Pay this no Interest (Virgin Mastercard)

Member Name: technoir

Product:	Virgin Mastercard
Date:	31/05/09 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 0% for 16 months

Disadvantages: DONT SPEND ON IT

The Virgin Credit card has been great for me for one reason only. That is the 0% balance transfer rate which lasts for 16 months.
The only reason I even applied for this card was to use the rate.
With a balance of £2500, I am able to pay it off considerably better than on my previous card where I was accruing nearly as much interest as I was paying off each month.
Despite the initial balance transfer fee, there have been no other charges on the balance and over a four month period, I have beenable to pay the balance down to £1800, so I should be all clear by the end of the 0% rate.

I took the card out at the same time as a friend who suggested it to me as we both owed the same amount of debt. I stuck to my guns and refused to spend even a pound on the card and have only used it to pay off the balance transfer.
My friend however was tempted by the purchase rate and was convinced that he could pay back what extra he was borrowing. He only paid just over the minimum payment each month and now is feeling the effect. The initial purchase rate has now shot up and he is finding interest building up on the (unessesary) purchase he made. I have paid of a third of my balance, whereas he is only £50 under where he started from. He has also now built up a further debt on the credit card that he used this one to pay off!

This is the mistake that many people have made with this and similar cards. Getting sucked in by the good rates and thinking that you will be able to pay off any extra purchase balance before the good rate ends is fooling yourself. You should use this card as a tool to help you get out of existing debt and not as extra spending potential. The worst thing you could do is to use your old credit card once you have transfered to the new 0% rate.
Get the debt paid off, play the system and only purchase what you need.

Getting back to the card, I can honestly say that I haven't even signed the back of it o even removed it from the letter it arrived on for that matter. I have not used it in a shop and have never purchased anything on it.

I found the application process easy enough, with only about 2 weeks from application to actually having the card sent to me. The Balance transfer was very simple and the online banking facility is easy to use.
The website does not seem as secure as some bank sites as it only has a single password to get into your account.
When you make a payment to the card it usually takes about 4 days to show up.
I have opted for paperless statements as I do not need to check purchases, but if you are using for purchases then you can have your statement sent to you for checking.
One thing I concerned about is that Virgin periodically send you Credit card cheques through the regular mail. These can be used without the card and therefore could be a weak point from a fraud point of view. I wish there was an option where you could cancel the credit card cheques from coming through as they have to be disposed of securely (NOT in the bin!)

The other good thing about the card that I have not taken advantage of, is the balance transfer could have been used to pay money into your bank account rather than off a credit card. This is a useful tool for paying off a loan or overdraft, but is also a dangerous thing for spendaholics as it could seem to some as free cash.

If used wisely, this card is an amazing weapon against the banks. But if you lose your willpower and start spending, then the bank has you right where they want you.

Summary: If used wisely this will save you a packet