CC Limit Downsizing

Venusflytrap

I am wanting to shave off my overall CC limits to something more balanced in comparison to my annual p/t income (now £11k).

Especially concerned as I applied for a Your World RBS CC today and got declined without details as to why. I was hoping to close down one of my CCs should my application have been successful, but in hindsight maybe I should have closed it off first before applying. Perhaps I was declined because of high available credit compared to my salary?

Anyway, I currently have:

NW Select CC (since Nov'11); £108/£2000 - commission-free foreign purchases and 0.5% cash back on UK spends.

Nectar Amex CC (since April '11); £500/£2600 - (sometimes double) nectar points on all purchases. All our household spends go on here (as well as flight bookings). In the last year we have spent on average £450 per month.

Halifax Clarity CC (since July '10); £0/£600 - used anytime we are abroad for all purchases and cash withdrawals.

Barclaycard Plat (since Jan '11); £30/£2000 - hardly ever used and no tangible benefits. I had planned to close this.

(Also have a Barclays OD of £190).

So, following the RBS decline my thoughts are that I should reduce the Nectar CC limit to £1600 and still close down the BC then reapply for a better CC in 6 months or so.

Any other suggestions?

jason1231972

Venusflytrap wrote: »

I am wanting to shave off my overall CC limits to something more balanced in comparison to my annual p/t income (now £11k).

Especially concerned as I applied for a Your World RBS CC today and got declined without details as to why. I was hoping to close down one of my CCs should my application have been successful, but in hindsight maybe I should have closed it off first before applying. Perhaps I was declined because of high available credit compared to my salary?

Anyway, I currently have:

NW Select CC (since Nov'11); £108/£2000 - commission-free foreign purchases and 0.5% cash back on UK spends.

Nectar Amex CC (since April '11); £500/£2600 - (sometimes double) nectar points on all purchases. All our household spends go on here (as well as flight bookings). In the last year we have spent on average £450 per month.

Halifax Clarity CC (since July '10); £0/£600 - used anytime we are abroad for all purchases and cash withdrawals.

Barclaycard Plat (since Jan '11); £30/£2000 - hardly ever used and no tangible benefits. I had planned to close this.

(Also have a Barclays OD of £190).

So, following the RBS decline my thoughts are that I should reduce the Nectar CC limit to £1600 and still close down the BC then reapply for a better CC in 6 months or so.

Any other suggestions?

Me and my OH are in a similar position, and our downsizing has been prompted by an impending joint mortgage application, but we're not 100% sure how to go about it. My credit limits are low and I'm personally as good as debt free.

However, my OH's credit limits totalled over 10k a couple of weeks ago (3 CCs, 2 storecards, 1 catalogue), plus she has a 5k overdraft. She owes a very small balance on one credit card, but nothing on the rest, and she doesn't use the overdraft. Problem is, she earns about 10.5k!!

She's since closed 1 credit card, both storecards, and the catalogue. On her remaining CCs, she's cut the limits to 4k between them, but she still has the 5k O/D. So, about 9k limits overall, 95% of which is available to spend. We still have access to well in excess of 10k credit as a couple (formerly about 15k), and we only earn 23k between us!

I personally still think 9k for my OH alone is too much, and that a 5k personal O/D is definitely too much. To be fair to her, bless her heart, she applied for a 5k O/D in a panic, planning to pay for my mum's recent and sudden funeral. As it happens, we found that my mum had an assortment of life and funeral policies, so the O/D wasn't needed. But OH won't part with it now, despite not using a penny of it! It's her security blanket, she says. She used to have a limit of 1k that she also never used, so why she 'needs' 5k is a mystery.

She needs to make further cuts, right??

So I can't really help, OP, but if someone could kindly look at my post too, I'd be most grateful

Venusflytrap

Piggy-backing on my post and not offering any advice is not allowed!

Anyone else have some applicable suggestions?

jason1231972

Venusflytrap wrote: »

Piggy-backing on my post and not offering any advice is not allowed!

Anyone else have some applicable suggestions?

Sorry, I felt I had to piggyback, due to broad similarity of scenarios

I posted a lengthly and detailed thread re: my own situation (there have since been some developments, notably the overdraft increase) as one of my first posts on MSE. Over 130 views, no replies!

Dr_Cuckoo3

Venusflytrap wrote: »

Especially concerned as I applied for a Your World RBS CC today and got declined without details as to why

http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/g3/credit-card-application-info.ashx


"Why may my application be declined?

In general your application can be declined for two reasons:

A scoring decision where your overall score was not sufficient to reach our acceptance pass mark.
Specific lending policies e.g.: as a responsible lender it is not our policy to offer credit to applicants who may find it difficult to meet the repayments. You will always be advised of the reason where your application has been declined due to a policy rule. We would stress that if your application is declined it may not be due to information supplied by the Credit Reference Agency but rather due to other details obtained during the application process."



You will always be advised of the reason where your application has been declined due to a policy rule - have you been advised of a policy rule ?

I wouldn't close any of those cards - Halifax and Barclaycard offer 0% balance transfers to existing customers and Barclaycard offer low interest for the life of balance transfer offers

jen245

I'm trying to work out why you want or need another credit card. You already have 4 and you don't seem to be using 2 of them that much. Your income is £11000, but you have nearly £7.5k worth of available credit. I'm not surprised RBS declined you, they are probably wondering why you want another cc too!

To be honest I'd just make use of the cards you have, or at least ditch the Barclaycard if you are not using it, and keep the others. Doing that alone would make your overall available credit a little bit more respectable

starM

I have 6 credit cards & one charge card showing on my credit report - total credit limit of 19k. That is more than 50% of my annual income. Only 4k in use which will be clrd once 0% expires. I will not be applying for another card as their is no need for it. Still receiving regular 0% promotional offers from Natwest & MBNA which has the largest limit - and despite having too much of available credit Halifax & Santander is showing guaranteed credit card on my internet banking. I will be clsoing some cards down so my available credit is less than 50% of my annual income. Charge card do not has a credit limit so that is not shown on my credit report. I am write in saying their will be no need to close the charge card down?

Thanks MS

Venusflytrap

Dr_Cuckoo3 wrote: »

http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/g3/credit-card-application-info.ashxYou will always be advised of the reason where your application has been declined due to a policy rule - have you been advised of a policy rule ?

No. It was a generic explanation along the lines of: "a decision has been made based on credit searching with CRAs and the information you have provided..."

I wouldn't close any of those cards - Halifax and Barclaycard offer 0% balance transfers to existing customers and Barclaycard offer low interest for the life of balance transfer offers

I had no plans of closing the Halifax Clarity. No way. It is the best of the bunch in terms of use abroad and both my husband and I rely on it for that.

I thought to close the BC because I hardly use it and only get BT offers of 6 months but rarely 12 months. Will def. reduce the limit on my Nectar Amex as we have so far never used a large chunk of it.

Venusflytrap

jen245 wrote: »

I'm trying to work out why you want or need another credit card.

I wanted to benefit from the 0% intro offer, did not want "another card" and planned to close one off and have the RBS replace it. Of course having applied with all four still open didn't demonstrate that to the lender and didn't help my application. Also my Nectar CC limit for instance was based on joint household income (currently about 27K after tax) which again doesn't help when lenders assess my credit worthiness strictly against my income.

To be honest I'd just make use of the cards you have, or at least ditch the Barclaycard if you are not using it, and keep the others. Doing that alone would make your overall available credit a little bit more respectable

I will at least knock £1k off the Nectar CC limit and probably eventually close the Barclaycard. All my CCs are for specific functions and I will look to close down or swap where one no longer meets a need or is beneficial.

Venusflytrap

A year on and having closed down my Amex CC end of last month, I applied 2 weeks later for the 0% for 15 months NatWest/RBS YourPoints World CC and got accepted. Yippee!!

My p/t income is still circa £11800 but this time round NatWest/RBS found me more credit worthy than same time last year. So, lesson learnt: Reduce credit saturation before applying for new or more credit accounts.