First timer question - Experians suggested credit cards?!?!?

amba80

I'm hoping someone can enlighten me! I have used experian for approx 3 years to keep an eye on my rather full credit report! I have approx 20k debt and a mortgage, but am managing (just) at the moment - dont miss any payments, and am about to tackle to really lower the amount - think its been called the light bulb moment?!
Anyway, I have 3 credit cards - Egg (no longer works - just paying off) Lloyds and Virgin and none of them have a very great rate and an approx total of £12k. I would like to transfer to a 0% card to help and I went through the recommended section for credit cards on Experian and all they offered me was a 34.9% card, which would be of no use at all!

The question is - should I trust this to be true and if I did try for a card would I be refused? (my experian score is 880 odd if this helps!!)

Any advice would be muchly appreciated, Thanks in advance.

kilasuit

ignore the experian score as it is useless

just as is their reccomendation of cards loans etc

jd87

How long has it been since you missed any payments? How long since you made any new applications for credit? You should wait at least 6 months (longer is better) since missing a payment or making an application, before trying to make a new application. Wait a while, keep making your payments on time, then try applying when the time is right.

amba80

I have missed 2 orange mobile payments in the last 6 months (boyfriend - grrrrrrrr!), havent applied since Jan 09 when I applied for a car loan and moved into current house Jan 09 as well. I think I'll just keep chipping away for a bit longer before applying for anything then!

When you say the experian score is useless, is it completely useless or a rough/very rough indication on what credit companies will look at?

NickX

amba80 wrote: »

When you say the experian score is useless, is it completely useless or a rough/very rough indication on what credit companies will look at?

Each lender have their own secret acceptance criteria and they work in mysterious ways. It is impossible for Experian to provide a score that indicates likely acceptance across all lenders. It really is just a nice little earner for the CRAs. I wouldn't spend 1 penny on a score personally.