Applying for multiple cards

A very interesting thread and came up at a great time as when the initial post was made I was just deciding whether I should apply for a second card in one weekend.

We're having building works done and my thoughts are to stooze as much as possible of the costs of the work (via balance transfer and purchase cards) for as long as possible. I can't pay my builder by credit card and the cost of the works far exceeds our day to day spending so I guess I need a clarity card to withdraw some cash into my bank and to start reading up for the best way to get more cash into my account and more balance onto my cards.

I wasn't quite as brave as the OP and only did 5 applications in one weekend (3 for me 2 for OH so actually not very brave at all) but all were accepted and I'be just done another one today which has also been accepted [STRIKE]and I think I might just do another couple now and see what happens.[/STRIKE] - cancel that. no more till all existing ones full.

It is a bit scary how easy it is to get credit though !

Last Monday I applied for the following cards (all 0% balance transfer and 0% BT fee )

Barclaycard given credit limit of £18,000
Lloyds given credit limit of £10,000
Virgin given credit limit of £4,100
Sainsburys accepted but not yet told credit limit.

I thought the same as the OP that if I applied for them all at once then they wouldn't show up on my credit file.

I already had the following cards with the following balances which are all 0% BT cards except Tesco which is the only card I use for purchases:

Halifax £9,000
Santander £3,500
AA £5,000
Tesco £4,000


I was very surprised to get accepted for all the cards as my credit rating on Noddle isn't great but it is good on Experian.

I couldn't access the Barclaycard online services and so I had to ring them. I'm glad I did because I asked them to confirm that there was no BT fee on the card and the person I spoke to said that there was a 2% fee. I then spoke to the manager and he confirmed that there was a fee but he agreed to waive it when I said that I had applied for the card with no fee.

I also had to chase the Lloyds cc today as I hadn't heard anything from them at all even though they had given me a credit limit of £7,000 during the application process. They said that I hadn't completed the application and so I had to apply again. I'm glad I did as this time they gave me a £10,000 limit for some reason. I was worried that I would be rejected as they would be able to see the other credit cards I had applied for, but it didn't seem to matter.

I should add that I in my late 40s and so have held credit cards from all the above providers in the past, however I have never paid a penny in interest so I am surprised that they keep giving me 0% BT cards.

to the folk here to have done the multiple applications on the same day, can i ask how bad a hit did your meaningless noddle score and clearscore went down by, was it just a blip or did it drop like a rock to the floor ?

Thanks @swindiff for the detailed reply, very insightful.

Im keen to build my credit file for a mortgage in a 3-5 years time and had planned to get a new credit card every six months well spaced applications

I'm currently
Clearscore 444/700
Noddle 5/5 632

My main bank account is Nationwide 10years +
Flex Direct with £500 overdraft (over draft has never been used in 2 years)

Both nationwide overdraft, NW credit card and NW loans came pre-selected and didn't leave hard search on my credit file.

I have
Loan : Nationwide loan @ 4.6% APR £8,000 (x6 months paid up )

CC's (all zero balance)
Luma/CapOne CC £200 limit
Vanquis CC £250 limit
Aqua CC £2800 limit
Nationwide CC £5500 limit

Littlewoods catalogue £1100 limit
Jacamo account £500 limit
Next account £900 limit

(ALL of the above have zero balance and paid in full each month.
Each account used at least once a month and carried to statement date before paying in full)

When reading this thread, i'm thinking is not just best now to fire x6 applications all at once off to the big boys at once Barclaycard. MBNA, halifax, virgin, HSBC, Lloyds
(ALL these x6 above show as 90% - 95% chance of being successful via MSE soft application tool)

If i do the multiple applications
When it comes to the mortgage they will been a long time 3 years plus in the past

Any advice ?? or am i best just leaving things as they are and not apply for anything more ?