Barclaycard say that you can xfer a balance from another card, and this balance will be charged at 0% for as long as it exists. Moreover - if you do this, you will get 2% cashback on purchases as long as this balance remains from one month to the next. This looks to be too good to be true. Free loan that need never be repaid, plus 2% cashback on purchases. Is the balance xfer separate from any balance on purchases? I normally pay off my visa balance in full every month. Their explanation is given in the _link_ below - in not sufficient detail for my liking - looks like there's a financial trap lurking here to me. If anyone can explain the offer in terms that make sense, I'd be grateful! http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/About_Us/TandC/rates.html

this balance will be charged at 0% for as long as it exists. Moreover - if you do this, you will get 2% cashback on purchases as long as this balance remains from one month to the next. This looks to be too good to be true. Free loan that need never be repaid, plus 2% cashback on purchases. Is the balance xfer separate from any balance on purchases? I normally pay off my visa balance in full every month. Their explanation is given in the _link_ below - in not sufficient detail for my liking - looks like there's a financial trap lurking here to me. If anyone can explain the offer in terms that make sense, I'd be grateful! http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/About_Us/TandC/rates.html Dear Gordon, Read the T&C!  The 0% balance transfer applies for the life of the balance subject to a minimum spend of £50 per month on the card, or it reverts to 6.9%. Given that any payments you then make to Barclaycard will be made towards the balance transfer first, the £50 spent will then accrue interest at the normal Barclaycard rate.  You cannot choose to pay off the monies spent rather than the transferred balance! (section 5.5 of T&C). Hence you can transfer your balance at 0% but will be obliged to pay interest on the monies spent required to earn you that 0% rate. Hope this helps Marcus

this balance will be charged at 0% for as long as it exists. Moreover - if you do this, you will get 2% cashback on purchases as long as this balance remains from one month to the next. This looks to be too good to be true. Free loan that need never be repaid, plus 2% cashback on purchases. Is the balance xfer separate from any balance on purchases? I normally pay off my visa balance in full every month. Their explanation is given in the _link_ below - in not sufficient detail for my liking - looks like there's a financial trap lurking here to me. If anyone can explain the offer in terms that make sense, I'd be grateful! http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/About_Us/TandC/rates.html Dear Gordon, Read the T&C!  The 0% balance transfer applies for the life of the balance subject to a minimum spend of £50 per month on the card, or it reverts to 6.9%. Given that any payments you then make to Barclaycard will be made towards the balance transfer first, the £50 spent will then accrue interest at the normal Barclaycard rate.  You cannot choose to pay off the monies spent rather than the transferred balance! (section 5.5 of T&C). Hence you can transfer your balance at 0% but will be obliged to pay interest on the monies spent required to earn you that 0% rate. Hope this helps Marcus Marcus, Thankyou very much for your help! The rates page ( http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/About_Us/TandC/rates.html ) says 2% cashback as long as a balance is carried forward (until Dec 2004), and 0% on transferred balances for as long as it takes to pay them off. Yet on http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/About_Us/faqs.html#charges it is stated that we will always charge interest on balance transfers In the terms and conditions ( http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/Apply/tandc.html ) 5.5 - amount paid will be applied in the following order: Against any transfer balances and promotional balances WHICH AN INTEREST RATE APPLIES TO {my emphasis} for an open ended period . I have therefore written to Barclaycard asking them to clarify these inconsistencies.

Read the T&C!  The 0% balance transfer applies for the life of the balance subject to a minimum spend of £50 per month on the card, or it reverts to 6.9%. Given that any payments you then make to Barclaycard will be made towards the balance transfer first, the £50 spent will then accrue interest at the normal Barclaycard rate.  You cannot choose to pay off the monies spent rather than the transferred balance! (section 5.5 of T&C). Hence you can transfer your balance at 0% but will be obliged to pay interest on the monies spent required to earn you that 0% rate. Hope this helps Marcus So would it be fair to say that this is an interest free loan which is totally dependant on the buyer taking on a minimum £50 a month interesting bearing loan ?  It sounds complicated and as the previous poster said convoluted , to the point that it might be construed as misleading advertisting. Regards Ian

normal Barclaycard rate.  You cannot choose to pay off the monies spent rather than the transferred balance! (section 5.5 of T&C). Hence you can transfer your balance at 0% but will be obliged to pay interest on the monies spent required to earn you that 0% rate. Hope this helps Marcus So would it be fair to say that this is an interest free loan which is totally dependant on the buyer taking on a minimum £50 a month interesting bearing loan ?  It sounds complicated and as the previous poster said convoluted , to the point that it might be construed as misleading advertisting. Regards Ian Well, yes re the first half.  Re the second half, no I don't think so - the transferred balance is at 0% subject to the £50 spend yadayadayada.  Pretty clear really! From a business perspective totally sensible as well - it attracts customers to either open a new account or for existing customers to bring all their balances to Barclaycard but still ensures a profit stream by their doing so. What is the point of encouraging a 0% balance transfer only for the transferred balance to be moved on again once an introductory period has expired?! Marcus

What is the point of encouraging a 0% balance transfer only for the transferred balance to be moved on again once an introductory period has expired?! Traditionally, the arguement for really free balance transfers was that either the punter didnt realise the free period was up and thus paid big interest for a couple of months, or the punter couldn't be bothered moving again, and thus they (the cc company) had a new customer. Regards Ian