Any company doing 0% APR on credit cards...

ncmc

...At the moment, or is this a thing of the past in this uncertain economic climate! Would love even 6 months 0% to get my CC down a little.

Davy

http://www.halifax.ie/index.jsp?pID=94&nID=106&section=creditcards

* €100 spending money lodged into your credit card account after your first purchase

OR
* Get 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases for the first 6 months!

unclebill98

All CC companies offer 0% interest on balance transfers and purchases to new customers for between 6-9 months. Some have other added prizes...

dotsman

unclebill98 wrote: »

All CC companies offer 0% interest on balance transfers and purchases to new customers for between 6-9 months. Some have other added prizes...

I think most banks have stopped doing these as they were a terrible idea. Banks started offering them as short-term incentives to attract new customers who would then (hopefully for the bank) stay with the card when it goes onto its normal rate (which would be higher than many other banks) What happened typically was one of 2 things:

1. The type of customer who would go to the trouble of switching to avail of 6 months interest turned out also be the same customer who would then move to another bank 6 months later and by basically hopping from 1 bank to another, never have to pay interest. This also led to a massive build up of debt in many cases as the customer was under no pressure to make any payments as they weren't being charged any interest (and then as it was so large, no bank would take on the debt, and they would be forced to stick it out with a very high rate on a huge debt)!
2. The customer chose to go with the bank because of the standard rate, facilities (easy to set up, internet banking etc) and ultimately get a 6-month free ride from the bank.

In both cases, the banks were worse off from doing these "loss-leader" offers, and in the case of the 1st example, it could ultimately be to the detriment of the customer!

I know Halifax are still offering it (I went for the €100 free offer, and intend to cancel the card after only 2 months as they are bloody useless to deal with). I think pretty much all the other banks now have a "low" introductory rate followed by a higher than normal rate.

To be honest, with the standard rate being around the 8.5% to 10%, things are certainly a lot better than before and the benefit of the introductory offer is very little.

Try here for a comparison on the standard rates the banks offer.

unclebill98

Good point there. But i still feel that most banks will continue offering it. Maybe in the short term it will stop, but over 75% of the switched cards I see are still in debt after the 6 months and some more so then when they switched. Which would leave me to believe that the banks don't mind the risk.

They either get the balance paid off, then fair enough. But the chance to make money on interest after the 6 months is worth the offer in there mind.

People whom card surf are leading themselves into a very bad times, if they still keep the old card alive.

Also, alot of people end up getting charged the Government Stamp Duty twice, there only meant to pay it once, but in my exp this refund can be a nightmere.

I think if anything interest rates on CC are just going to be increase. Banks have really pulled the socks up when it comes to given credit.

ncmc

davton wrote: »

http://www.halifax.ie/index.jsp?pID=94&nID=106&section=creditcards

* €100 spending money lodged into your credit card account after your first purchase

OR
* Get 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases for the first 6 months!

Sorry, should have said in my OP, I am already with Halifax...

All CC companies offer 0% interest on balance transfers and purchases to new customers for between 6-9 months. Some have other added prizes...

Really? None of the usual suspects, eg MBNA etc, that I looked in to seem to be doing it at the moment. Do you know of any in particular?

The type of customer who would go to the trouble of switching to avail of 6 months interest turned out also be the same customer who would then move to another bank 6 months later and by basically hopping from 1 bank to another, never have to pay interest. This also led to a massive build up of debt in many cases as the customer was under no pressure to make any payments as they weren't being charged any interest (and then as it was so large, no bank would take on the debt, and they would be forced to stick it out with a very high rate on a huge debt

I totally agree, though I will be cancelling my current card. I don't really use the card much, but recently put expensive flights on it and am working hard to get it clear. It's so frustrating to see a chunk of what you pay every month just cover interest! Plus Halifax have raised their interest rate as of this month.

jvc

Can anyone tell me if Halifax have sorted out their online transaction history for their credit cards yet? I heard someone on here say that they were meant to sort it in June or July but i havent heard anything lately.

dotsman

jvc wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if Halifax have sorted out their online transaction history for their credit cards yet? I heard someone on here say that they were meant to sort it in June or July but i havent heard anything lately.

No. And it's one of the reasons I'm cancelling. In this day and age, it's ridiculous to have such a simple, yet important, feature missing.

CSC

In the UK, banks introduced balance transfer fees for the 0% introductory offers. Most fees are between 2 and 5 percent with some being uncapped.
I can see this happening in Ireland soon enough.

Davy

their is around 9 cards with 0% intro offers