Balance transfer, please advise- very confused!

[TreacherousPissFlap]

After many years of poor financial we are (hopefully!) within a year of being debt free.
As my credit rating has increased I've been accepted for a Virgin credit card with 0% interest for nearly two years on transfers. This is perfectly manageable for us and has alleviated a big chunk of interest payments every month.
I do however have a smaller balance of just over £1100 on my old card which is still accruing interest. We're ploughing all our money into this one and hope it would be paid off by March / April at the latest.
Today I received an email from ClearScore to advise me of my offers. I see that I am now pre-approved for a Capital One card with 0% balance transfer for 5 months, I could transfer the whole balance and be completely interest free.
Is this sensible or would it count against my credit rating? When I was approved for my Virgin card my credit rating went up by about 60 points so I'm keen not to damage that now I've got it!

Donit. Presumably you don't need any more credit until everything is paid off? Cancel the card you are transferring from maybe?

I think I'd go for it. I think your score MAY go down again, though, depending on how much of the credit limit you are using.

This happened to me when I transferred a £500 balance to a new card. My limit was £1500 and my score went down as I was using a third of it.

Take it. Saving money on interest is far more important than a fairly meaningless number when you don't actually plan to borrow any more money.

Don't forget to cancel your old cards, as lenders look at available credit when making decisions.

My credit score is actually quite low (580/999) presumably because I have 5 credit cards and 5 current accounts because I chop and change for various reasons and am currently exploiting offers by borrowing at 0% and £0 fee and have transferred the money in savings accounts (in a roundabout way).

But I've never been refused credit when I've applied for it even though it's probably clear from my credit file what I'm up to.

You are almost debt free, have taken on a credit card and are asking if you should take another?

No.

I don't understand the current obession with credit score, I didn't think there was even such a thing as a standard credit scale in the UK

Why pay interest that you don't have to, isn't the priority to get out of debt?

You are almost debt free, have taken on a credit card and are asking if you should take another?

No

I'm not a financial advisor but that seems like poor advice, credit cards don't have to equal debt, why shouldn't you take up the opportunity to have interest free debt?

I'm not a financial advisor but that seems like poor advice, credit cards don't have to equal debt, why shouldn't you take up the opportunity to have interest free debt?

Because OP already has the debt. Taking on more is unnecessary.

She's not taking on more debt, she's transferring the debt to a card that will charge her less interest. It's a no-brainer.

I would accept the zero percent credit card, but shred it once you have transferred the balance. Same with the first zero percent card. Keep making the same payments so that the debt will be cleared quickly.

It’s only a no brainier if OP rids herself of the original cards. With a history of poor finances having more credit available isn’t always the sensible move. The debt will be paid in less than a year anyway. That would be my focus.

Thanks, will go through the application tomorrow. The debt will still be paid in the same time, only I won't be paying the interest on it.

The only reason I will kept the existing card is that our vets no longer accept direct claims through pet insurance, we need to pay up front and claim back. The card has over £4K limit so would relieve the worry for the couple weeks before the insurance pays up in the event of a big claim.

The debt will be paid in less than a year anyway. That would be my focus

But why would you pay interest for a year when you don't need to pay a penny, surely that's ridiculous.

I agree that if you can't trust yourself not to use the card you need to be very disciplined going forward but no need to wear a harsher when you don't have to.

pay back more each month remember op.

what is the interest rate after the 5 months is up?

No don’t borrow on a different card. Keep your head down and finish up the small debt. Also take a look at Dave Ramsay Total money makeover .

I've never read any Dave Ramsey, but I'm sure that he'd agree that doing what you can to minimise the interest you pay can only be a good thing because the money you pay all goes onto the debt, instead of some of it going to pay off interest.

And if he doesn't he's an idiot who's not worth taking any notice of.

Thank you all.
I applied but was only given £250 limit, this is better then nothing though!