Want to do a BT but no one will give me a card!

Glitterari

From reading these forums, the common advice is if you have a credit card balance which you are paying APR on, you should do a balance transfer to a 0% card to pay off the debt. This stops the interest accruing.

I have read Martin's tips on credit cards and I intend (and can make the monthly repayments in order to do so) on clearing my cc balance of almost £1110 by September 06. Therefore, getting a cc with a 0% bt limited period would be most beneficial to me.

I currently have a Capital One card, which is roughly 29% APR. I would like to do a BT so that I can just pay the debt and not the interest, but no-one will let me have a card! I have recently applied for the Lloyds TSB plantinum card, but received the letter today saying that I had been declined. I earn £17.5 k pa. I know that applying for lots of cards (and consequently being declined) has an adverse affect on your credit rating making it even harder to obtain credit...so I am wary of just applying for 0% on BT's willy-nilly...

The Lloyds TSB platinum card is not the first cc I have been declined for either, I have made a couple of other applications over the past year - egg, mint are ones I can remember, there may have been one or two more. I have tried to space them out so it doesn't look so bad...this could of course be me being a poor misguided fool.

So what can I do? No one that I've applied to so far is willing to give me a card so i can stop the interest but I don't want to apply to like every credit card company if they're all going to say No and then my credit rating is affected even more.

Is there anything I can do or anywhere I can try? Or should I just accept the situation and get on with it. My repayments have been worked out to include the interest anyway.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Carly

nrsql

You could try ringing the card company and asking them to reconsider.
They might also tell you why you were rejected (no harm in asking) but I suspect if you've been rejected previously then you'll have trouble getting a decent card.
You might ask them for something with a lower interest rate - or call capital one and see what they can do.

Glitterari

nrsql wrote:

You could try ringing the card company and asking them to reconsider.
They might also tell you why you were rejected (no harm in asking) but I suspect if you've been rejected previously then you'll have trouble getting a decent card.
You might ask them for something with a lower interest rate - or call capital one and see what they can do.

Hi, thanks for that.

If I was to contact Capital One, who would I need to speak to? Would I just call them and speak to whoever answers the phone or do i need to ask to speak to a supervisor?

Also, what would I be asking them for? To reduce my apr? It wouldn't be likely that they would be willing to do 0%, is it?! LOL

Sorry if I am being thick - but thanks for your patience!!

Carly

Rafter

Carly,

You need to find out why you are being rejected too.

Your income isn't that high, but if you have a clean record you should find someone willing to give you a better card, even if the credit limit isn't that great.

I suggest you get hold of your credit record from Experian or Equifax too. You may find there is something inaccurate on it or a 'financial association' with someone with a poor credit record who is impacting your ability to get credit.

also......

Make sure you are on the Electoral Roll - many lenders use this to confirm identity.
Make sure you quote a home telephone number - also good proof of ID.
Be honest about your borrowings etc on any application.
Be honest about previous addresses.
Close any old or unused accounts.

Your rejection can be influenced by all sorts of things. I often get rejection because of my postcode, because some of my neighbours haven't paid their bills on time! Totally unfair, but how the banks operate.


Here are some other ideas:

1) Try your own bank and apply in branch rather than online where they may have more discretion based on how you manage your current account.

2) Try one of the more 'equitable' lenders such as Nationwide or Co-op Bank

If you can pay off within 9 months as you plan you will pay capital one about £135 in interest in that time. Getting a 0% card you should be able to clear the debt about a month earlier at least, or have £15 a month less to save per month.

Good luck.

R.

Glitterari

Rafter wrote:

Carly,

You need to find out why you are being rejected too.

Your income isn't that high, but if you have a clean record you should find someone willing to give you a better card, even if the credit limit isn't that great.

I suggest you get hold of your credit record from Experian or Equifax too. You may find there is something inaccurate on it or a 'financial association' with someone with a poor credit record who is impacting your ability to get credit.

also......

Make sure you are on the Electoral Roll - many lenders use this to confirm identity.
Make sure you quote a home telephone number - also good proof of ID.
Be honest about your borrowings etc on any application.
Be honest about previous addresses.
Close any old or unused accounts.

Your rejection can be influenced by all sorts of things. I often get rejection because of my postcode, because some of my neighbours haven't paid their bills on time! Totally unfair, but how the banks operate.


Here are some other ideas:

1) Try your own bank and apply in branch rather than online where they may have more discretion based on how you manage your current account.

2) Try one of the more 'equitable' lenders such as Nationwide or Co-op Bank

If you can pay off within 9 months as you plan you will pay capital one about £135 in interest in that time. Getting a 0% card you should be able to clear the debt about a month earlier at least, or have £15 a month less to save per month.

Good luck.

R.

Thanks for you comments...

I know why I have been rejected - poor credit scoring. There will be things that crop on my credit check that I never realised would have an effect until I found this site.

Aggh! I've got so much to sort out!

For a start I know I'm not on the electoral register where I currently live, although it won't be a problem to be put on. However, I don't know if this would have an effect, but from Oct 04-Aug 05 I was living in house shares and for one house share I know for definite they wouldn't have put me on the electoral roll because they were as dodgy as anything (didn't know that til I moved in though). The other one I think it's unlikely the landlady would have put me on.

I'm honest about previous addresses, however the previous one like I said was as dodgy as anything and the landlord lived in the house and he was up to his eyeballs in debt, as was his girlfriend who also lived there. She didn't even work but kept getting credit cards (somehow!) and maxing them out then just getting another.

It has only occured to me literally in the last week that I could have 2 credit cards on there, both are at zero balance however I think one limit is £600 and the other is no more than £500. i don't actually have either of these - one belonged to my bank and they took it off me when I took a managed loan from them (for my credit card and overdraft). The other was a Barclay card that I applied for and was successful in getting, however I never received it nor any paperwork for it. About 18 months later I was trying to get another barclay card and they kept saying no, in the end they told me it was cos I already had a card so couldn't apply for another. I said I didn't know that I had one already cos I didn't receive any of it. they said that balance was at 0 and had never been used. They said they would cancel it. I never realised that having credit available to you to use already could affect you being offered anymore. :doh:

Also, when I took my out my managed loan with the bank, they took my credit card off me and as far as I was concerned it had been cancelled. I don't receive any statements but every few months I get a big statement that includes all my accounts, managed loan and it does show up the credit card with a £600 credit limit (at £0).

So - I'm sure you're all going see there's your problems you dinny cow! But I was not aware of any of these factors, until I found this site. None of it occurred to me...as I have stated in previous posts I'm cr*p with money and figures!

Thanks for your suggestions - I cannot go to my bank because I took out a managed loan with them. Whilst the managed loan still stands I cannot have an overdraft or credit card with them and I think for some time afterwards but I am not sure so I will have to check that.The managed loan will be paid off in full by September this year though. Besides, I don't think I manage my account very well so apart from the managed loan they have been unwilling to help me in the past.

I will try with the other cards once I've sorted out my credit report to be as good as is possible for me. Stupid thing is, I got a credit report from Equifax about 18 months ago, but I didn't really understand it so none of it made much sense. I think it will make more sense now I know this site and can ask questions!


Thanks so much for your help! This site is an absolute godsend!
Carly

VenuS

Rafter wrote:

Carly,

Your income isn't that high R.

I disagree. £17.500 a year isn't a bad income at all. Less than 10k would be considered low-ish.