Finding it hard to get 0% interest balance transfer

Punkygoth

Hi, I don't know if anyone can advise, but I am having problems transferring the balance of my credit card to a 0% interest card and I am wondering if it is because I already have lots of available credit.

Basically I have a;
Natwest visa with a balance of £3000 and a limit of £3400,
a Virgin mastercard with about £400 on and a limit of £9800!
and a Morgan Stanley card with a zero balance and a £5000 limit
and an Egg card with a zero balance and a £4000 limit.

I have basically accumulated all these cards over about 3 years through transferring balances and now I am finding that I cannot seem to transfer the balance of my Natwest card and Virgin card to a card that offers 0% interest, have been turned down twice, which is essentially a first for me.

Does anyway know if this is because I already have lots of available credit? Would cancelling the unused cards help the situation?
Nothing else in my circumstances has changed.

If anyone can shed any light on this I would be very grateful.

I am trying, obviously, to pay off this debt as quickly as possible, as I also have a loan with Egg, which was for paying off student debt (including a Masters Degree tuition fees and living expenses) and buying a car. The loan finishes in 2008.

Thanks

Phoenix79_2

It might be worth ringing your two cleared cards (MS and Egg) and asking if they are willing to offer you any deals otherwise you will close the cards. Also do the same with Virgin. Say you would like to transfer a balance over and see what they offer you. They might do this as you only have a small outstanding balance with them.

Which cards have refused you? It might be worth getting copies of your credit reports as well.

s55shh

Egg give an anniversary 0% every year with fee

Punkygoth

Phoenix79 wrote:

It might be worth ringing your two cleared cards (MS and Egg) and asking if they are willing to offer you any deals otherwise you will close the cards. Also do the same with Virgin. Say you would like to transfer a balance over and see what they offer you. They might do this as you only have a small outstanding balance with them.

Which cards have refused you? It might be worth getting copies of your credit reports as well.

Thanks, I was turned down by Halifax and MBNA. I think you are right, I will get a copy of my credit file just to check nothing weird is going on.

Punkygoth

s55shh wrote:

Egg give an anniversary 0% every year with fee

Ooh I forgot about that. I will have to check when my Anniversary is!

petrichor

My husband had cleared Morgan Stanley card (but not cancelled) so he phoned them to cancel it and they offered a 0% balance transfer for 5 months. This has given him time to sort something else out in the meantime.
Worth a try.

Phoenix79_2

Punkygoth wrote:

Thanks, I was turned down by Halifax and MBNA. I think you are right, I will get a copy of my credit file just to check nothing weird is going on.

MBNA run the Virgin Mastercard you have. As you already have a £9.8k limit with them they may not have wanted to offer you any more.

Punkygoth

petrichor wrote:

My husband had cleared Morgan Stanley card (but not cancelled) so he phoned them to cancel it and they offered a 0% balance transfer for 5 months. This has given him time to sort something else out in the meantime.
Worth a try.

Thanks I will give that a go!!

Punkygoth

Phoenix79 wrote:

MBNA run the Virgin Mastercard you have. As you already have a £9.8k limit with them they may not have wanted to offer you any more.

I did wonder if that might be the case, as I do have a lot of available credit, and potential debt.
Not sure why I got turned down by Halifax, as it was them I applied to first, and then waited a couple of months to apply for MBNA, but it may be the same reason I suppose, in that I do have alot of credit available to me.