Help I am unemployed but want to do apply for 0% balance transfer

maza68

Can anyone help please, as I am in a pickle! I was made redundant last year and I am paying interest on my current creditcards approx £100.00 per month. I now want to apply for a new creditcard which will allow me a 0% balance transfer.
Will they know that I am not working by checking any movements between accounts; that way they can see that I have no income coming in and I am worried they might decline my claim, which in turn will not look too good on my credit rating.

I have recently checked my credit rating with Experian and my score is good so I do not want to ruin it.

Thanks for reading!!

jd87

You will need to put income and employment details on your application, so unless you are planning on lying, I don't think you are going to be able to apply anyway.

_Andy_

maza68 wrote: »

Can anyone help please, as I am in a pickle! I was made redundant last year and I am paying interest on my current creditcards approx £100.00 per month. I now want to apply for a new creditcard which will allow me a 0% balance transfer.
Will they know that I am not working by checking any movements between accounts; that way they can see that I have no income coming in and I am worried they might decline my claim, which in turn will not look too good on my credit rating.

I have recently checked my credit rating with Experian and my score is good so I do not want to ruin it.

Thanks for reading!!

They will know you're not working by the fact that you will need to put your employment status on the application form.

david17589

jd87 wrote: »

You will need to put income and employment details on your application, so unless you are planning on lying, I don't think you are going to be able to apply anyway.

yea i agree with you because i had the same problem and there was no chance bummer:j

sporedude

Oh dear no card for you.

chattychappy

A friend of mine went on for 4 years doing the BT thing. He was a student and always lied about his employment status.

In his case, he had huge savings (inheritance) and just wanted to do the stoozing thing. He didn't see why he should be deprived of credit just because there was nowhere to put on the form about his net worth.

Anyway I don't want to get into a discussion about the rights and wrongs - you asked for practical advice. Certainly its a deception offence to lie to get credit.

In my friend's case his credit rating was good - he never missed payments, was on the electoral roll, not sure what he said about home ownership. (Think he owned a house but not the one he lived in - another thing forms don't handle well!)

But the point is, they never checked his employment information.

Another annecdote. In my small company, a girl applied for her first credit card after university. This was her first job and she asked if she could put my firm down as her employer. Of course! (Stupid question really, but nice of her to mention.)

They never checked.

Finally, MANY years ago (about 20) I applied for a credit card and put my employment details. The card company rang my firm just to ask if "someone of this name is working there". That was all. I think they were taking more trouble in those days.

So I'm guessing that if an application is marginal or declined and you ask for a review, they might for ask further information to verify. But these days if everything looks OK they don't seem to bother.

Not encouraging you to lie and you weren't asking whether you should, but there you have it. If you do lie, you really want to be damn sure you can keep up with the payments so it doesn't unravel.Whether you do or whether you don't, I don't think they "check movements between accounts" and the like as you suggest. The exception would be if you are applying via your current account holder who might wonder where your income is going.

LeeSouthEast

Despite the above, it's still technically obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception. Although these days it's more commonly called fraud by false misrepresentation. Whichever Act you slice it under, it's still illegal.

chattychappy

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

Despite the above, it's still technically obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception. Although these days it's more commonly called fraud by false misrepresentation. Whichever Act you slice it under, it's still illegal.

Thanks, yes it is. (Not sure about "despite" because I did say "Certainly its a deception offence to lie to get credit".)

Used to be Theft Act 1968 (most likely s16) and now Fraud Act 2006 (s1, s2). The new act is still subject to the "dishonesty" test (R v Ghosh - can be googled). If I were to be prosecuted, I wouldn't fancy my chances.

LeeSouthEast

I meant the 'despite' in the fashion of "sure you might get away with it, as above, but don't even try."