Balance transfer credit cards guide

Transferring a balance from one card to another with a lower interest rate can be a good way to manage your debt. By switching the debt to a credit card where you pay less interest on your borrowing, you can pay off the existing debt at a lower rate of interest. For more information read understanding balance transfers.

Ideally suited for…

Balance transfer credit cards are ideally suited to people who already have an existing rate on another credit card or a store card. By transferring your existing credit card debt to a new card you can pay a lower rate of interest on the debt for the introductory period e.g. 13 months.

Benefits

Pay off existing debt at a lower rate of interest—having a new credit card with an introductory balance transfer rate can help you pay of your debt at a lower rate of interest and help you save money on your repayments.
Organise your finances—if all your debt is in one place it’s easier to keep on top of your finances with only one monthly payment to think about
Great introductory rates—whether you're looking to transfer a balance from an existing credit card or simply want to make a card purchase, MBNA offer competitive introductory rates and APR.
All the features of a traditional credit card—all our credit cards carry the same great features and services, including Online Card Services, paperless statements online, fraud protection and free 24-hour UK based customer service helpline.
Optional extras to protect your card—just like our traditional credit cards we offer you the same optional extras to protect yourself from the unexpected including LifestyleProtect, Card & Phone SOS and Identity Protection.

From the date your account is opened. A handling fee applies to balance transfers and money transfers. Balance transfers and money transfers must be made within 90 days of account opening. From the date your account is opened. If you have two or more promotional offers at the same rate, we will use your payments to reduce any promotional balance with the lowest standard rate last, even if this offer ends first. This could mean that any such balance may not have been reduced by the time the standard rate applies to it. Full details of the reward programme will be sent to you once your account is opened. From the date your account is opened. A handling fee applies to balance transfers and money transfers. Balance transfers and money transfers must be made within 60 days of account opening. Promotional rates will no longer apply from the beginning of any statement period during which you have breached your terms and conditions

Free Credit Score Check

The need of credit check arises when lenders assess your mortgage application. They use a credit reference agency and credit scoring to help them in making a decision. This credit check process has an impact on the position of borrower. Importantly, each time when a person makes an application for any type of credit, lending companies or institutions check the credit history. This helps them to ensure that they are not at high risk. Well, this is referred to as credit check. The lending company or institution performs check by requesting information on borrower’s credit status from the leading credit reference agencies.

A credit check determines whether a borrower can get credit or not. If a borrower is having a good records then he will not face any problem regarding sanctioning of loan amount. Moreover, he enjoys a comfortable financial future. Lenders feel secured as this result in successful loan deal. On other hand, borrowers with worse credit records mean poor credit and application of borrowers could easily turned down. In this case, any credit offered to the borrower is considered a high risk by your lender. If a lender offers you loan then he charges higher rate of interest. For the repayment of loan amount, credit check formality is carried out. This enables the lender to determine the level of risk before sanctioning of loan amount to the borrowers.

Credit Score Range

The credit score is based on a statistical analysis done on person's credit files. The key on which credit score is judged is based on credit report information. This typically sourced from the credit bureaus of UK. Each lender has a credit score range of values which typically varies in a scale of 0 to 1000 where figures denote to minimum and maximum range. Normally, the credit score falls into five credit rating bands which represents Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor and Very poor.

Importantly, credit score is not static in nature as it has to be calculated every time when a person applies for a new loan type. The score scale of every lender varies so each time when a person applies for loan his credit score will be different. By using different points total lenders determine the good or bad rating. So, a person could easily find himself being rejected by one lender and accepted by other. The factors responsible for your credit score are determined by several variables namely total credit history, amount of credit balances with outstanding account, late payments, collections, home foreclosures financial loan defaults.