly - I have a main CC I use for purchases - naturally, it has rebates. I'd clearly like to use this on an on-going basis. I have some hefty charges about to arise, but at infrequent intervals, which I could put anywhere. Now, if I opened another 0% card, is it easy enough to find one to which I could transfer these hefty balances from my main purchasing card - a chunk at a a time as they arise, providing I don't exceed my credit limit on the new card? Or would new credit providers have a problem, say, with transferring a number of monthly balances from my original CC provider?
Lastly, and planning ahead a bit - when the 0% credit of these cards is approaching the end of its lifespan - is it easy enough to spread the debt to new 0% CCs - for example taking parts of the debt from one card and adding them to the new card - thereby max-ing out the credit on any new cards as I go along - or do you have to move ALL of the debt from one card to any one specific other? (e.g. Cards A and B have £5k debt on each, new cards C and D have £7.5k credit limit - can I move £5k debt from credit card A to C, £2.5K debt from B to each of C and D, leaving me £5k headroom on D to play with?)
Apologies for the length of the initial post. Raring to get going - but want to know exactly what I'm going to be doing, so I don't make any wrong moves early in the whole process. Thanks in advance for any help. |
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cardjunkie
Professional Investor
Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 311
Cash Points ££ 2248.20
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 3:48 pm Post subject: Re: A few questions for those in the know.... |
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| corriera wrote: | Hi - very new to this, so a little specific advice would be helpful.
If I'm not at the (according to a number of posts on here)) £15,000 'maximum' credit of the Egg card - should I go for that first, before I start transferring balance out to my bank account?
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Yes, on the egg, try to up the credit limit online before attempting transfers. It is easy to so and all automatic online - at worst they will say no without effecting any transfers you are inteding on doing. |
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corriera
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Joined: 15 Mar 2005
Posts: 6
Cash Points ££ 86.42
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:25 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, cardjunkie - very helpful snippet of information.
Knowledge like this saves you from having a Homer Simpson moment ("Doh !") around 3 seconds after doing something you would have been better off not doing. 
I'll get on to that shortly, to see if the Egg system will let me do this. |
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Neo
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Joined: 24 Oct 2004
Posts: 147
Cash Points ££ 595.04
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:07 pm Post subject: Re: A few questions for those in the know.... |
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Hi Corriera
| corriera wrote: |
I've seen some advice on this board that you can transfer credit from other 0% cards (non-SBT) to an SBT card.... interesting - easy enough to open an acount, but what specifically do you ascertain, and then ask for, from these providers ? Is it simply, can you provide, then please provide, a balance transfer out to another credit card, e.g. to my Egg card?
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You would call them up and say you want to make a balance transfer on card activation, or with the application theres a section to indicate the card you want to transfer to or after the accounts been setup you can request a balance transfer online, so you see many ways to perform the transfer.
| corriera wrote: |
Firstly - I have a main CC I use for purchases - naturally, it has rebates. I'd clearly like to use this on an on-going basis. I have some hefty charges about to arise, but at infrequent intervals, which I could put anywhere. Now, if I opened another 0% card, is it easy enough to find one to which I could transfer these hefty balances from my main purchasing card - a chunk at a a time as they arise, providing I don't exceed my credit limit on the new card? Or would new credit providers have a problem, say, with transferring a number of monthly balances from my original CC provider?
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Yeh you could do the above i.e. with the halifax one card you can transfer anytime during the 0% period. Other cards only give you a small window of opportunity. You could also transfer a credit balance ontoyour spending card.
On a side note the AMex Blue card gives 2% cashback for the first 3 months then 1% afterwards.
http://home3.americanexpress.com/uk/bluecards/welcome_affl_comb_uk_blue.asp?
| corriera wrote: |
Lastly, and planning ahead a bit - when the 0% credit of these cards is approaching the end of its lifespan - is it easy enough to spread the debt to new 0% CCs - for example taking parts of the debt from one card and adding them to the new card - thereby max-ing out the credit on any new cards as I go along - or do you have to move ALL of the debt from one card to any one specific other? (e.g. Cards A and B have £5k debt on each, new cards C and D have £7.5k credit limit - can I move £5k debt from credit card A to C, £2.5K debt from B to each of C and D, leaving me £5k headroom on D to play with?)
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Yeh you can do the above, its fairly straightforward, just apply for 2 or 3 cards about 5 weeks before and you should have enough room to move the new debt to. |
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Deborah
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Joined: 12 Jul 2004
Posts: 418
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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Welcome to the forum Corriera !
Others have covered most of your points quite well, but I think you need to be clear on the SBT item a little.
YOu use the SBT card to transfer balances from other cards to your current account.
If your SBT card already has a 0% offer, THEN !!! You can ONLY use it for SBT'ing other balances during your 0% balance transfer acceptance period.
In plain english, many SBT cards say we give you 0% for 6 months, for balances transfered within so many weeks of account openign !
So you need to check your terms and conditions if the card will continue to allow 0% balance transfers after the first few weeks.
For instance Egg give an anniversay offer of 0% for 5 months, but only for balances transferred in the anniversary month. So if you transfered a balance in the 2nd month to egg and them moved that on, then you would end up paying interest on that new amount transfered out.
Usually you don't use SBT cards whilst in their own 0% offer period for SBT's.. Rather put the SBT card into credit first and then SBT that balance to your current account. |
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Neo
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Joined: 24 Oct 2004
Posts: 147
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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Deborah's quite correct.
If your doing the transfer within a SBT cards 0% period, then make sure there is no time limit on the transfers within a certain period of the start of the 0% period, else you WILL be charged interest ! |
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Can I do SBTs with the egg blue card ? |
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cardjunkie
Professional Investor
Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 311
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Anonymous wrote: | | Can I do SBTs with the egg blue card ? |
Yep, both green and blue are SBT cards
Though remember its a 0% for spending card and not balance transfers |
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corriera
Stranger
Joined: 15 Mar 2005
Posts: 6
Cash Points ££ 86.42
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I really must thank you all very much. The advice you have all given is really most welcome.
However (and there's always a 'however', isn't there ?), I think Deborah may well have put a finger on a weakness in the knowledge I thought I had- so I'd like to use you guys as a bit of a 'sounding board' to check my understanding of things, if you will please bear with me for the moment.
I had originally thought that SBT signified only the fact that the CC in question could enable you to transfer out to a bank account a credit balance (i.e. money) up to the credit limit of that card alone.
It was this board which brought up the other interesting possibility, using the SBT CC as a vehicle for other balance transfers out from non-SBT cards to be moved on to a bank account as well. I appreciate from your posts that timing is everything on the latter issue, and that is certainly one area I will now pay special attention to.
Am I now right in saying that, for example, if I get an Egg CC, with a credit limit of say £10k (and I WILL try to get that up to £15k before I make a first move), then I should also, before trying to move that credit balance out to my bank account, try to import credit balances to the Egg account from non-SBT cards, to bring the Egg card into credit first, before moving anything out at all? My original impression was that I could move out the credit I was allowed by Egg, then - assuming the card was still in a balance transfer period - work on getting other credit which I could then move into the Egg account, and move it on into my bank account. I appreciate the anniversary point, but this would be my very first dealings on this CC. This issue really also lies at the heart of the third question on my original post.
I'm now not quite sure I understand your very last point, Deborah - "Usually you don't use SBT cards whilst in their own 0% offer period for SBT's.. Rather put the SBT card into credit first and then SBT that balance to your current account." I may be getting confused by what I thought an SBT was , and what it really is !
I'm afraid I fall into the category of absolute novice when it comes to getting credit, and dealing with it (I've never done anything but pay off credit cards in full at the end of the month) - but I am usually a very quick learner. I may be trying to run before I have taken even the first step, but I believe if I get this area straight in my head, then it's off to the races, as they say - so one final push of help will be deeply appreciated.
What on earth would we have done without the PC/Internet ? Thanks again for all the help proferred. |
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cardjunkie
Professional Investor
Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 311
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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If you have an egg with a 0% offer than the best thing is to transfer the £15k to your current, and leave it at that whilst its in the 0% period.
Now that means you need a second SBT card to make transfers whilst the egg is in the 0% period. Hence why not apply for the egg blue card, as if you have one your more likely to get the other as well.
Also many cards allow you to transfer direct to your current account ie. the MBNA cards |
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corriera
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Joined: 15 Mar 2005
Posts: 6
Cash Points ££ 86.42
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| Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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The mists begin to clear....
Many thanks for taking the time to respond again, cardjunkie. I'll look again at the MBNA cards. I hope my queries have also helped some other novices. |
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Neo
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Joined: 24 Oct 2004
Posts: 147
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 1:03 am Post subject: |
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| corriera wrote: | The mists begin to clear....
Many thanks for taking the time to respond again, cardjunkie. I'll look again at the MBNA cards. I hope my queries have also helped some other novices. |
A good reminder for those in the know as well  |
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cardjunkie
Professional Investor
Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 311
Cash Points ££ 2248.20
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| Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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| This is a good thread on credit card stoozing - bump |
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