Juggling credit cards

[applepie]

Ok new to this concept of having several credit cards, if I need some extra cash for the next few months, can I do the following.

Order some goods on my exisiting credit card, then transfer it over to a 0%APR new credit card when the bill is due?

I then slowly pay off my credit card bill in monthly installments within the 6 months 0%APR period. Then cancel that credit card after that.

Effectively, its a 0% interest loan for 6 months?

What do I have to look out for? Since I have seen an awful lot of people racking up alot of credit card debts.

[Dangerous Dan]

Im personally not goin to give you some advice, but have heard this guy on the radio and my dad has followed some of his ideas and they have wroked out for the best
So:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditcards

Hope that helps

Dan

[diving_moose]

Your idea and plan is what alot of people do now and its not an issue as long as you pay your monthly installment of the card or you could put the money in a savings account for the period and then pay it off the card before the 0% is up that way you make a little bit interest on the money. If you search on google 0% credit cards it will bring you the best ones out at the moment. i think if you try www.mint.co.uk they are doing 9 months.

[Muddweller]

Hi, I've been doing this for years I believe they call us 'rate tarts', anyway the only drawback now is they've started to introduce a handling fee of 2% per balance transfer, therefore for 6 months thats effectively 4%APR, so its in your interest to go for a 12months or more one like capital ones platinum card. One more thing to look for is that if you happen to make a purchase using the one reserved just for transfers then any payments you make come off the interest free balance and the purchase begins to incurr interest at around 15% until its all paid back.

One way of gettin money out of it is to do a balance transfer from a card you don't owe anything on and effectively put it into credit, then transfer that into your bank then into an ISA i.e you borrow at 2% and get 4.5% interest on it.

They don't call me Scrooge for nothin

Have fun

[applepie]

thanks I was not aware of the 2% fee they have now, just been told they are usually 0%. looked into it a bit more and some of them say 0% balance transfer but subject to 2% handling fee.

It sounds quite complicated, as I would have to read alot of small print although I have thought about doing that whack it into an ISA etc to generate some extra cash but cant wrap my head around most of it. Dont want to risk too much and end up in uncontroled debt.

it looks like its just easier for me to just sign up for a new card and use that and pay it off over the interest free period slowly. dont have to worry about bank tranfers etc.

since I am up to the next century with work anyway.

[ardhill]

As as seasoned Tart myself (card tart that is), the above posts are all good advise. And yes, Martin Lewis at www.MoneySavingsExpert.com is the main man if you want to do this sort of thing. his articles are designed for 'normal' people and are written clearly with all the info you need. I can't recommend his site highly enough if decide to look into this way of 'cheap loans'.

The biggest thing to be careful of when tarting like this is not to transfer your debt to a 0% card then think Oh good, I have a clear credit card now, and max it out again - you then will have double the debt.

Adding cards and adding debt is how most people get out of their depth in debt. And since you will always need a little in reserve for that really nice shiny thing that you just saw at your LDS or that Phil has just posted on the web, you really don't want to get into 'deep' debt.
.

[aclivity]

Being a card tart can have a negative effect on your credit rating.

That said, being out in credit has a negative effect on your credit rating as "they" like to see you paying off debts rather than not getting into debt in the first place.

My opinion - worth as much as you paid for it - is to never have more debt than you have savings. GLW used to work in credit services and the stories you hear are all too common, and the route into debt is all too easy.

[blondie]

check out the Martin Lewis site mentioned above and you can find credit cards offering 0% balance transfer with no balance transfer fees.

direct link: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi...,68336,#natrbs

[Buoyant Babe]

Ahh, I see you've become serious about shiney stuff...

[chas49]

Originally Posted by blondie

check out the Martin Lewis site mentioned above and you can find credit cards offering 0% balance transfer with no balance transfer fees.

direct link: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi...,68336,#natrbs

also look at www.stoozing.com and http://www.fool.co.uk/

but read all the small print!