Interest free credit cards for a credit card virgin

[DelinquentDelilah]

Hi all,

Apologies if I sound dumb and naive but I was hoping to get some insight on to interest free credit cards and how to beat the interest on current debt we have.

We're a young family and my DH has a personal loan with his bank that we used to purchase a car.

With additional family members coming along 🤰🏻 and savings, holidays etc I'm taking the time to look into options that can reduce the monthly outgoings or time spent repaying the loan.

Am I correct in assuming that we can transfer the personal loan onto a interest free credit card? When I have looked online it mentions transferring from credit card to credit card so I'm a little unsure if this is an option for us?

The full amount is quite high - say 10k for purpose of this post. If DH was accepted on a credit card for 5k, could u transfer 5k over onto the credit card and pay that interest free or would it have to be the total sum?

If anyone has any knowledge on interest free credit cards I am all ears 👂 and really appreciative of your time.

DD x

It sounds a good idea in principle but

1 - there is no guarantee you will be accepted for a 0% card, these are generally reserved for applicants with very good credit histories and manageable existing debts to income ratio. Is this your DH?

2 - I don't think you can use a credit card to pay off a loan.

3 - unless you are very, VERY dedicated then unfortunately debt consolidation rarely works. People start off with good intentions but often end up with more debt than in the first place.

My best bit of advice would be to mead over to the "debt free wannabe" page of the money saving expert forums. Posters there are a great help with advising the best path for your type of situation. Good luck!

Thanks for taking the time to comment

Regarding 1 - yes his credit score is very good, no defaults etc.

We are managing the debt well - it gets paid on time, every time and is affordable for our current budgets.

I am just spending the time researching our options and if interest free payments is something that is doable it seems silly not to do it.

Although we have initially borrowed money which some people may argue isn't sensible, he is sensible in the sense that if we were to debt consolidate he would definitely stick to it and is motivated by repaying the loan quicker.

No harm in applying but as I mentioned I'm pretty sure you CANT use a cc to pay off a loan?

Go to mse site & do a soft search...this gives you a% of if you'd be accepted. Then you can weigh up your options without any application showing on your names.

You would need a card that offers 0% on money transfers rather than one that offers balance transfers. These are generally less common.

Also, as a rule most personal loans have the interest front loaded so at first you are paying mostly interest, towards the end you are paying most of the actual money borrowed so once you include early payment fees and potential charge for the money transfer it won't usually save you a lot of money.

If it is more important to pay the loan early then overpaying usually comes straight off the capital and will mean you pay less interest overall. If you want to lower outgoings then you would probably be better looking into other options unless you haven't got long left on the loan.

Ask the loan company if a credit card can be used to pay it off. My dp did it last year. It may have to be in his name. Loans don't have interest front loaded most of the time. It is calculated daily. Even those companies that do front load it still have to give a rebate if the loan is cleared early.
Be very wary of taking on someone else's debt. I did this and was left with a £13k loan to pay.

I've just taken out a credit card/money transfer to pay my builder for work done on my house.

I was going to take out a loan but the rates were 7%, with Virgin they were 0%. I've had it over 2 years, they suggested the minimum payment was £68 but I want it gone in 2 years I'd not sooner so I decided the amount by 24 and am paying 3 times the minimum payment. The money was transferred into my bank account in about 5 days and I just drew it out over a few days.

I didn't use the full amount either that they offered me. I did a soft search on MSE to see if I would be accepted.

*divided