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Credit card balance transfer help!

1 reply

usernamechangeduckling · 30/05/2018 09:51

Hi,

I've name changed for this to not be outed, not sure if family read here!
Bit of background: I graduated nearly two years ago with a pretty big overdraft (£1750). I've since been paying it off, (difficult with low-paid job plus high rent payments), and am now down to £750, but will be paying £250 off on payday tomorrow.
I also have a credit card, which currently has £675 on it. It was on a brief (less than a year) interest-free period for all purchases, but that's coming to an end in about three weeks.
I wasn't intending to use the credit card that much, but my car has needed repairs and I didn't have the money to do them to hand, so it went on the card. The car is my own, not on finance, but selling/not maintaining the car isn't an option; need it to get to work and to support my grandparents (my parents have moved away and I'm pretty much their carer).

Will getting a balance transfer to a long-term interest free card knacker my credit score? I'm not looking to get a mortgage or any big purchases in the next few years, but I'm trying to figure out whether it would be more worthwhile to take a hit on my credit rating and saving money on the interest payments, or whether I've totally misunderstood the system.

Thanks in advance for your help!

OP posts:
ChessieFL · 30/05/2018 20:24

Should be fine. It’s late and missed payments that will ruin your score, not balance transfers. Just don’t do a lot of applications as that does impact your score - moneysavingexpert has a tool which shows the chances of you being accepted for a particular card and the tool doesn’t affect your rating, so you can check which card you’re most likely to be accepted on and apply for that.

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