new card required

jayremoh

hi all

i currently have.
1x Natwest Mastercard - £4021 Balance - £4500 limit - 17.9% APR
1x Virgin Mastercard - £188 Balance - £8800 limit - 26.9% APR

i can afford to comfortably pay £500 a month off, maybe even up to £750 if im good.

but im incurring about about £50 per month interest atm.

which is the best way to go?


1. pay off and cancel the virgin card?
2. leave the virgin card in place?

then
1. apply for a new 0% card with a fee?
2. apply for a new 6%ish lifetime card with no fee?

i applied for a hsbc card a few month back and got rejected, so dont want to get in that hole again.

thanks in advance.

SCO

If you are getting rejected from top cards try, creation card 15 months at 0%. Would pay off the virgin card but keep it in place they usually send good BT deals but 12 months max.

jayremoh

ive only been rejected by one card, and i know why. (too much available credit against my name)

i rang virgin, asked to cancel, they check if i could do any BT @ a discounted rate but said no. so i closed the card.

my credit score i superb, but i just have a lot against me. so need to free up some up.

Dabooka

Hmm, probably would've been better to simply ask Virgin to reduce the limit?

YorkshireBoy

jayremoh wrote: »

so i closed the card.

When you make your next application your credit report will show you are using around 90% of your available credit...not a good picture to anyone considering extending you further credit.

The situation might not be too bad if you have a decent income (and no other financial commitments, ie mortgage, loan, overdraft, etc), but still makes you appear maxed out on current facilities.

my credit score i superb

Sadly, what you consider to be "superb" doesn't matter. The fact remains that to a lender's scoring model you've maxed out your current facilities and now want more.

jayremoh

im currenlty at 44% according to credit expert

creditexpert wrote:

Number of credit accounts (including those settled) 30
Amount of available credit (excluding mortgages) £7,959
% of your total credit being used (excluding mortgages) 44%
Amount of outstanding debt (excluding mortgages and defaults) £38,638
Number of accounts overdue 0
Number of missed or late repayments in the last year 0

my cards are out of date on there too. only by a month obviously

MBNA EUROPE BANK LIMITED
Current Balance:£2,726Credit Limit:£8,800

NAT WEST CREDIT CARDS
Current Balance:£3,665Credit Limit:£4,550

last year i was told that i had that too much unsecured credit available.

should i apply for new card today, before they update my file?


is it just me, or does a credit report not give a true reflection on affordability?

jayremoh

Dabooka wrote: »

Hmm, probably would've been better to simply ask Virgin to reduce the limit?

sorry whats the difference in reducing or removing totally>

jayremoh

anyway, my main question i guess is should i apply for a new card before or after my file is updated?

whether they reject me is upto them. and i'll just have pay the interest for a few months whilst i pay it off.

YorkshireBoy

jayremoh wrote: »

sorry whats the difference in reducing or removing totally>

The former doesn't increase your used/available credit ratio as much, as I already mentioned in post #5.

my main question i guess is should i apply for a new card before or after my file is updated?

Well you've already been declined once due to too much available credit (you say), so why risk it again?

However, no-one here can advise on the best course of action as there's one glaring omission from your posts so far...your income - and everything is relative to that.

jayremoh

sorry, income is 43k

well ive applied to barclaycard and been accepted. limit 7800

this is after closing my virgin card. although its still on my file atm.

cheers all