Some Advice Would Be Great :) - New Here

Gooner10

Hi All,

My first post today after joining so be gentle!

Basically I am looking for some advice, at the moment I have 3 Credit Cards with Balances on and these are:

Barclaycard Football MasterCard (£120 Balance) (Can Pay This Off When I get paid next week)

Amazon.co.uk Mastercard (£2500 Balance) Interest Free as I did a balance transfer from my Tesco Card below until December 2012)

Tesco Clubcard Credit Card (£2050 Balance) 0% on purchases until October 2012 as the account came with 0% on purchases for 15 months from account opening and I applied for this card in May 2011.

Now my wife also has a card in just her name which has a balance on it of £1200 but she does not have any offers on her card at the moment so she is currently paying interest.

I was just wondering what the best thing to do is really, although I have a different Barclaycard to the platinum card would I be able to apply for the 2 year balance transfer offer? And if I could with my existing debts would I stand a chance of getting the card?

Now myself and my wife both work however I earn slightly more than what she does however I have been paying off £200 a month as this is what I can afford by the time we pay for bills etc and our rent to our landlord.. The Amazon and Tesco are interest free, so I have been saving £200 a month and transfering that to our joint savings account where at the moment we have £1500 saved, or would it be better to pay £400 off a month on my credit cards?

Sorry for the long post hope this makes sense!, just some advice I would appreciate really .

Thanks

Andrew

shiny76

It very much depends on your financial discipline but if I was in your position I'd pay off the wife's credit card with the joint savings account money. Then put what she would have paid towards that back into the savings account. But then I'm fairly disciplined - financially speaking!

When I had a Barclaycard (BC) they wouldn't let me have to off the same kind (Visa or Mastercard) but I could have one of each - this was 18 to 24 months ago, so things may have changed.

Alternatively, could your wife apply for a new BT card? There's quite a few about (including BC) with long offer periods!

Gooner10

shiny76 wrote: »

It very much depends on your financial discipline but if I was in your position I'd pay off the wife's credit card with the joint savings account money. Then put what she would have paid towards that back into the savings account. But then I'm fairly disciplined - financially speaking!

When I had a Barclaycard (BC) they wouldn't let me have to off the same kind (Visa or Mastercard) but I could have one of each - this was 18 to 24 months ago, so things may have changed.

Alternatively, could your wife apply for a new BT card? There's quite a few about (including BC) with long offer periods!

Thanks for your advice Shiny76 much appreciated . I dident actually think of paying off the wifes credit card balance with the joint savings, so I will do that!.

Well my wife did try and take out a Barclaycard but got declined, although this was a Hilton Honors Visa Card. Do you think in my current situation its worth even applying for the 2 year deal or wait till my 0% runs out with Amazon Card (MBNA run them) and then look what deals are around in December?

Thanks once again, appreciate your help .

Andrew

shiny76

Gooner10 wrote: »

Thanks for your advice Shiny76 much appreciated . I didnt actually think of paying off the wifes credit card balance with the joint savings, so I will do that!.

Well my wife did try and take out a Barclaycard but got declined, although this was a Hilton Honors Visa Card. Do you think in my current situation its worth even applying for the 2 year deal or wait till my 0% runs out with Amazon Card (MBNA run them) and then look what deals are around in December?

Thanks once again, appreciate your help .

Andrew

No worries. Although some people may caution you against not having a fund for emergencies!
- my view is in my situation I'd soon build a new emergency fund and have the full credit limit of the card I'd just cleared (obv some won't accept CC as payment!)

As for applying for the 2 year deal, if you've got enough room on your current cards (you mention the balance but not what is 'available to spend') I'd probably hold off until abut a month before my next promotion expiry.

Gooner10

shiny76 wrote: »

No worries. Although some people may caution you against not having a fund for emergencies!
- my view is in my situation I'd soon build a new emergency fund and have the full credit limit of the card I'd just cleared (obv some won't accept CC as payment!)

As for applying for the 2 year deal, if you've got enough room on your current cards (you mention the balance but not what is 'available to spend') I'd probably hold off until abut a month before my next promotion expiry.

Thanks shiny

I am pretty maxed out on my Tesco Card at the moment, and only have around £100 left to as my credit limit is £2150 as I am using this card for purchases at the moment. Would you say its worth using the credit card for purchases rather than going over drawn on my bank account?

Cheers

Andrew

shiny76

Gooner10 wrote: »

Thanks shiny
Would you say its worth using the credit card for purchases rather than going over drawn on my bank account?

Hmmm, tough one. And the answer would again depend on your financial discipline. Options:
(1) Apply for a new card, 0% on purchases (and perhaps BTs). However, you MUST set aside money into the savings account to counter the purchases you make.

(2) Keep spending on the card rather than go overdrawn, especially if you'd get charged for going overdrawn. Trouble with this is a potential lender (when you decide to apply) may be concerned as you've maxed out your credit on your other cards - they may see this as a sign of someone in trouble.

(3) An alternative I havent thought of yet. Sure another poster will venture an opinion!

I'm in a similar position, 1 card near the credit limit, 2nd card 50% so I applied for a 3rd purely to give me room to manouvre over the next few months. I am saving £700/month towards paying off card no.1 (as it's promo rate expires in May!)

Has your wife tried to figure out why she was rejected by BC? She could order her credit report (either by free trial or £2 by post). If she can do that then you may be able to figure out whether she could apply for a new card.

Gooner10

shiny76 wrote: »

Hmmm, tough one. And the answer would again depend on your financial discipline. Options:
(1) Apply for a new card, 0% on purchases (and perhaps BTs). However, you MUST set aside money into the savings account to counter the purchases you make.

(2) Keep spending on the card rather than go overdrawn, especially if you'd get charged for going overdrawn. Trouble with this is a potential lender (when you decide to apply) may be concerned as you've maxed out your credit on your other cards - they may see this as a sign of someone in trouble.

(3) An alternative I havent thought of yet. Sure another poster will venture an opinion!

I'm in a similar position, 1 card near the credit limit, 2nd card 50% so I applied for a 3rd purely to give me room to manouvre over the next few months. I am saving £700/month towards paying off card no.1 (as it's promo rate expires in May!)

Has your wife tried to figure out why she was rejected by BC? She could order her credit report (either by free trial or £2 by post). If she can do that then you may be able to figure out whether she could apply for a new card.

My wife did get a copy of her report but nothing on there to indicate any problems. I think what I am going to do is pay the £1200 on her card, that will only leave us with £300 savings, although that will be boosted next Wednesday to £700 when we get paid as will be each be able to put in £200 to the joint account, so I guess we have a little emergency fund.

I did look at the Halifax card but not sure about that as only small percentage get accepted. Ideally I dont want to get anymore credit at the moment as I have 4 cards already.

Barclaycard
RBS Gold Card
Amazon Card
Tesco Card

I did some overtime at work last month also which I should be getting a approximately £200 extra so I am thinking of putting that into joint savings, I do have a sole savings account do you think it would be better off going in there?

I did just wonder if to apply for the Platinum Barclaycard as you also get 0% on purchases for 3 months and see what happens then I can just transfer my balances from my Tesco Card and Amazon card depending on if I get a limit more than £5k for example, I do have a limit of £7k on my current Barclaycard Mastercard so hopefully this could work in my favour?

thanks for your help

shiny76

Gooner10 wrote: »

I did some overtime at work last month also which I should be getting a approximately £200 extra so I am thinking of putting that into joint savings, I do have a sole savings account do you think it would be better off going in there?

thanks for your help

I'd put it in whichever account was paying the highest interest rate - not that it'll make THAT much difference but every penny helps!

and your welcome

Gooner10

I did notice on the Barclaycard site you can do a pre check and it does say on there the following:

If you would like to check the likelihood of being eligible for a Barclaycard, you can complete our pre-application check tool.
This unique tool is quick and easy to use and means you can get an indication of what card(s) may be available to you if you were to go through our full application process. What’s more, you will only leave a search ‘footprint’ on your credit record and so it won’t affect your ability to get credit at a later date.
Remember, this tool should only be used as a guide and results may vary when you make a full application.

There are no cards currently available if you already have a Barclaycard.


Guess I cant apply then?

shiny76

I don't know how accurate it is but if your wife was looking for a card that may accept her then perhaps she could try this tool:
https://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/smart-search/

It's meant to advise on which lenders are more likely to accept an individual. I believe confused.com offers a similar feature. She may get a 0% BT which would mean you could leave the savings in place until the next promo period expires!

Gooner10

shiny76 wrote: »

I don't know how accurate it is but if your wife was looking for a card that may accept her then perhaps she could try this tool:

It's meant to advise on which lenders are more likely to accept an individual. I believe confused.com offers a similar feature. She may get a 0% BT which would mean you could leave the savings in place until the next promo period expires!

The only thing is she's not really looking for another card at moment as she is using her Virgin Atlantic Card, hoping to get a free flight by building up points!!. I think it might be easier to pay off her card then carry on trying to save.