[willowshouse]

Hi all,

I have UK credit cards - which I intend to pay off before I leave but I'd rather not have the hassle of having to cancel them and get new ones in NZ - is it possible to transfer them?

I have:

Morgan Stanley
MBNA Visa and Mastercard
Goldfish
Capital One
Halifax

I am thinking of keeping one registered in the UK at my Mum's address because we can pay by DD and access the account online.

Has anyone dealt with these companies about this sort of thing?

Any help or advice appreciated :confused:

Thanks,
Dawn

[Blakie]

I doubt that you will be able to transfer your credit cards to NZ credit card companies. However, you can keep and use your UK credit cards when you go to NZ. You will be able to give all your credit card companies your new international address - we did when we came from UK to France 4 years ago.

But the really hard part is paying them off from NZ. Several years ago when I went to NZ to work for 5 months and was still trying to make payments to my UK credit cards I was parting with almost 3 times as many dollars just to meet the minimum payment in the UK - ouch!

Even if it means going to NZ with less money to start out with, it might be best to clear that debt in the UK before you go.

Good luck

[real_sunfire]

One thing to note using UK credit cards in NZ is that many of them will charge you a commission for using the card on foreign (i.e non UK) transactions, e.g. Morgan Stanley charge 2%.

Rgds.,
Nick.

[neilw71]

Forget transferring those cards as they are not from international organisations. You need the likes of Amex or Diners to "transfer" a card.

Keeping one UK based card can be good for anything you need to buy in GBP and for keeping things like an account on iTunes etc. Do not buy anything in NZ$ though as you will pay currency fees etc.

Credit works a bit more strictly here in NZ. Your credit on all cards is counted in any mortgage or loan application. They are quite strict on that and so having massive credit limits on a wide range of cards is not the best idea here.

I used to have a dozen cards in the Uk with serious limits - moved here and now have an Amex and a MC - its a great change for me and went with the overall change in lifestyle. Ditch the need to have lots of cards when you get here - you'll feel a lot better for it :)

Neil

[olivia]

i too had lots of uk credit cards and have been working hard to get them all paid off. i only have 2 cards left now but have decided to keep them in case we want to pay in sterling for anything when we get to nz, i.e using online accounts such as amazon for sending birthday/xmas presents or sending flowers.

olivia