Best time to apply for a new card - Advice

polly30

Around 4 months ago i applied for a Post Office Card but was declined. At this time i had 4 credit cards, Virgin, Sainsburys, Barclaycard and Egg all of which had reached their credit limit. I also moved house in Jan and up until tomorrow have not been on the electoral role.

I have now managed to clear my Egg and Sainsburys card and closed these accounts and now have the following:

Barclaycard
Limit 3500, current spend 2700

Virgin
Limit 500, current spend 4000

As of tomorrow I will be confirmed on the electoral role at my current address. Having checked my credit file a search has been carried out 3 times in the past 3 months.

I really need to try and get a new card with a 0% balance transfer deal, when would be the best time to apply? Will the 3 searches go against me?

thanks in advance for any advice.

CannyJock

Ideally once the 3 searches are 6 months old and you're on the electoral register - which I think Moggles was saying won't happen right away because of annual audit time?

Meanwhile, make the minimum payments on the lowest APR card and pay as much as you can on the other one. Work out a strict budget and stick to it as best you can, also worth doing a money make-over on your bills, insurances etc.

LeeSouthEast

I believe Electoral Rolls are updated every quarter, so you may have to wait a little while depending when you get 'added'. 3 searches isn't a great deal, I can't see them going against you to any great effect.

The real turn down reason is the register. Get on it

Moggles_2

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

I believe Electoral Rolls are updated every quarter, so you may have to wait a little while depending when you get 'added'.

The period before new entries/amendments are added to the electoral roll varies during the calendar year.

Unless you live in Northern Ireland, it's possible to enrol each month from early December until mid-August, using the rolling register procedure.

Unfortunately, there's a blind spot from mid-August till mid-October. This is because borough-wide audits are undertaken annually in August. Additions made now will not appear on the register until 1 December 2009.

That said, it sounds as though the OP may have enrolled before the audit. If so, their details will appear on 1 September 2009.

Moggles_2

As of tomorrow I will be confirmed on the electoral roll at my current address.

Once enrolled, I'd contact the electoral services department of your local council to ask when the credit reference agencies are next updated, as frequency varies between boroughs.

Then check your electoral status is correctly recorded on credit files at your current address before you apply for a new credit card. For help, see page 1 of the *How to obtain credit reports* sticky.

Btw, once you have your paper copy, the CRAs seem happy to answer questions over the phone, if you quote your reference number. So if, for instance, you wanted to check that your electoral status had since been updated, there's no need to order further copies of your credit reports