Best time to leave between applications?

poggle99 · 2 October 2006 at 10:29AM

Hiya,

I've read that one should absolutely never make more than three credit card applications at once, to avoid damaging your credit 'score'. I have a couple of questions:

1) My husband and I probably have linked credit records as we have a joint account. Can we make three applications each without falling foul of this rule, or should we stick to three applications between us?

2) How long is it "safe" to leave before making another credit card application after making three together, without adversely affecting credit records?

We need to borrow an additional £5k to finance a car purchase and are trying to figure out the best way to do it.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Cheers,

Rachael

Moggles_2 · 2 October 2006 at 1:26PM

Obviously, individual circumstances vary, but its always best to space out your credit card applications. A maximum of one new card every three months, is the best rule of thumb for most people, if you want to retain a good credit rating.

Also, there's a major drawback to making three credit card applications at once. If the 0% or low interest introductory rates expire together, you're faced with up to three new card applications once again.

The risk in paying for your new car this way is that you can't be sure of further 0% offers in X months time when the current deals end and the interest jumps to the standard rate (anything from 14.9 - 23.9 APR). Unless you will have savings to cover a possible shortfall then, I would consider a less expensive car.

poggle99 · 2 October 2006 at 3:16PM

So basically you'd advise a three-month gap before making any additional credit card apps? It looks in that case like we'll need to get a loan just for the last chunk - thanks for clarifying!

Cheers,

Rachael

grumbler · 2 October 2006 at 3:35PM

Advice from experts:

The number of searches and accounts opened in the last three to six months has an affect on your credit score. The stoozer or rate-tart should try to minimise the number of credit searches that are done on their file. Stoozing.com’s guidance has been that either of the following approaches seems to be acceptable: either one search per month for no more than 10 months of the year, or 2 or 3 applications within a month followed by none for 4 to 6 months.

toomanyshoes · 2 October 2006 at 4:22PM

I applied for the M&S card a couple of weeks ago and when I didn't get as much as I wanted (I got £2k which was upped to £3k) I applied for an MBNA card straight away and got accepted with an £8k limit.

Two applications in as many weeks was OK for me but I dont know what would happen if I applied for another (which I wont be doing).

Last appplication before these two was in April when I was refused finance for a camera.

poggle99 · 2 October 2006 at 10:53PM

Can anyone advise whether my husband and I, given that we have a joint account, are basically treated as one person (and hence will be scored as such)?

Moggles - thanks for the reply. I did read it all last time you posted [in the earlier thread], honest

The issue now as then is that I'm not too worried what happens when the 0% period ends - if we can transfer to another card, then great, but our finances will be more stable and predictable, so a common-or-garden loan will be less of a worry. But as for right now, until I go back to work in Jan, we need to minimise our outgoings - so a 2.25% minimum payment on several 0% credit cards is better than a loan at this point.

However, I'm not so desperate to put all of our debt into a 0% basket that I want to risk black marks on our credit record... wanted to clarify what was doable before we committed to a loan.

Cheers,

Rachael

Best time to leave between applications?

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