Balance Trasnfer Card - Confused!

PaulH91 · 14 October 2016 at 8:14PM

Hi all,

Really hoping someone can help.

I'm looking to help my girlfriend shift her debt from her current Barclay Credit Card.. She currently has a debt on the card of around £3,000. I have read the MSE post regarding 0% balance transfer cards and inputted her details into the eligibility calculator, she had a 90% success rate for a Tesco Balance Transfer card offering 0% for 24 months 0% fee, which I thought was great!

I immediately applied for her, passed the credit check on their website but when I got to the final step it only offered to transfer £1,200 of her balance from her Barclay Card? When I tried to enter £3000, it said we have exceeded the amount. But there was no option to apply for an increased limit?! Thus, leaving us having to quit the application.

Any help would be great, every brand I look at seems to only offer £1,200? I don't want to keep running credit checks aswell, affecting her score.

nic_c · 14 October 2016 at 8:20PM

The credit limit is usually based on your income. You may well have higher limits on existing cards, but a new application will use your current income to set the level.

[Deleted User] · 14 October 2016 at 8:22PM

Assuming you haven't applied for every card, you're also probably confusing limits with the representative example, which is always £1200.

[Deleted User] · 14 October 2016 at 8:24PM

Also, take what you're offered. It will still save you money and the search has already been done.

YorkshireBoy · 14 October 2016 at 8:25PM

PaulH91 wrote: »

Thus, leaving us having to quit the application.

So having incurred a credit search you then threw away the chance to get over a third of her debt on 0% interest? That was a bit silly!

Any help would be great, every brand I look at seems to only offer £1,200? I don't want to keep running credit checks aswell, affecting her score.

I think you may be confusing the industry standard APR calculation figure of £1,200 with a likely credit limit. Would you agree?

EDIT: Cross posted with zx81.

PaulH91 · 15 October 2016 at 6:36AM

Thank you for the replies. I may be confusing the standard APR limits with what we'd actually be offered yes. But is there a way to do a soft check to see what limit we could actually be offered prior to going through the whole application?

moshoodo1 · 15 October 2016 at 7:16AM

PaulH91 wrote: »

Thank you for the replies. I may be confusing the standard APR limits with what we'd actually be offered yes. But is there a way to do a soft check to see what limit we could actually be offered prior to going through the whole application?

Yes, try Nationwide CC, they will tell you the limit and APR through soft search

geoff2 · 15 October 2016 at 8:18AM

I would do the transfer for £1200 and then in say six months time, apply for a third card to do another 0% transfer. Don't apply for a whole bunch of cards at once because you'll get turned down and it will put negatives on her credit record. In 6 months, provided she has kept up the payments, you may get a higher limit on the new card. In the early days of having credit cards, the limits will always be modest, while she builds up a decent credit history. As an alternative, you might get a better limit by going for a low rate "life of balance" deal. MBNA are quite generous. The interest rate would be something like 4.9% fixed for the life of the debt, which can work out overall about the same cost as switching cards every so often and paying the fee.

SHill · 16 October 2016 at 10:04AM

I just want to say. It's really good to see you are supporting her. I hope your OH appreciates what you have done for her.
Please ensure she breaks her spending habit though. I'm concerned that you know what needs to be done and you have helped put a plaster on the problem but she needs to know that she can't keep spending on money she doesn't actually have.

Balance Trasnfer Card - Confused!

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