Moving house and applying for new credit card

Lilibee

How long would you leave it after moving house to apply for a new card?

We moved in January, so have now been at the new place 3 months. Changed all important addresses (bank/credit cards/insurances/utilities/car reg etc) within a couple of weeks of moving and registered on the electoral roll at end of March.

I have a Virgin credit card with a balance of around £2500, that was on a 0% transfer deal which expired in Feb, so I'm now paying interest on it. Also have £1400 on my bank's credit card which I generally use as a 'day-to-day' card, but there was a problem with OH's student funding and we had to pay some of his fees ourselves in December. We are expecting to get all of this back (funding has now come through) but the college are dragging their feet refunding us (not surprisingly...) and in the meantime I'm paying interest on this too.

So, ideally, I'd like to apply for the current Barclaycard 20 month 0% transfer deal and transfer both of these amounts onto it, but am aware that moving house tends to hit a credit report so not sure I'll be accepted at the moment? Credit report otherwise is very good, never missed any payments, not generally overdrawn, have decent income, have a well-managed small loan (bought my car with it).

Other option is to transfer Virgin on to the Bank's credit card, which wouldn't require a credit check and would give 6 months 0% on that amount but is a 3% fee, and I'd still be paying interest on the balance of £1400 while we wait for OH's college to get their backsides in gear. And then a second transfer fee after the 6 months are up, so is more expensive in the long run.

Given these two choices, which one would you go for? Any opinions gratefully received!

Stalkdog

Have you tried the Barclaycard pre-application checker?

https://letmechoose.barclaycard.co.uk/

Will give you an indication of you eligibility for the Platinium Balance Transfer

Lilibee

Thanks for that, not quite sure how I missed it on the barclaycard website! It's saying 80-90% chance of being accepted, but not too sure on the accuracy as it asked for years at current address, and then only space for one previous.

Really, I guess I'm just asking, do you think 3 months is long enough to wait after a house move before applying for new credit? Any other recent house movers out there who can share experiences?

nzseries1

If it helps, I got accepted for M+S in September 2008 after moving in July 2008, and got accepted for Tesco Jan 2011 after moving in Nov 2010!

Each time I moved I registered on the electoral roll straight away, but didn't check my credit report to see if it had been updated or not. I figure not, because each time I had to send proof of my name and address, and for Tesco, proof of my income as well. M+S gave me a low credit limit.

I've never missed a payment either, which might've helped.