credit card conundrum - any solutions?

RUFFYONEVILLA

I need to get £8400 to pay for a Caravan (the company charges a fee for credit cards around 2-3% i think) and got turned down for the
M&S 6.9% loan which would have been ideal.
The only issue with my credit score could be that I have lots of cards, but other than that it should be A1 and I got a Virgin Card and Tesco card last year with a total of 16.5K limits.

Anyhow I've been looking into ways to borrow the money via my credit cards but it looks difficult. I'm a rate tart who switches balances around for cheap deals, this has left me with the following card situation.

Virgin Money card with 12000 limit 7272 outstanding.
(the card is older than 60 days - 0% runs out 14/11)

Tesco card with 4500 limit 2032 outstanding.
(0% on purchases runs out 26/5)

First Direct Gold card with 7000 limit zero balance

Barclaycard Breathe zero balance around 6-8k limit I think.

Amex Blue zero balance 6000 ish limit

RBS Mastercard 7900 limit zero balance

Nationwide Visa zero balance around 5k limit

Halifax Card 3150 limit zero balance

Santander Zero 6600 limit zero balance

This means I've got around 40-50k worth of spending power but I cant seem to figure out how to get 8400 on a low rate!!

Theres a good chance that I'l be able to clear a big wedge of my outstanding debts this year and I'm not too bothered about the debt, I just will not accept massive interest rates/charges.

I can probably get this secured on our mortgage as we have about 100k equity and they'll give me 5.99% fixed or 4.69% tracker, but Santander want a £499 fee for the privilege, obviously I want to avoid that if possible.

Any ideas?
I was thinking balance transfer from RBS (0% 3% fee) to Virgin to free up enough in the Virgin to do a "super balance transfer" i.e cash into current account, but it seems you can only do that when the account is 60 days or younger. So not sure what the options are here!
Might be the mortgage is the only option, but am a bit annoyed as being turned down by M&S might mess up my chances with Santander?

PNPSUKNET

You need really to close some on the unused credit cards down.

paulmcerlean

As above, unless you are earning 80K+ you need to close some of those unused cards or you stand NO chance of getting a loan.

Or

Use a card or two to pay for the purchase if needs must.

RUFFYONEVILLA

Yes thanks, I hadn't realised I'd got so many unused. A couple of years worth of cards for deals soon adds up into lots of dormant accounts.

Might try and get them to give me a deal on the % cc fee, then I can pay it with a bal transfer deal.

What are my chances with the secured loan with the mortgage company, Santander?
I've paid them for about 2.5 years without any problem, have £106K outstanding and way over £100k equity.

RUFFYONEVILLA

Any idea how long it will take to benefit my credit record if I phone say four or five card companies and close the accounts tomorrow?

Thanks

izools

It will take 6-8 weeks for the accounts to reflect as closed and settled with NIL balances on your credit file.

Remember you don't need to get a secured loan from any specific mortgage company; doesn't have to be with your current mortgage provider.

Once you've closed down all your existing unused credit lines, you could look at applying for this:

http://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/credit_cards/micro/cca_msm_121212_apply_micro.shtml?source=NETMONSMCCRD00020520

It offers 12+ months on Purchases which is exactly what you want for the Caravan and once you've reached the end of your zero interest period you can continue to tart. There are others available but as you already hold cards with RBS Group (Natwest), Halifax, and Barclaycard you wouldn't be able to go back to them until your existing accounts with them have been closed for at least six months.

Sainsbury's is backed by Halifax, but the 6 month rule between closing a Halifax brand card and applying for a Sainsburys brand card doesn't apply

Good luck!

YorkshireBoy

RUFFYONEVILLA wrote: »

Any idea how long it will take to benefit my credit record if I phone say four or five card companies and close the accounts tomorrow?

Up to 2 months, but I wouldn't apply for anything else until you've verified, by checking your credit report, they've been marked as settled.

How soon do you need the money?

YorkshireBoy

izools wrote: »

There are others available but as you already hold cards with RBS Group (Natwest), Halifax, and Barclaycard you wouldn't be able to go back to them until your existing accounts with them have been closed for at least six months.

Halifax used to be 30 days. Is this a recent change?

izools

Sorry, I was generalising.

OP - you can check how long you'll need to wait after closing a card before re-applying for a card from the same bank here:

http://www.stoozing.com/cards.php

RUFFYONEVILLA

Thanks that's interesting, I didn't realise there was a "6 month rule", this could mean almost endless "tarting" is possible provided correct management of debt and accounts are closed as soon as balances paid and promo period is over.

I am guessing that my payment history with my mortgage company will weigh in my favour when applying, and I want to avoid any more unsuccessful applications.
I've already paid a deposit on the caravan and need to let them know tomorrow how(if) I'm paying!

I wonder if anyone knows how M&S score, if they reject a lot of people. Thinking about it, the problem could be the number of applications for credit as we got the kitchen on interest free with B&Q about a month ago.

izools

RUFFYONEVILLA wrote: »

the problem could be the number of applications for credit as we got the kitchen on interest free with B&Q about a month ago.

If you've applied for credit more than two or three times in the last six months this is almost certainly why you're now being declined.

If this is the case, hold off applying for anything for six months anyway and the time passing will have repaired your credit worthiness.