When to Pay Off BC 0% for Life Deal

A question about : When to Pay Off BC 0% for Life Deal

Hi

Can I apologise now if this Q has been asked 100 times but I have searched and cannot find it. I have a 0% for life from BC couple of questions.
1. I keep seeing chats about it has ended they have changed T&C's but mine has not changed! Or does this just refer to its no longer available to new customers?

2. When does it stop being a good deal? I am paying Ј60 a month approx paying off Ј3000 I got from them? When does it become necessary to pay back BC?? I hope this makes sense should I keep going until I owe about Ј100 or is there a cut off where I need to pay?

3. The BC which as 0% for 12 months on balance transfers for us card tarts, I see a loophole for existing BC holders. But I would not want to give up my 0% for life to get on a 0% for 12 months so I am confused with that.

Best answers:

• I presume its the Ј1 minimum spend per month offer and that is what you are doing.
  If so, why should you be considering anything other than paying the minimum amount they request each month, which I think is 2.5% of the balance. When you reach a balance of Ј200 and less then it will be the minimum of Ј5 every month.
  Life is for Life, cannot see how this can change. :
• up to you when you pay it off. mine's a different deal, i have to spend Ј50 a month but it works for me as it's a balance i can't afford to repay at the moment (until other debts are repaid) so i spend Ј50 per month, pay Ј50 per month plus whatever interest they charged, so my debt stays at a constant figure, and the interest on the Ј50 i spend gets higher each month (even more as i had a letter saying it's going up to 18.9% due to the bank of england upping the base rate - really, how much have they upped it?!). the Ј50 i pay comes off my balance transfer.
  for me, the decision about when to pay it all off is based on the interest. because i've put most of my debt onto this card, when the time comes to pay it off i will be able to use my overdraft. at the moment my overdrafts aren't being used and i'm only using my other credit card as a monthly spending card, paying it all straight back (and getting a bit of cashback from them). i worked out how much the debt would be costing me in interest per month if it was in the cheapest place other than barclaycard (filling my 8.9% halifax overdraft with the rest on my 9.9% barclays overdraft), taking into account that when it's an overdraft the interest is less because my salary reduces the balance owing, until i've spent my salary, so i used a figure of the overdraft minus half my salary as a guide.
  as long as my monthly interest with barclaycard is lower than my estimated interest if using overdrafts, there's no sense in paying it off. as soon as barclaycard interest reachers that estimated figure for the month i'm going to pay it off with my overdrafts - barclaycard's 18.9% is very unattractive compared to my overdrafts or my other credit card so i'm only using the barclaycard in the short term because this 0% offer works out cheaper for me in terms of monthly interest.
  sorry if i've bored you all lol!
• Would it be possible and cost effective to now do a bts from Barclaycard to one of the new 0% cards without the need to spend.
  ie The total amount spent thus far and the original bts would then be at 0%.
  Not sure what happens re the T&C on the Barclaycard offer.
  YDS
• it's a great tip but not for me, i would be refused a new card.
  we cleared hubby's CCJ and all defaults before xmas but it takes a while for them to show as satisfied. also we found a big mistake on my own file and they finally sorted that out a few months ago.
  does anyone have any idea when it would be safe to apply for credit again? we've had no new problems in the last 4 years at least and we've had a mortgage for 9 months, i hope that helps our credit rating.
  hopefully we'll be able to apply for credit before the interest on my B/C gets too high, it's a great idea to transfer the lot, thanks for that you're a star :-)
• If you got a mortgage you should be able to get a credit card. I suggest applying for one now, then Transfer the 0% from the BC to the new card and trying to rate tart as much as possible. Worst case scenario you are refused a credit card, which just leaves you in the same position you are currently in, and in a few months won't matter as far as your credit file is concerned.
  The Ј50 a month spending deal is crap. You should work out how much you are paying in interest each month and compare that to the interest payable on getting a loan for the entire amount (at a much lower interest rate hopefully). When the bc interest exceeds the amount you would pay on a loan, swap it over.
  Dale - when to pay off the bc balance depends on what you did with the balance transfer money. If it was a genuine balance transfer to pay off a debt then you might as well run it as long as possible, although when the interest starts rising above the minimum 50p a month you might want to check that the numbers make sense.
  If, like me, you balance transferred into a savings account, the balance should be paid off when the after-tax interest on the remaining savings becomes less than you are paying on the card. I believe that this worked out as being about 4 years for me. There is an old discussion thread on this board somewhere.
• hi,
  well i think the main problem with transferring this whole balance is that nobody is going to give me a new card with a credit limit approaching 3 thousand :-( loan is no good at the moment because i can't afford to repay this debt yet. at the moment i repay the interest and keep the amount of the debt constant.
  the good news is my sums indicate that my main priority debts will be paid off by xmas, so i can start making inroads into this debt after xmas. plus, thanks to this forum and the excellent boots natural collection thread i have xmas pressies sorted out for at least half of my xmas list already, just need to bag those natural collection goodies up :-) after xmas i will look into getting a loan, see if the interest rates at that point are more attractive than what i'll be paying on my b/c balance (or my overdrafts if i've transferred it to those by then).
  in the short term the barclaycard thing is still my best deal because the interest is low, i've only got a few hundred racking up interest at the moment. thanks a lot for your advice :-) i love this site, everyone's so nice :-)