If you’ve got any existing credit card debt you want to switch to a new card, this deal from Halifax is worth checking out.
This is what you get:
• 33 months’ interest-free for balance transfers • 0.59% effective fee applies on each balance transfer made in the first 90 days. (An initial 3% fee applies but Halifax refunds 2.41% within 90 days, so the effective fee is 0.59%.) • If you transfer balances outside the initial 90 days, the 3% fee stands. • £20 cashback direct from Halifax (not a cashback site) on your first balance transfer made within 90 days of account opening. This ends on 13 June. • 0% interest for three months from account opening on purchases, then 18.9% APR.
If my maths is correct, that means you can transfer up to £3,390 for free as the £20 cashback will cancel out the 0.59% fee.
Note: This isn’t Halifax’s longest 0% balance transfer offer – it has 41 months with a 2.29% fee and 37 months with a 1.39% fee. It’s the 0.59% fee and £20 cashback that makes it a good deal if you reckon you can pay off your debt in 33 months.
Small print to note
• Minimum £100 balance transfer.
• At least 51% of customers will get 0% on balance transfers for the first 33 months and a representative rate of 18.9% APR (variable). Others will get 0% on balance transfers for the first 33 months and a rate of 21.9% APR (variable), or 0% on balance transfers for the first 18 months and a rate of 25.9% APR (variable).
• The £20 cashback will be paid in to your credit card account within 90 days of the balance transfer being made.
• To keep any promotional rates, you must pay at least the minimum payment on time and stay within your credit limit.
Why I like it
33 months might not be the longest 0% balance transfer deal around but it’s not bad, while the 0.59% fee and £20 cashback keeps the cost of transferring balances low or free in some cases.
All comments (40)
pinacolada123
19 May 17#1
Thanks, will look into it later need one to transfer some balance
whelan189
19 May 17#2
what does this mean, i don't have any credit cards, what does free balance on 3k mean
matt3454
19 May 17#3
Could I overpay my mortgage by £3k if I had this?
Surely I'd save quite a bit of mortgage interest as long as I can pay off this card within 33 months.
writergirl74
19 May 17#4
No, you can only transfer other credit card debts to a balance transfer card. A "money transfer" card allows you to transfer other debts to a 0% credit card.
summerof76
19 May 17#5
Heat added
Babbler
19 May 17#6
Beware they tend to give lower limits...
mrimac94
19 May 17#7
Technically it's possible if you have another CC. Do a balance transfer for the most you can to the other CC, then ring up the CC with a (now) positive balance and ask for a credit deposit into your current account. Not sure if this is against Ts & Cs but is certainly a workaround.
soap_box
19 May 17#8
Doesn't really apply to you since you don't have one. But It means if you owed on an existing card, you could move what you owed over to this Halifax card, and the amount owed wouldn't increase by any interest for 33 months. You'd be charged 0.59% of the balance you transferred.
whelan189
19 May 17#9
ahh okay I see, why don't people just take money out there savings?
matt3454
19 May 17#10
Ah thanks for the reply. I dont currently have any debts other than my mortgage so I guess this is no use to me!
I have the Halifax clarity card for foreign travels but I dont think they allow a positive balance.
shakerstevens
19 May 17#11
Because we live in a Buy now, pay later or even worse pay never society these days. I'm not sayings its right, but seems to be the way for many people these days, me included.
b33r
19 May 17#12
Because then you can carry on earning interest (granted not much atm) on the savings and your debts or liability are not subject to any interest.
I have approx 10k of 'debt' on credit cards (non of which I'm paying any interest on). I have the money in savings (earning interest for me) to pay them off tomorrow if I wanted to but as the debt isn't costing me anything why would I? If any of my cards were about to reach the end of their deal I would be seriously considering this card to transfer 3k away again interest free for 33 months.
The other reason might be someone might not have any savings! Doing this will then save them a boat load of interest they would have paid on the card they are shifting the balance from. (they probably shouldn't have spent money they didn't have to begin with but that's a different story)
Anon32
19 May 17#13
Maybe its best you keep it that way
herby247
19 May 17#14
That sounds like a fool proof plan that.
b33r
19 May 17#15
As long as you a strict and appreciate that you are simply not allowed to spend the money in savings (as it isn't yours!) then yes, it really is. It's called 'stoozing' by the way, over the years it's earn't me thousands.
Pulpdiction
19 May 17#16
What interest are you earning on this? With all of the major banks paying very little on instant access accounts it seem like a lot of hassle for a couple of hundred pounds which you then have to pay tax on potentially.
akajay07
19 May 17#17
Can't comment on this guy's behalf, but, for example, I have:
£2500 with Nationwide Current @ 5% £6000 with Tesco Current @ 3% and I'm dripfeeding a 5% Nationwide regular saver from a 1% Tesco savings account... Around £5k in total between the two accounts...
Over 12 months, it should see total interest of roughly £440. Personally I think that's worth it for the effort it takes to apply for a balance transfer credit card every couple of years, but that's your call.
No interest is payable unless basic rate tax payers earn over £1000 in interest and higher rate tax payers over £500.
flamethrower
19 May 17#18
so you effectively pay just £39 if you do a 10k balance transfer. amazing deal !
b33r
19 May 17#19
~5%, all instant access. No tax due on first £1000 of interest. The amount I've had stoozed has varied between 5 and 15k for last 8 years. Also had all the various cash backs, loyalty points and bonuses for the different accounts.
johnsymes
19 May 17#20
Don't waste your time. I ve a Barclaycard with £10,000 limit, a m & S card with £6000 limit and a golden credit record. Thought I'd finance my kids car by buying on barclaycard and doing a balance transfer to Halifax. Got their card and they gave me a £500 credit limit. Useless.
paypeanuts
19 May 17#21
Only £500?! I need to transfer £5k from my current soon-to-expire interest free period on a credit card. That means I need my new card to give me a £5k limit so I can transfer the lot. Surely there's a way to find out what credit limit you'd get before you apply??
We$ton
19 May 17#22
Thanks OP.
Just applied and got accepted, I only needed to balance transfer a small amount (less than 1k) to a 0%.
In reference to the above poster, no they don't tell you your credit limit before you apply, you can put in a figure what you would like it to be but obviously they make the final decision.
pinacolada123
19 May 17#23
I don't know my credit status but I asked for 5k and accepted.
buddhasmk
20 May 17#24
just what i needed, thanks OP.
got the 21.9% APR and a 3k limit, will do for now
jcluk
20 May 17#25
That means you've done really well. Continue to avoid using credit cards.
jcluk
20 May 17#26
That's a terrible idea and completely ignores risk you'd be taking on. Just overpay your mortgage rather than adding debt to a credit card.
redarmy85
20 May 17#27
Does anyone know if you can apply for this if you already have a Halifax credit card that is due to expire soon
writergirl74
20 May 17#28
You can't transfer a balance from other Halifax cards unfortunately.
smellyonion
20 May 17#29
tbh, if you have 16k of credit card debt you are particularly high risk....
jellybean10
20 May 17#30
This is a very good info, can you pls suggest, which is a good card w/o long interest fee..
happyharry
20 May 17#31
they said 'limit' not 'debt'. atd
writergirl74
20 May 17#32
Credit card companies take available credit into account when assessing your application - not just debt. In fact I think available credit is all they see - they don't know your balance?
b33r
21 May 17#33
They can definitely see both if they do a full credit search. No one except them will know their lending criteria though so how do you know they take available credit in to account? (They may well do I'm just wondering how you know...)
ukpaz
23 May 17#34
I did the same, just watch your credit rating if you are going to apply to remortgage any time soon.
b33r
23 May 17#35
My 'credit rating' according to the 3 different agencies is excellent but 'Credit ratings' are a load of made up rubbish. What matters to a lender is if you meet their lending criteria.
nb2508
9 Jun 17#36
I'd prefer the 28 months card with 0% fee, 5 months less but saves 0.6%
snowbrow
8 Jul 17#37
Anyone had the cashback or fee reduction yet?Still waiting here ....
pinacolada123
15 Jul 17#38
I had the £20 back on the 11th but no sign of fee reduction yet.
snowbrow to pinacolada123
15 Jul 17#39
Same here had the £20 credited a few days ago. I know it says up to 90 days but I had hoped it would be a bit quicker.
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Opening post
This is what you get:
• 33 months’ interest-free for balance transfers
• 0.59% effective fee applies on each balance transfer made in the first 90 days. (An initial 3% fee applies but Halifax refunds 2.41% within 90 days, so the effective fee is 0.59%.)
• If you transfer balances outside the initial 90 days, the 3% fee stands.
• £20 cashback direct from Halifax (not a cashback site) on your first balance transfer made within 90 days of account opening. This ends on 13 June.
• 0% interest for three months from account opening on purchases, then 18.9% APR.
If my maths is correct, that means you can transfer up to £3,390 for free as the £20 cashback will cancel out the 0.59% fee.
Note: This isn’t Halifax’s longest 0% balance transfer offer – it has 41 months with a 2.29% fee and 37 months with a 1.39% fee. It’s the 0.59% fee and £20 cashback that makes it a good deal if you reckon you can pay off your debt in 33 months.
Small print to note
• Minimum £100 balance transfer.
• At least 51% of customers will get 0% on balance transfers for the first 33 months and a representative rate of 18.9% APR (variable). Others will get 0% on balance transfers for the first 33 months and a rate of 21.9% APR (variable), or 0% on balance transfers for the first 18 months and a rate of 25.9% APR (variable).
• The £20 cashback will be paid in to your credit card account within 90 days of the balance transfer being made.
• To keep any promotional rates, you must pay at least the minimum payment on time and stay within your credit limit.
Why I like it
33 months might not be the longest 0% balance transfer deal around but it’s not bad, while the 0.59% fee and £20 cashback keeps the cost of transferring balances low or free in some cases.
All comments (40)
Surely I'd save quite a bit of mortgage interest as long as I can pay off this card within 33 months.
I have the Halifax clarity card for foreign travels but I dont think they allow a positive balance.
I'm not sayings its right, but seems to be the way for many people these days, me included.
I have approx 10k of 'debt' on credit cards (non of which I'm paying any interest on). I have the money in savings (earning interest for me) to pay them off tomorrow if I wanted to but as the debt isn't costing me anything why would I? If any of my cards were about to reach the end of their deal I would be seriously considering this card to transfer 3k away again interest free for 33 months.
The other reason might be someone might not have any savings! Doing this will then save them a boat load of interest they would have paid on the card they are shifting the balance from. (they probably shouldn't have spent money they didn't have to begin with but that's a different story)
£2500 with Nationwide Current @ 5%
£6000 with Tesco Current @ 3%
and I'm dripfeeding a 5% Nationwide regular saver from a 1% Tesco savings account... Around £5k in total between the two accounts...
Over 12 months, it should see total interest of roughly £440. Personally I think that's worth it for the effort it takes to apply for a balance transfer credit card every couple of years, but that's your call.
No interest is payable unless basic rate tax payers earn over £1000 in interest and higher rate tax payers over £500.
amazing deal !
Just applied and got accepted, I only needed to balance transfer a small amount (less than 1k) to a 0%.
In reference to the above poster, no they don't tell you your credit limit before you apply, you can put in a figure what you would like it to be but obviously they make the final decision.
got the 21.9% APR and a 3k limit, will do for now