New B/T Card

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I'm looking to get a new Balance Transfer card - probably the Barclaycard 22 month 0% with cashback.

My question is this:

I have 4 credit cards.

3 of those are "closed" in the sense that they each tried to rate hike me, and I said that I would not accept the new terms and would pay off at the existing rate.

Of those 3, one has a very small balance (less than £10) which I can either pay off now, or after my next D/D has gone out at the end of the month. The others are more substantial.

The 4th credit card is a previous 0% transfer and is still open to me to spend on, should I wish to.

What I would like to do is transfer some or all of the debts from the two "closed" accounts to the new card.

(1) is this possible?

(2) do the "closed" accounts still count as available credit for the purposes of a credit check and if so

(3) do they carry a risk of causing me to be rejected for a new card. My credit rating, otherwise, is likely to be good.

YorkshireBoy

1) Yes, but Barclaycard will ask for the expiry dates, as well as the 16 digit numbers, so hopefully you haven't cut up and/or destroyed the cards and they're still 'current'?

2) Yes.

3) Yes.

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Thanks for the reply.

It sounds like I would be better off paying off the small balance and closing that account properly before applying in that case (one of the reasons I asked).

Presumably it takes some time before that account is marked as closed by the credit reference agencies - I was quite keen to apply sooner rather than later if (as is reported) the £30 cashback deal isn't likely to be around for too much longer. Still, I guess it might be better to wait and reduce the risk of a negative result on the application.

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Having checked my Rating on Noddle, I have a rating of 4 out of 5. Any views on whether I would be likely to be accepted for the Barclaycard? I would prefer not to apply and be rejected, if paying off the low balance card is likely to make a significant difference.

pippitypop

My partner got accepted for a CC with them and his credit rating was Fair.

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Looking back at Noddle, I apparently have a 9 out of 10 chance of being accepted for the Barclaycard. Anybody know how accurate that is? If so, I shouldn;t have anything to worry about...

chattychappy

Scores/ratings from CRA are useless in my opinion as each lender has its own criteria. Just look for errors, missed payments, that its noted you are on the electoral roll etc.

Personally I'd get the application off anyway. If you get a reduced limit (over what you might have got), you can still transfer that amount and start saving right away.

If you get rejected, you could still make another application elsewhere without damaging your record. If you still fail, well you can back off for 6 months and try again then when presumably you've closed down an account or two.

Though CRAs are usually updated monthly, I've found when closing an account it can take a couple of months for this to be reflected.

Dave1979

I have a Halifax card with a £10k limit, an M&S card with a £6k limit and a Santander card with the £8k limit. They have a combined balance of £4k. I just applied for the Barclaycard Platinum 22 month card to transfer all the balances onto.

It got approved with a £10k limit!! I never check my score but I have never missed any payments on the other cards but my salary is not that high. How did it get approved for so much!!?

I am closing them all apart from the Santander as it is a Zero and useful for spending abroad.

Miss_Spendalot_2

This card with the small balance what is your credit limit on that one ?

The reason I ask is when you have paid off a card sometimes the card issuer will offer you 0% Balance transfers etc as a means to get you to stay, not always but sometimes...

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The card with the small balance (just over £5) has a limit of £3700.

The other two "closed" cards have limits of £8400 and £5000 (I should say that the balances are nowhere near the limits, but big enough that its worth transferring the balance to save paying the interest).

The "open" account has a £3000 limit.

I have no missed payments, am on electoral roll etcetera, and have good earnings (although I am self-employed). I would say therefore that I am likely to score well, but the area of concern is the fact that I would appear to have a lot of available credit, albeit most is in fact unavailable due to rejecting the rate-hikes, and paying it off at the existing rates.

Am in two minds really as to whether to just apply or whether to wait for a bit - there is no pressing need to change, and I can easily cover the payments, but I'd prefer not to be paying interest when I don't need to... after all, surely balance transfer cards are for those with a balance to transfer!