I'm a stoozer but have run into problems I'd like help with please

A question about : I'm a stoozer but have run into problems I'd like help with please

I have used 0% credit cards for over a decade to put money into my bank to offset my mortgage.
In Nov, I repaid the last debt and found a 32mth 0% deal with MBNA ( on this site of course) at 2.6% fee. I set up the card and went online to transfer the available credit balance to an empty credit card - First direct Gold. I've always transferred balances to unused cards, which creates a credit balance, then I ask for a refund, either direct to my bank or by cheque that I pay into my savings. It's worked for years.

This time when I asked FD to transfer the credit balance Ј12k to my savings account, (I bank with them) they said they would treat it as a balance transfer and charge me a fee. Alternatively, I could ask MBNA to recall the money, that would be free.

MBNA say they can't recall the money. They say if I repay the money they will refund the fee I paid them Ј182.

FD insist the only way they can accommodate this is to transfer the credit balance to my current account at a fee of 2.9%, from where I can repay it. They have offered to reduce the fee by Ј100, but it's still Ј243. That's to effectively move my money within their accounts.

I asked what would happen if I closed the credit card account. They said they'd still charge me a fee to refund the credit balance.

Can anyone help me with advice please. Can I be charged to be refunded a credit balance? Can MBNA actually recall the money directly or is there a time limit on this, it's been there since November.
Any bright ideas as to how I access the money without it costing me anything?

Really annoyed me usual relatively easy arrangements have been destroyed and that Ј12k is sitting wasting savings in a bank!

Thanks
Thrifty Kate

Best answers:

• generally putting a card into positive balance breaks the T&Cs and it looks like FD have caught on. You would normally use a money transfer card (MBNA do one) to avoid this - used to be calle 'super balance transfer'
• Always best to play by the rules! In this case, FD are applying 'rule' 5(f)...
  Quote:
• Could you experiment with transferring to a debit card?
• Thanks for the link, I'd been checking it myself and I realise it was just complacency on my part, Ive been doing this so long and have never had a problem I couldn't talk them around. I'd already spent a couple of hours moving a credit limit from a Virgin card to an MBNA card because the deals were better, think I just thought the FD option meant I could make the internal transfer to my savings account without any more protracted calls and endless security questions.
  Still not given up yet, all these other replies have rejuvenated my intentions, might just need to employ more creative means and get the calculator out!
• This worked a couple of years ago for me for Ј2000 - I don't know whether it would still be possible, or whether it would be practicable for Ј12000. I purchased sterling travellers' cheques using a credit card, then paid the travellers cheques into a current account. The purchase incurred 1% commission, so the process was not free but it was the cheapest way I could find of getting cash out of the credit card. The current account (with First Direct as it happens) did not charge for accepting the travellers cheques, they treated them as cash.
  Obviously you'd need to research whether your First Direct Gold card would treat the purchase of travellers' cheques as a purchase rather than a cash advance, and you'd need to find the cheapest source of traveller's cheques. My recollection is that whilst foreign currency cheques were free to purchase, sterling TC were not, and I don't suppose you want to start speculating in currency as well at this juncture. You'd also need to check that the travellers' cheques would be accepted into an account, and free of charge.