Does "Tarting" adversely affect your credit

Lucy22_2

0% Balance Transfer Tarting -v- Low Apr for the Life of the Balance

I currently have a credit card debit of £4,385. It is currently all on one Halifax credit card, with 0% interest until April 2007.:T

I had planned to "tart" this credit balance from one 0% deal to another until I pay it off. However, I am starting to have reservations about tarting and am now considering switching to a fee-free low interest for the life of balance card. Especially considering that M&S is offering 3.9% for the life of the balance transfer (fee-free)

Obviously paying 0% interest is a cheaper option but I am worried how this will effect my credit rating (which is currently very good). This is my second 0% interest card. The first was with Egg for 6 months. Before I am able to pay off the debt in full , if I want to get fee-free offers, I am likely to have to get another couple of 6 month 0% interest deals (as deals over 6 months usually involve a fee). Tarting will enable me to get debt free, paying no interest. However, the potential downside is that I will end up with several credit cards (albeit with nil balances) which is bad for my credit rating. Closing these credit card accounts is also problematic as I am reliably informed that this is terrible for a person's credit.

Can anyone shed any light on this? I would be ever so grateful!!:T

Clariman

Hi Lucy - what a good question. Applying for a new credit card every 6 months or so is not going to have a major impact on your credit rating so I would not be overly concerned with that. What you do need to factor in are the costs of BT transfers because most lenders are removing the caps on their BT fees. You might be better going for a decent LOB transfer.

Lucy22 wrote:

Closing these credit card accounts is also problematic as I am reliably informed that this is terrible for a person's credit.

Where were you "reliably informed" of that? It is nonsense. I am happy to debate the whys and wherefores of that if you want more detail.

Clariman

Lucy22_2

Thank you so much for your helpful response.

I was told by a customer services representative for Egg Card over the telephone that closing a credit card account was detrimental to a person's credit. Egg told me that freezing my Egg account was therefore a better option. This way my account would be secure without adversely affecting my credit. I have actually left my Egg account open because I may decide to use their 0% anniversary offer if it proves to be competitive.

Clariman

Lucy22 wrote:

Thank you so much for your helpful response.

I was told by a customer services representative for Egg Card over the telephone that closing a credit card account was detrimental to a person's credit. Egg told me that freezing my Egg account was therefore a better option. This way my account would be secure without adversely affecting my credit. I have actually left my Egg account open because I may decide to use their 0% anniversary offer if it proves to be competitive.

Well, my own opinion of that is the Egg Customer Services person was doing a customer retention job and using a bit of what we in sales and marketing call "FUD" - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt i.e. if they can spread sufficient FUD about a course of action then they can prevent the person from taking action e.g. "oooh, closing your card can be a bit dodgy you know from a credit rating perspective. if I were you I'd just "freeze" it". (BTW - I think the term "freeze" is made up anyway to give the customer the impression that the account is not fully "open" but in reality it still is).

Net result? The customer keeps the card open and customer retention get another tick in the box.

Clariman