finances a mess!!!

leopardlady_2

Hi there. I was hoping someone could give me a bit of advice. I have a the following cards:-
card............ limit.................. balance
capital one... 11400................. 2500
MBNA....... 11000..................... 0
Sainsburys .. 4500 ................... 3000
M&S.......... 4000..................... 3500

all obtained at differing times for various balance transfer offers. I also have 2 halifax accounts with 850 overdrafts. My bf also has a 2100 overdraft with halifax. With the new charge structure at the halifax it has prompted us to have a good look at the finances. I have tried to get the tesco or leeds bs credit card to do a 0% bt but was rejected for both due to to much credit available. I have been offered 0% untl May 2010 from MBNA with transfer fee, 3% I think. This is my only option. My idea is to transfer as much of the above as poss to MBNA and then close all the others including cap 1 and sainsburys who have just written to me announcing a large hike in my rates. Then, hopefully, in 6 months I can re-apply for whatever is the best deal on balance transfers at the time and hopefully my available credit wil be over 15000 less than at the moment and I should not have any searches on my file. I have tried to get a life of balance from mbna but they said they have none. Does this sound ok, I can't see any option. Thanks.

TFD_2

Whatever you do, dont transfer all to MBNA and close the other cards! When the 0% is over, MBNA can increase your interest rate massively. And there's never a guarantee you'll get the cards anf BT deals you require.

Take MBNA's 0% deal up, but at least keep another card or 2 open, so if MBNA get greedy, you have a guaranteed exit plan.

bingy_burge

I would of thought close the cap 1 and traNsfer the balance wair 6 months you have reduced your avaiable credit by 11k and as long as you make all your payments then you should get another 0% card.

Balance transfers I am told hurt your credit rating a little, they certainly don't do anything positive so make sure its 6 months from doing the transfer.

never-in-doubt

bingy_burge wrote: »

I would of thought close the cap 1 and traNsfer the balance wair 6 months you have reduced your avaiable credit by 11k and as long as you make all your payments then you should get another 0% card.

Balance transfers I am told hurt your credit rating a little, they certainly don't do anything positive so make sure its 6 months from doing the transfer.

No need to wait 6 months! You can apply for as many as 6 cards in a 6mth period without this affecting you adversely. So assuming the OP closes the Cap 1, it'd be best to just BT to another of their cards on 0% and then when thats due to expire make a couple of applications to get the best deals.

BT's do not hurt your credit rating, whoever told you this is clueless! If it is within the agreed limit then it is fine and widely accepted, certainly not adversely!

Do you deliberately give incorrect advice or are you just learning? May be an idea to add IMO before your posts cos they are just that, opinions |(not facts)!

bingy_burge

Apparently the morgage companies view them negatively. This is what a morgage underwriter told me!

I don't think they have negative effect but nor a positive one as you are not paying off credit just moving it to another lender.

never-in-doubt

bingy_burge wrote: »

Apparently the morgage companies view them negatively. This is what a morgage underwriter told me!

I don't think they have negative effect but nor a positive one as you are not paying off credit just moving it to another lender.

Mortgage underwriters don't really know much about revolving credit now do they? I'd not take too much what they say to you as gospel - the last statement they made said it all cos they are talking rubbish! lol

Again, it has no impact so long as you pay it when requested (i.e. whatever the frequency etc) and remain in the boundaries of the contract (CCA). When you have high balances, of expenditure or BT's this will affect you in the indebtness factor only - maybe you're confusing mortgage lending with mainstream lending?

If I had £10k of CC debt and went for a mortgage then yea, they could class my debt as being bad but that is not what we're talking about here and so long as I could afford it and met the mortgage criteria, little they can do!

NickX

bingy_burge wrote: »

Balance transfers I am told hurt your credit rating a little

This isn't right.

A Balance Transfer is simply paying one Credit Card debt off with another card. This has no effect on your credit rating whatsoever.

If this was the case, the stoozers would all have credit ratings on the floor. Fortunately this isn't so

vix2000

robbing Peter to pay Paul - I do it all the time!!!