Balance transfer good or bad?

[nholden]

My wife over the past couple of years has taken advantage of the zero percent credit card balance tranfers that some banks offer from time to time. I believe we have transfered balances 2 or 3 times in the past two years. Can this reflect poorly on our credit rating? Thanks!

[PFA]

Not necessarily(now) but will in future - because everytime you do a balance transfer it will diminish the chances of any unsecured lending (fixed term personal loans) you are looking for. However, if you miss payments and default then YES...it will affect your credit rating. On the other hand after you have done this(balance transfer), say a couple of times and each time the you pay everything, the minimum balance and lot, there will come a point where creditors will not accept an application and that one step is a start to put your credit rating in the downward spiral(worst case scenario).

[scorpio61]

Unless the rules have changed recently, in laymans terms the creditors look for 2 main factors, how much you take home and how much they can take off you without getting into trouble with the FSA. Before they decide how much they are going to lend you they will look to see how much other unsecured debt you have outstanding, this is what affects your ability to get credit, not whether it is on an "interest free" card or not. Obviously if you've defaulted on a payment this will show on a credit search and depending on what it is will also affect the application but I don't think that is what you were asking was it?