Focus on: Barclaycard Platinum offers £30 rebate on transfer fee

If you are looking to transfer a significant credit card balance across to one...

15:48 22 November 2012

If you are looking to transfer a significant credit card balance across to one of Barclaycard's Platinum long-lasting 0% deals, now is the perfect time to do it.

 

So long as you are transferring a debt of £2,000 or more from a different credit card provider, you will receive £30 back on the balance transfer fee, which could already be as low as 2.6%.

 

But can you benefit from this offer? Read on to find out.

 

What's the deal?

 

There are several Barclaycard Platinum credit cards on the market at the moment.

 

These include the Barclaycard Platinum Credit Card with Extended Balance Transfer, which offers a new, improved 24 months' interest-free borrowing, and the Barclaycard Platinum Credit Card with Balance Transfer, which allows you to escape interest payments for 22 months.

 

With both these cards, new customers who transfer a balance within the first 60 days of account opening receive a partial refund of the balance transfer fee.

 

The fee on the 24-month card drops to 2.8% as a result for example, while the upfront charge on the 22-month card falls to 2.6%.
These are already both below the more market-typical balance transfer fees of 3% but there's further good news.

 

If you are transferring a balance of £2,000 or more you can now receive a further refund of £30 - for a limited time.

 

Someone transferring a debt of £2,000 onto the card offering 24 months at 0% could therefore reduce his or her upfront fee from £56 to just £26.
For someone switching the same amount to the 22-month card, meanwhile, the balance transfer fee would drop from £52 to £22.

 
Any catches?

 

As with the regular discount, this further £30 off is only available to those who transfer a balance to the card within 60 days of opening an account, so put the date in your diary.

 

What's more, the deal does not apply to all the Barclaycard Platinum cards on the market.

 

The market-leading low balance transfer fee Barclaycard Platinum Lowest Fee Card, for example, is not included in the offer.

 

The bad news for existing Barclaycard customers is also that the offer, which is valid until December 6, 2012, does not apply to transfers made from other Barclaycards.

 

What's the verdict?

 

If you need 22 or more months to clear your outstanding balance, you would be foolish not to take advantage of this extra discount while it is available.
Paying just £26 or £22 on debts of up to £2,000 for almost two years is an extremely good deal.

 

However, if you think you can clear your debts in, say, a year - a low rate balance transfer card could still prove a better option.

 

The Barclaycard Platinum Lowest Balance Transfer Fee Card mentioned above, for example, offers 12 months at0% for an upfront fee of just 0.9% (provided you qualify for the reduction by transferring the funds within 60 days).

 

On a debt of £2,000, this translates to a balance transfer fee of just £18.
That is all you will pay for a year, but at just £4 less than the fee on the 22-month card it may not seem worth stretching yourself to clear your debts within 12 months.

 

For someone with debts of £3,000 to transfer, on the other hand, the lower fee starts to make more of a difference.

 

Switching this amount to the 24-month Barclaycard with a 2.8% fee would mean an upfront charge of £54 (once the £30 rebate had been deducted).
Paying the 2.6% fee with the 22-month Platinum card meanwhile would cost £48 taking into account the £30 rebate.

 

Both of these fees are still significantly more than the £27 you would pay with the low fee card if you could afford to clear the balance within 12 months.