which card advice.

Simon_Preston

Here's the situation: I have 4 open credit cards and could do with a little advice on what I could do next.

Citibank with a 1500 limit - maxed out with a balance transfer of 6.9% LOB
Barclaycard with a 2300 limit (was Morgan Stanley) - again maxed out with a 6.9 BT offer.
A Marks and Spencer card at 20.9% with £0 on it - which I intend to use for purchases and pay off immediately.
An HSBC card with about £2400 on it (limit 6500) interest at 15.9%.

Now, I am trying to get one more card to shift over the HSBC balance to a cheaper rate as I also have a £200 cash advance (20.9%) on there which I was forced to pull out when getting a deposit on my flat (schoolboy error of going to the bank to withdraw from my current account on a saturday). I can't try the M&S card as its also HSBC and they won't let me. So I need to try for one more card to shift that debt (and that pesky cash advance) over at a lower rate, even if not 0%.

My Equifax credit report looks pretty clean. Its only had 2 searches on it recently from Sky Card and Leeds BS. Both Barclaycard and both turned me down. So don't think I'll try another Barclays backed one again.
My Experian is less tidy. Has about 9 credit searches on it in the last 12 months. Although after July this should drop down to 5. I did apply for Abbeys card (which they never actually got round to doing or searching my file) and a Tesco (but the website crashed and it never got processed either).

I'm on about 14k a year at the moment. So does anyone know of a card that perhaps uses Equifax but isn't Barclays that'll give me a decent limit to move that last bit of higher debt over. Or maybe one that is a little more relaxed with Experian. But I don't fancy another search on there with no result.

Any tips welcome.

System

Hi

About the only one I can think of that only searches Equifax, apart from the Barclaycard stable, is the flybe card (Sygma bank), but the BT period is only 6 months, don't know if that's any good to you.

Apparently the John Lewis card only searches Equifax but they're HSBC so no good to you.

Good luck!
UNDERGROUND

Simon_Preston

Cheers. I looked at the Flybe card. 0% for 6 months might be enough until my credit report with experian has less searches on it. However, I don't know what their limits are like. Plus I'd be adding an extra £72ish in BT charges. Might be worth a go tho.

never-in-doubt

Simon_Preston wrote: »

Cheers. I looked at the Flybe card. 0% for 6 months might be enough until my credit report with experian has less searches on it. However, I don't know what their limits are like. Plus I'd be adding an extra £72ish in BT charges. Might be worth a go tho.

Flybe give normal limits, some get £1k others get £3k - it really varies but personally I wouldn't use them.

Simon_Preston

Just tried applying and they "are experiencing technical difficulties, please try again later". Can any credit card company do anything right?
You never know, with any luck, after I've transfered my HSBC debt over I may get another 0% for 9 months offer of HSBC again.

never-in-doubt

Simon_Preston wrote: »

Just tried applying and they "are experiencing technical difficulties, please try again later". Can any credit card company do anything right?
You never know, with any luck, after I've transfered my HSBC debt over I may get another 0% for 9 months offer of HSBC again.

Personally I like CitiGold (instand decsion) or even Post Office card..... they are both decent and give decent limits.....

Simon_Preston

Already got a Citibank Platinum. Might look at the post office one after July when a lot of searches have dropped off.
My other option is to wait a few months and apply for a Halifax card. Opened an account with them six weeks ago and trying to build a good internal score.