Monday 26 November 2007

Credit Card Arbitrage Hiccups

The Bankwest "0% interest rate for six months on balance transfers" offer I received last month still hasn't been processed. I phoned last week to check why my application hadn't been processed yet, and was told it must have been lost in the mail. I faxed a new application form last Thursday (making sure to write in big letters across the top that this was in response to an offer of 0% interest for six months. The last thing I want to do is end up with a balance transfer that costs the normal, exhorbitant interest rate). If the money hasn't hit my other CC account by the end of this week I'll have to make another phone call to Bankwest.

Meanwhile I wound up paying the minimum monthly amount on my ANZ balance transfer debt twice this month. I was checking my credit union bank account online last week and noticed that the monthly $300 automatic payment was due to be processed on the 21st. As I didn't have enough in my main account to cover this payment I quickly transferred some funds across from my other "high interest" account. When I checked this morning the automatic payment hadn't been deducted from my main account, so I quickly made a manual BPay transfer of $300 to ANZ. It was only after this payment had been made that I checked the "high interest" account and realised that the automatic payments to ANZ were setup to come out of that account, and had been made on schedule last week. Oh well, it just means I'll have $300 less as a "baloon payment" when the interest free period on this balance transfer ends early next year.

Copyright Enough Wealth 2007

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