Running out of credit Cards for BT

merlin34

Dear All,
I've been tarting for over a year now and it has proved to be very useful. However, I am getting to the stage where I'm running out of cards where I can do a balance transfer. I have the Barclaycard 0% for the life of the balance, plus I have a Virgin Card which is run by MBNA and an Amazon card run by Halifax, a Sky Card plus a Post Office card. The reason I have so many is that I keep getting reduced credit limits so I have to apply to two cards to do a BT for the one. I have been refused an Abbey card (Might have something to do with the fact I am taking them to court over bank Charges!), a card that is run by MBNA and also any cards linked to Barclays or the Halifax. My credit rating is good but I'm running out of 0% BT cards.
Any suggestions? Are my tarting days over?

cornerstone13

I'm in the same position having been tarting for 18 months, with card balances currently around £24k (between hubby and me) and we haven't paid a penny, just moved the debt around - the savings are currently in ISAs, other high interest instant access accounts and £5k off the mortgage (didn't have the courage to do more). Presumably you've checked MSE recommendations which was where I found my last BT card - even with all this debt, Norwich & Peterborough were happy to give me a £7900 credit limit (run by Halifax so no good for you) with no BT fee. There are others suggested, such as Ulster Bank and Stround & Swindon BS.
Could you open a A&L Premier Current account - they give you a 0% OD for one year, so you could pay off something using that.

merlin34

Thanks Cornerstone13, but I've just changed to A&L from Abbey to provide an umberella account in case Abbey foreclose on my overdraft for taking them to court for the bank charges they've imposed over 6 years, so I've used the O/D limit there as well! I'll try Ulster Bank and Stroud? & Swindon BS as suggested.

Gordon_the_Moron

If you've completely run out of places to go for balance transfers (some that charge a fee but cap it at a certain amount, so for a large balance it could prove insignificant, consider that)

Alternatively you could use Marks and Spencers 3.9% life of balance deal, paying the minimum payment each month you could beat the interest rate you are paying with the interest rate you are earning unless you are a top rate taxpayer in which case you might struggle.

merlin34

Most of my 0% cards are now coming to an end and I have tried al of the above suggestions and have been refused additional credit cards due to the fact that I already have 5 on the go, all I'm doing is paying off an existing card with a new one so I'm not increasing the amount of credit I take on. I've checked on my free credit report and there's nothing on there that is negative. I will have a word with M&S to see if I can transfer the balance of about £17K onto their LOB at 3.9%. Alternatively, it could mean doing an IVR which is a last resort, but I do not want to start paying the credit card interest!
What are my options?_pale_

AMILLIONDOLLARS

I'd be very surprised if M&S gives you a limit of £17K, but if you don't ask you don't get. I think you have been very lucky so far avoiding paying interest on this debt, but it looks like it's time to pay the piper, interest is now unavoidable unless you have some savings else where to pay this balance off in full.

AMD

tom188

I would imagine the number of applications you have made if they are all as recent as they seem, which will be listed on your credit file. I would suggest you do not make any applications for a couple of months, despite the interest costs and you may stand a change of geting one.

Banks get worried when they see a lot of applications in a short length of time.

They also often have a set length of time before you can apply again - can be a week, a month, three months, a year. It varies.

I know thats probably not what you want to hear.

merlin34

Just been on Experian, as they have a free 30 day trial at the mo, and they have a list of my credit cards including the ones I've settled. They have these listed as settled and apart from a few cards where one payment may have been missed there is nothing on there indicating a bad risk. So I paid for my credit score online and it comes back as 484 which is marked as very poor! Is this just based on the fact that I've made several credit card 0% requests in a short space of time? I shall be contacting Experian for an explanation but surely if I am making the payments my credit should be better than that especially as I'm only replacing one card with another to exrtend the 0%?

merlin34

Phoned Experian they said I had a low credit rating because I had applied for 10 (Ten) 0% credit cards over the last 2 months they, Experian, had put my score down low. I told them that I was trying to get a 0% card to transfer on to an existing card, so I wasn't increasing my credit but consolidating it. I told them that because they have put my score down low I was now in more risk of defaulting on my payments as I was going to have to pay interest as well. They said that any company contacting the credit references gets logged and decreases your credit score. I told him that the banks or credit card companies don't make it clear that by just applying and not taking out the loan you are at more risk of lowering your credit rating.
Surely this goes against all thats good about tarting, being able to swap cards every few months when the offer runs out. I have been able to keep up my payments and not been in trouble because of tarting but now it looks like the very system is about to cause me problems.
And just one more thing I have the Barclaycard lifetime balance and tried to apply for a 0% Barclaycard at a later date, but was refused as Barclays wouldn't allow me to have two Barclaycards at the same time. However, I had also applied for a Sky card some time later and guess what they're run by Barclays! There appears to be inconsistancies in their credit checks.
Well that's my moan for today, I'm still trying to get another 0% to replace the one that's running out, but until I put a notice of correction on my credit report saying that the reason for all the applications was just so I could see what was the best one to go for I am resigned to the fact that I will have to go on a longer finance period on a low interest rate.
So beware of applying for too many cards in a short space of time as it will affect your credit rating as I know to my cost!

powerbase

Hey,

I'm sorry to hear about the situation you are in. I have been a credit card tart in the past and currently have quite a few credit cards (with nothing on them after I've finished tarting). I know it sounds stupid saying now (hopefully this will help someone else) but there is some risk with tarting. My key to getting away with it was to get cards with 9 months- 12 months interest free (so I was making at most two applications a year) and I was ridiculously careful about checking who provides what cards. If you check my posts I was posting about the M&S card recently which was bought by HSBC and I have a HSBC card but I can get an M&S card and have an HSBC card because they are kept separate. I had to really do my homework and ask on here for advice before applying but it was worth it. Key is to really research what cards you are getting. Not much use now but for future when you get you tart on again.

I convinced in the section of this site about tarting there are warning it can hurt your credit rating though I don't remember seeing a notice about being careful not to apply to a card that is supplied by a card provider you already use. Maybe it is and I missed it, if not maybe it should be highlighted more as I think many people fall into this trap.

My advice is stop applying. 10 applications in 2 months is a lot and each rejection you get impacts you credit score as does each check on you so it becomes a downward spiral (I think this is highlighted somewhere on this site).

My advice would be leave it for a while. Maybe cancel some unwanted cards (there is a thread about the pros and cons of this so be careful yet again) and after a while you can apply again for their offers. It may be a case of paying interest for a while and applying again in a few months for a life of balance card like the M&S. I think nationwide do a good life of balance card too. I would try and pay as much as you can not just min payments, in my head that may help your case to get people to lend to you.

What are the interest rates for your current cards?

merlin34

My Virgin Credit Card has just finished the 0% and although they offered me a Platinum Loan at 6.9% with nothing to pay until March, when I received the paperwork it was up to 12.9%! The credit card will be 16.9%. The ridiculous thing is, I changed my mortgage recently and I could have had a £100,000.00mortgage with the Woolwich (owned by Barclays) but as I only wanted a £55,000 Mortgage I declined. It's not my inability to pay is the problem, but because there have been so many searches done on my credit record. There appears to be a conspiracy going on here, that credit card companies lull you into a false sense of security by applying for 0% credit cards and then when you're up to your limit pull the rug from under you by giving you a low credit score because of it. I will still press Experian to justify how they can reduce your credit score just by the number of applications made when they haven't been taken out and remain dormant. Surely they must look at your ability to pay and your past payment history, which in my case is good.
Still, I hope to have a Nat West 0% card which has been approved online to reduce the Virgin card balance, but then the whole exercise starts all over again when the next card expires!