Co-op card only £1200 credit limit - Are they on to me?

MiserlyMartin

Just applied for one of these. I can't believe they have offered such a low limit, I am a homeowner on a reasonable salary, usually they offer about £4000. I know the advice is not to turn your nose up, but I have £4000 to transfer from another card, what should I do? Pay it off with savings, max out the Co-Op card doing a SBT and get another stooze card a few months later? (another SBT)

Plus the 0% on the card runs out on 14/11/05 so I am leaving it a bit late to sign and return the application if I want to do a transfer from that card.

I am not borrowing much on other cards, my total stooze amount at the moment is £8000 via two cards, so £1200 is an insult.

This game is getting harder, any ideas>?

Chris357

I didn't find this problem when I applied for my Co-op card in September of last year but I got a similar miserly credit limit when I applied for a Nationwide card. It was later uprated a bit but I was not concerned with this particular card because I intended to use it long term for purchases abroad and the extended warrantry benefit. I applied for the Nationwide card around the same time as the Co-op card which might account for the low limit.

You could apply for another card - credit companies assess people differently - but, because it is so soon after your last application, you run the risk of getting another low limit, a damaged credit rating, or even a refusal. I think I would pay off some debt from savings and apply again in a few months time. If you have an Egg card, you could time the next application just before the anniversary 0% offer, if it isn't too far off. You then only have to do a series of SBTs.

Careful_ly

We have a Co-op cards and you can ask them to match the credit limit on another card. You have to send them a current statement and they consider the match.
We both got 10k limits although Mr C had a higher limit on the statement he sent them.

We have the travel card and earned points on the balance transfers (which I wasnt expecting to, this was in September last year so may no longer apply)

MiserlyMartin

Thanks for that, is the match done when applying for the card or after the card account is open? And does it have to be a card that you are going to do a balance transfer with to Co-Op if that makes sense?

Milarky

MiserlyMartin wrote:

Thanks for that, is the match done when applying for the card or after the card account is open? And does it have to be a card that you are going to do a balance transfer with to Co-Op if that makes sense?

Can be done immediately after account is open. Already having a balance on a card whose limit you wish to match may not cause a problem. As I see it, although you already owe this much debt if you say you wish to transfer to it that means you aren't trying to carry or create any additional debts as the BT will be 'neutral' inthat regard. So Co-op should be quite happy to consider that.

mrsw

I have just received a Coop card. I too had a low limit, so asked them to match my Sainsbury card, from which I wanted to BT. Although I sent back all the necessary statements with my signed credit agreement, I had to speak to about 3 different advisors before I found one who knew what they were doing. It was a lot of hassle, and I had already used up 1 month of my 0% period before I could do the BT.

Milarky

mrsw,

But with Coop you can do transfers as often as you like with no fees during the promotion period. [I assume you transferred what you could straight away and then asked for a higher credit limit?]

mrsw

That's what I did Milarky, but my Sainsbury promo period was fast coming to an end.

CTT_2

Co-op card only £1200 credit limit - Are they on to me?
UNQUOTE.

I applied for a Natwest card and got £1000 limit and the same with the Nationwide. I thought they must be on to me. However the interesting thing is I asked Lloyds to close my Plat account and transfer the credit limit to their New credit card which gave a limit of £15,000. They also offered me 6 months zero percent etc.

I then decided to reapply for the Plat card and have now been offered a limit
of £15k at zero percent for 9 months.

Not bad considering I only closed my Plat card three months ago.

MiserlyMartin

Ok - an update. New levels of paranoia. ! I phoned customer services and they told me to return the application and send bank statements/credit card statements along with a covering letter asking for an increased limit. I did that. A few days ago I got the new card but still with a low credit limit. So I've phoned them again and they say they won't give me a decision on the credit limit until the day before my other cards 0% runs out (not in those words obviously). So its looking like I have two options which I am not 100% sure its possible to do. This is what I was thinking:
1. Pay off the old/current card in the next few days using savings. Then when I get the increased limit (if at all) do a balance transfer from the old card leaving it now with a positive balance. Then I close the old card and they will send me a cheque for the amount left on it postive.

2. Still pay off the old card with savings. Max out the new co-op card, not by BT to the old card, but by BT to another card that issues credit card cheques, so that i can get the money back that way.

I would prefer 1 in case the STB card gets suspicious. Does this sound feasible?

Another question, which is the best way to pay off the card using savings: By visa debit or visa credit?

I hope you understand all this (because I don't!) lol and hope someone can advise

realaledrinker

Your Op was correct. They're on to you!