Credit score affected - beware!

fluffybunny_2

Hi

Does anyone know how the credit score is affected?

I have successfully stoozed over the last year or so.... at my height I was stoozing £35,000. I stooze as I've got an offset mortgage. The more money thats in my account, the less interest I pay on my mortgage.

Over the years I have applied for credit probably once or twice a year, the normal I expect. Existing credit card balance, keeping it at 0% by transferring. I then stumbled on borrowing on credit card interest free and transferring the balance to my current account (I hadnt seen the stoozing site or found this site back then).

I applied for (successfully) about 6 cards (3 in my name, 3 in hubbys) within about 3 months (last Feb/mar/Apr). I now realise that this is what I've done wrong as "they" dont like to see to many searches in a short space of time. I got greedy when I saw how easy it was! When I was reapplying last Sep/Oct, suddenly they were declining me on "credit scoring".

I always pay my bills on time and have never paid anything late let alone have any ccjs or anything like that, so that isnt the reason. The only difference in my "financial activity" is stoozing.

I now have one cc (MBNA) with a credit limit of £11k. i applied for a post office credit card online who wrote to me saying that they needed confirmation of my name and another with my address. I thought things were looking up as they hadnt declined me on credit scoring, they wanted further info. I sent in what they requested only to receive a reply saying that they'd declined me on credit scoring!

Each card that I've stoozed I've repaid within the time limit, not paid any interest and then cancelled the cards. I cancelled them as I'd read on here and stoozing.com that that was the best thing to do as you could reapply in the future.
I currently hold the following cards but dont owe anything. I've had them for years as they come in handy every now and then (I also hold a Tesco cc which I repay each month in full).
Barclaycard £10k limit
barclaycard mastercard £7k limit
Goldfish £10k
Barclaycard hubby £9k
mastercard hubby £6k

There's lots of credit available to me but not 0%

Can anyone give me any more tips?

If not, all beware, dont apply for too many cards at one time! I know for a fact that the one and only change in my circumstances is that I'm now a stoozer! When I was just your average consumer doing the same as most others applying for cards every now and then I never had a problem. And before anyone asks, no there is no possibility of any defaults or any ccjs or even one month late and my credit report confirms this.

HGLTsuperstar

So as you said, its best to cancel cards when not in use; then why are you keeping these cards? First thing would be ring up to cancel, you may get a deal to keep your custom and if you dont then you can reapply for them in a bit and qualify for any new customer deals (like 0%)

fluffybunny_2

well, i've had these particular cards for at least 10 years and i'm now a bit wary of cancelling them all in case I need credit (ie not stoozing) and can't get it.

I cancelled my stoozing cards and not other cards. I had these particular cards when I applied for my first 0% stoozing card so I didnt think they would affect anything.

Clariman

Hi fluffybunny, these unused credit cards will affect your credit score - that is £42,000 of available credit. On top of that, you had £35,000 stoozed at one point, so your total available revolving credit was £77,000. Now, stop and think for a minute. If that was all real debt, would that be a lot for you to handle on your income and with your commitments ? If you think it would be a lot to handle, then the credit card issuers will think exactly the same thing.

If I were you, I would close down your unused credit cards. If you think you may need some credit in the future, then keep one of them, but why would you need all of them ? Do you really think you would ever go into £42,000 of real debt on credit cards ?

Have you read the credit scoring article on the stoozing website ? If not, it might give you some pointers.

Clariman

in-need_of_money

I didn't realise until recently that all those cards I had were affecting my credit rating. I had lots of store cards which I didn't use, I had them once when they offered the 10% off my purchases, paid them off in full then didn't use them again. I didn't realise that just not using them still meant the account was live. So, thankfully now did a template on the old puter and have closed them all, including some old ones of my husband's. Feels good to have a clean sweep, and as Martin says, in a few months time it will be as if we never had them, meaning that when I want to get my next 0% interest, I will be inundated with companies wanting me to have their card! Me hopes!! :j :j :j :j :T :T :T :T

in-need_of_money

Well, it's totally official! I'm a tart! I have just looked at my virgin credit card account and its says a big NIL. I have sucessfully moved it with 2 weeks to spare to another card offering me another 9 months int free, and I haven't paid any interest. It's paying off for a caravan that I bought last year, so hope the period of interset free continues! :money: :T :T

fluffybunny_2

Clariman wrote:

Hi fluffybunny, these unused credit cards will affect your credit score - that is £42,000 of available credit. On top of that, you had £35,000 stoozed at one point, so your total available revolving credit was £77,000. Now, stop and think for a minute. If that was all real debt, would that be a lot for you to handle on your income and with your commitments ? If you think it would be a lot to handle, then the credit card issuers will think exactly the same thing.

If I were you, I would close down your unused credit cards. If you think you may need some credit in the future, then keep one of them, but why would you need all of them ? Do you really think you would ever go into £42,000 of real debt on credit cards ?

Have you read the credit scoring article on the stoozing website ? If not, it might give you some pointers.

Clariman

Ah, I see what you mean.

What I think I'll do is cancel the Barclaycard mastercards in my and my hubbys names. I'll keep my barclaycard and his barclaycard and the goldfish. I'd like to keep two because if I buy something on one and dont think I can pay it off by the date, I can transfer it to another and pay a BT rate rather than the purchase rate. I dont want to leave him without a card at all.

YorkshireBoy

fluffybunny wrote:

What I think I'll do is cancel the Barclaycard mastercards in my and my hubbys names.

Many banks don't report good account conduct. Do these Barclaycard accounts show up on your credit report? If they don't, closing them will not solve your problem and you may have to look elsewhere for the reason(s).

I'd suggest sending for your £2 statutory credit reports from Experian & Equifax to see exactly what other lenders see when they search your file.

tomstickland

YorkshireBoy wrote:

I'd suggest sending for your £2 statutory credit reports from Experian & Equifax to see exactly what other lenders see when they search your file.

Or get it for free via Martin's guide. ie: register for "Gold" credit reporting, take the free trial and then cancel. You can make £5 cashback on this too.

KittaKatta

Hi,
My partner has just been refused a Post Office credit card due to his credit scoring. We are very surprised (and upset!) as he only has two credit cards (natwest and egg money), we have had a mortgage for 4 years (remortgaged last year), we opened a few new bank accounts no problems recently, we always pay our bills in perfect time and neither of us has ever been refused new accounts or cards before.
I wonder if the Post Office is becoming stricter regarding credit cards?! Has anyone had a similar experience recently?

Mutton_Geoff

I had the same issue and wanted to close a couple of dormant cards. Barclaycard being one of them, they put me through to retentions who gave me 2% cashback for 3 months. I then went back to close the account and they offered me £10k BT at 0% fee and 0% interest for 9 months, so do speak to your card companies (BC I cancelled online and they still rang me back, I'd shredded the card so they even had to send me a new one before I could stooz balance transfer).