Seem to have reached my personal credit max

freestyle_3 · 24 July 2005 at 9:42PM

Ok,

I started last year on this 0% band waggon. With egg I got 13K. I moved 5k to Natwest and they only gave me a Max 5.5K !!

I phoned and they said I had reached my personal credit. Very rude and basically wanted to get me off the phone.

Is this true ?

If so does this mean if I cancel all my old cards I can get a new one with a higher limit..

Whats going on ? Is there a FAQ that will answer all this for me ?

Debt_Free_Chick · 25 July 2005 at 9:02AM

It will be a "personal" credit limit that Nat West set. They will have looked at your credit score and set a limit on the total debt they would allow. The reason for this is that the more debt you have, the more likely you are to default and then they could lose some of their money.

Another provider may well set a higher limit for you. Some may not set a limit at all. Unfortunately, there is no public information on this and you can only apply to see what happens.

MBNA seem to be quite generous

Rafter · 25 July 2005 at 9:58AM

Most lenders seem to have a cap with the average being 100% of earnings.

So if you earn £30k a year and have cards or loans with limits of £30k you will find it harder and harder to get more credit.

If you have cards you no longer use, either close them or call them up and get the credit limits reduced. Wait a month or so for this to flow through to the credit rating agencies then try again.

Unfortunately the banks don't want to lend you an endless amount at 0% - funny that!!!!

R.

freestyle_3 · 26 July 2005 at 12:21AM

Thank you for taking time to reply. Very helpful.

So to confirm, it's not so much the fact that I am in debt by XX amount, more I have the 'potential' to be in debt that amount.

Of the top of my head
Abbey 3K limit (balance £0)
Egg 13K limit (balance £0)
Nationwide 5K limit (balance £0)

Natwest 5K limit (balance £0)

SECONDARY QUESTION
Because Natwest have given me such a crapy limit I am going to be forced to get another card for my purchases... Any advice on this taking into account the information I have provided above.

Options as far as I can see
1) Leave all cards open (as recomended by MCE expert)
2) Close all cards not used
3) Open another 0% on purchases and continue to pay balance now on Natwest
4) Move balance from recently opened Natwest to someone else with the hope of have a higher limit (makes management and paperword easier)

shilcor · 3 August 2005 at 8:16PM

I reckon the same must have happened to me because I've been stoozing for around a year too and had my first refusal a couple of months back when I applied for a Sainsburys card. At the time I had in the region of 35k of credit card money in outstanding balances so I'm guessing that was the reason. I've now decided not to try transferring the balances as most cards charge a fee now anyway. I'm closing them off as they reach the end of their 0% period and when they are all closed I'll apply again for a card with 0% on purchases and be content with that.

spud · 4 August 2005 at 7:31PM

FWIW, my wife and I are in similar circumstances and have just received a very low credit limit from Natwest, also with a very unhelpful reception at the call center when requesting a higher limit. The limit given was around 75% of the balance to transfer (and this was under 5k). I guess Natwest are not a generous or helpful credit provider.

Wooleycats · 5 August 2005 at 10:22AM

Hi
I'm glad it's not just me.

I have Egg £12k limit £11k outstanding
Virgin £9.5k limit £9.5k outstanding
M&S £6k limit £6k outstaning
Sainsburys for purchases £8k limit £4k outstanding

Nat west have just offered me £3k and I'm waiting for RBS. Unfortunately Egg & Sainburys interest free finish at the end of August and Virgin end Oct.
Any advice?

Just to let you know how lucrative this can be - with my cards and my husband having some - offsetting against my 5.75% current account mortgage I reckon I have saved over £1000 in the last 6 months.
I fear that is about to change!!!!!!!

Clariman · 5 August 2005 at 2:59PM

The more 'debt' you have and/or the higher the credit limits you have available to you, then the more likely you are to damage your credit rating and start getting rejected applications. As a stoozer, you will do some damage to your credit rating, but the aim is to play the game carefully so that you don't do too much damage. The odd rejection or poor credit limit offer is a fact of life. You need to spend a bit of time trying to work out what the issue is.

In general it is wise to close down an unused credit cards because the availability of that credit (even if unused) will have an impact on your credit rating because any future lender can see that you could go out and spend that money tomorrow which might make you high risk.

£5.5K is not such a poor credit limit. It is £5.5K of the bank's money that they are prepared to lend you. We do not have a right to demand loans from banks and they have made a business judgement that they will lend you 5.5K. That is their right. If I were you, I'd consider closing down some of your unused cards. If your Egg one is pre-May 1st 2005 I'd probably hang on to if for the good BT Ts & Cs and the anniversary offer.

About 6 weeks after closing the card(s), I'd apply for another card. Not all lenders give the same limits. There is no single maximum credit limit you will get from a lender. You could look at the likes of CapitalOne who are often quite generous. MBNA also can be generous but I see they have only given you £3K on the Abbey(MBNA) card. It might be worth getting hold of your credit file to see if there is anything lurking on it that may be causing poor limits.

Clariman

Seem to have reached my personal credit max

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