Archive for the 'Credit Cards' Category

Just got a 2.9% card over two years

Published by Robert Brown on May 15, 2008 under Credit Cards

After consulting the snowball calculator, the figures indicated it’ll take me around 2 years to pay off the debt s I have on my credit card at the moment.  After digging around a little in www.MoneySavingExpert.com, I gave Martin a bit of cash by clicking his affiliate link to the HSBC CreditCard

My reasons where:

  • I could pay off the debt in under two years.
  • I didn’t want to have to switch too soon in 12 months say
  • Give myself a little discipline by not having 0 interest, so encouraging me to pay it off and not spend more on the card
  • My current 0% plan is ending in 2 months
  • No annual fee

I’ll follow the Golden Rule - no purchases on this card until the balance transfer is paid off - it’ll go in the drawer and a direct debit set up to pay it off, to avoid interest being paid on that before my balance.

I think this keeps up with my philosophy of money saving without working too much - I don’t want to count the pennies but will count the 20p’s?

The stats of the card according to the website are:

  • 0% on purchases for 12 months from account opening
  • 2.9% for two years on balances transferred within 30 days of you opening your account. 2.5% balance transfer fee applies (minimum £5)
  • Typical 15.9% APR variable after introductory period
  • No annual fee to pay

A good overview on how to deal with credit cards is found here at No Credit Needed - Credit Companies Want Your Money