Need some debt advice

mcam9

Hi everyone, iv been a long time reader but only joined today. what a great place and full of some amazing people who seem willing to help everyone!

i have an outstanding credit card balance of £876, and over draft of £1100 (interest free until 2008).
The credit card is interest free until the start of feb. i tried applying for a couple of cards but for some reason the application was rejected, even tho im sure i have a good credit rating as i have never missed payment on mobile phone bill/other direct debits. im 24 years old in a steady job with a decent income of around £17k per annum.

i want to know what my best approach is becoming debt free. im recently engaged so i want to be debt free to start saving for a wedding! your help will be greatly appreciated in this matter

AGB863

If you have balanced transfered a credit card before and not cancelled the credit card this shows up on credit files and can go against you.

mcam9

this is my first credit card, iv never had one before this one

SunderlandBlackCat

mcam9 wrote:

Hi everyone, iv been a long time reader but only joined today. what a great place and full of some amazing people who seem willing to help everyone!

i have an outstanding credit card balance of £876, and over draft of £1100 (interest free until 2008).
The credit card is interest free until the start of feb. i tried applying for a couple of cards but for some reason the application was rejected, even tho im sure i have a good credit rating as i have never missed payment on mobile phone bill/other direct debits. im 24 years old in a steady job with a decent income of around £17k per annum.

i want to know what my best approach is becoming debt free. im recently engaged so i want to be debt free to start saving for a wedding! your help will be greatly appreciated in this matter

I'd never been turned down for credit before even when I was in a real financial mess until I applied for a marbles 0% to balance transfer to in October. I've now been turned down for 2 cards despite my credit report looking ok so I think they might be tightening up on applications.

Is there any room on your 0% overdraft that you can get at least some of the card balance onto & minimise the amount of your repayments going to pay interest? It might also be worth applying for an &More card @3.9% as with the repayments I could afford to make it works out cheaper than paying the balance transfer fee for a 0% card

ktb

...are you sure that you are registered on the electoral register at the address you are applying against? This caused me a problem once and it took me ages to work out what was wrong.

mcam9

well iv been living at the address for around 18 years, but i havnt registered to vote in about 6 years so that may be the problem.

and to answer a previous question, i havnt got any room on my 0% overdraft to put some of the balance onto.

my main problem is i dont have the discipline to get the overdraft down, but iv decided its time i wised up and got this sorted

immoral_angeluk

Could it be lack of credit history if you've only ever had the one card? Also each rejection leaves a footprint on your file for 6 months so if you've had 2 declines I wouldn't apply for anymore for at least 6 months or else you'll end up in a viscous rejection-score goes down-apply again-rejection-score goes down-apply again circle.

ktb

mcam9 wrote:

... even tho im sure i have a good credit rating...

I would recommend checking this out with a free credit check. If you go to http://www.experian.co.uk/ and sign up you get a month free. Just remember to cancel it before the end of the free month tho or they will charge you. It will also state on there whether you are on the electoral register...

mcam9

ktb wrote:

I would recommend checking this out with a free credit check. If you go to http://www.experian.co.uk/ and sign up you get a month free. Just remember to cancel it before the end of the free month tho or they will charge you. It will also state on there whether you are on the electoral register...

cheers, just signed up there now :beer: