Help!

Tinker_belle_2

I have been happily transfering my CC balance from CC to CC for a while now, it was even at balance of £0 for a few months. Now I can't get accepted for any and I am paying £30 a month in interest

Now we applied for a mortgage about 3 months ago, didn't take it up cause it was too expensive and it seems to have a really screwed up our Credit Rating - I got my report from experian and it says that my rating is above average - so why am I having so much trouble? I only started a new job about 5 months ago, but I just applied for Mint and they didn't even ask for how long I had been working in my present job.

Obviously I need to stop applying for a while, but for how long will the mortgage application cause probs? I really hate having to pay interest :rotfl:

I have two cards at the moment - egg cause of the anniversary rate - just ran out and Natwest - is it worth contacting these seeing if I can get a good interest rate for the life of balance - or this just something they write to you about?

Can happily afford the repayments, it's just going to take longer to clear if I am paying this much interest each month!

Thanks all

Galstonian

Have you been closing accounts when no longer used? Unused but available credit can count against you.

Do you have more than one search per month? This is a 'safe' number, try not to exceed it.

Your experian report: was it a copy of your credit file containing facts about your credit history or was it the subjective interpretation of those facts (which in my opinion is simply to make the CRAs money and needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt)? Is it accurate?

Are you applying to lenders you have been with before? Many lenders operate many different branded cards (e.g. RBS/Mint, MBNA/Virgin etc..). If you are an existing customer or were a customer within the last X months (varies by lender) you are automatically refused.

The best people to ask about why you were rejected are Mint. Have you tried?

I am a bit puzzled by the fact that you are paying interest, if you have reduced the balance to zero why did you increase it again? If you are truly having money problems then maybe that is why you've been rejected.

Tinker_belle_2

They have all been closed except egg and Natwest. We have no store cards or credit cards other than these.

I haven't definatly been refused by Mint, they are contacting me through the post so I will just have to wait and see, it is just that I have always been accepted online before the last few months.

Not having money problems at all, we always pay more than the min balance. We wanted to buy something that was a bargain - not so much of a bargain now I am having to pay interest - lesson learned!

I don't really understand what you are saying about experian report, but I paid for the £4.99 one that tells you exactly what the figure of your credit rating is.

I will leave applying for any more till the new year, I am going to transfer my balance to Egg, as it is slightly cheaper than Natwest.

Thanks

Clariman

Hi tinker-belle

The £4.99 report that "tells you exactly what the figure of your credit rating is" doesn't tell you what your credit actually rating is !

When a lender does a credit search of Experian they don't say "Experian, tell us what this person's credit rating is" .... they say "Experian - send us a copy of this person's credit history so we can decide what to lend them".

You see the difference. Each lender makes their own decision no how they rate you and they do so based on the facts that they see in your credit history. By getting hold of your credit history, you can check it for any errors and you can also see exactly what information a lender is basing their decision on.

You can get you credit report from Experian for as little as £2 if you look carefully enough on their website. As Galstonian says - I think the £4.99 Credit Rating reports are just to make money for Experian.

Clariman

Tinker_belle_2

Oh ok, I get it now I didn't realise, I got the free report first of all and then my dh upgraded it, at least we know now )

Having looked at it a bit more closly I can see what might be causing a bit of a problem, applied for a mortgage and then 2 x credit cards in the same month, not a good move I can see now. We live and learn I guess )

Thanks for the help guys, looks like we will paying interest for a few months.

dc

Mint and Natwest are the same (RBS). Try an MBNA run card like Virgin Abbey A&L etc or Halifax ( HBOS) life of balance.

Tinker_belle_2

I haven't tried any of these cards ever, so I will try one in a couple of months - or will it be ok to apply for one now?

Thanks

The_Boss

Very interesting thread. I posted something vaguely similar in another forum before seeing this.

Back in april, myself and the mrs were accepted for a Northern Rock mortgage and passed the credit check with a high pass. She hasnt applied for anything since.

However, the arranger got our details VERY wrong, and when they had to do it again properly, the rating was low pass (so it had gone down two notches), though I had applied for two credit cards and current account in the meantime.

So to answer, maybe its because you have applied for other cards. And if thats not the case, they might not want to take you because your past activity shows you are likely to transfer balance at the 0% rate, which means they wont make any money (even though they get 2.5% on transactions anway)

Tinker_belle_2

It was a Northern Rock Mortgage that we were accepted for too. I am just going to hold fire for a couple of months - till after xmas and try and apply for one of the other cards that was suggested - Thanks for help all )

Robert_Sterling_3

Tinker_belle wrote:

Now I can't get accepted for any and I am paying £30 a month in interest
I really hate having to pay interest :rotfl:
Can happily afford the repayments, it's just going to take longer to clear if I am paying this much interest each month!
Thanks all

Currently you are making the minimum monthly payment.
This is £30 and the £30 is probablly 3% of the outstanding balance
So maybe you owe about £1000
Meanwhile you probably need to pay, let us suppose, 15% interest on the £1000 i.e. £150 per annum.
Meanwhile you may have savings of £1000 earning 5% Gross and 4% after tax.

So borrowing £1000 at a cost of £150 per annum
Lending £1000 ( i e. Saving ) at a gain of £40.

Overall loss £110.

So pay off the card as soon as possible.

Start saving for house deposit.