Minimum earnings needed for CC application?

rlm_3

I'm planning on applying for a life of balance CC (e.g., the Amex Platinum) and my question is: Do I need to be earning a certain amount to qualify?

A colleague mentioned in passing that you need to earn at least £10,000 a year.

I'm a PhD student and I get a tax-free studentship of £7200 a year but I'm concerned this isn't enough. I currently have 2 CCs: A HSBC mastercard (£3000 limit, balance £1100) that I got when I opened my student account about 7 years ago and an Egg green card (£500 limit, balance £440). When I applied for the Egg card I stated my earnings as £10,000 because I was doing extra part-time work at the time. The overdraft on my student account is also £1750.

I have a good credit score with Equifax as does my OH (with whom I hold a joint current account). We both got 'excellent' in all but one of their categories the other month.

Also another thing I've been wondering about:

a) Would it be best to transfer the balance from my Egg card to my other CC, cancel the Egg card then apply for the new CC? This way I can help my credit rating by having a settled account.

OR

b) would having 2 existing CCs not matter too much when applying for a third? Would it be best to keep the Egg card and use it for the balance transfer loophole when the anniversary month comes round again?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Cheers,
Rebecca

:rudolf:

MPH80

rlm wrote:

I'm planning on applying for a life of balance CC (e.g., the Amex Platinum) and my question is: Do I need to be earning a certain amount to qualify?

A colleague mentioned in passing that you need to earn at least £10,000 a year.

Ah - well I'm afraid you're a bit stuffed on the AmEx Platinum - they require a min income of £20,000.

http://www.americanexpress.com/pes/uk/benefits/compare_credit.shtml

I'm afraid I don't know much about other life-of-balance cards. You can find most of the info on each company's website though.

rlm wrote:

Also another thing I've been wondering about:

a) Would it be best to transfer the balance from my Egg card to my other CC, cancel the Egg card then apply for the new CC? This way I can help my credit rating by having a settled account.

OR

b) would having 2 existing CCs not matter too much when applying for a third? Would it be best to keep the Egg card and use it for the balance transfer loophole when the anniversary month comes round again?

Kind of depends on your credit rating. Personally - I wouldn't shut down the Egg card for the reason you've given in the second option. I think you'd be best off going for the second option.

HTH.

M.

YorkshireBoy

rlm wrote:

I'm planning on applying for a life of balance CC (e.g., the Amex Platinum) and my question is: Do I need to be earning a certain amount to qualify?

A colleague mentioned in passing that you need to earn at least £10,000 a year.

Amex minimum salaries are on their website (£12K for 'Blue' and £20K for 'Platinum').

rlm wrote:

Also another thing I've been wondering about:

a) Would it be best to transfer the balance from my Egg card to my other CC, cancel the Egg card then apply for the new CC? This way I can help my credit rating by having a settled account.

OR

b) would having 2 existing CCs not matter too much when applying for a third? Would it be best to keep the Egg card and use it for the balance transfer loophole when the anniversary month comes round again?

Lenders take total available credit into account when deciding whether to accept you, and also when setting your credit limit. I suppose some lenders may also 'count' the number of cards you have.

As you only have a small limit on the Egg Card I wouldn't say that would be a significant problem. Having said that, the low limit is not much use to you for anniversary offers either, when you have more debt elsewhere.

On balance, I'd say call HSBC to lower the credit limit on their card, wait for it to show on your CRA file, apply for your new (LOB) card, and then try and get Egg to raise your limit ready for your next anniversary offer.


EDIT: See Martin's 'stable relationship' article at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1107182516,76509,#stable

It's not mentioned in the above article, but Morgan Stanley also do a LOB card. On checking their website, they don't seem to have a minimum salary requirement prominently displayed.

rlm_3

Thanks guys. The information is really useful. I suspected I wouldn't qualify for the AmEx Platinum. Should have checked their website before I asked here!

I'll check out the Morgan Stanley card. I have already lowered the limit on my HSBC card once - from £5500 to £3000 to enable me to increase my interest-free overdraft (then pay off more of my outstanding balance on the CC :-) ). I can't believe they let me have such big a limit in the first place. Turns out they didn't realise I was still a student. I guess doing it again wouldn't hurt. Just have to hope that I don't have any substantial emergencies in the near future!