Help! RE: Credit Limit & Getting Around It

Nancy123

Hi, I am going to be purchasing car insurance over the next few days. My lowest quote is around £1400. I want to pay it up front to avoid ridiculous monthly charges from Elephant.co.uk but my credit limit is only £1250.

Lloyds TSB won't increase my limit because they automatically raised it in June and won't raise it again within six months.

I have applied but been rejected for 0% interest credit cards.

My question is, can I pay £250 onto my credit card even though I don't owe anything, thus effectively giving myself a limit of £1500 and enough to pay the car insurance in one go?

Thanks in advance for your help.:)

cwal

Hi Nancy123,

Can you phone Lloyds and ask if they will allow this? I can't see it being a problem as if you had brought something for £250, paid the credit card bill and then taken it back for a refund you would again have an additional £250 credit but it may be worth just checking they won't charge you for being in credit!

YorkshireBoy

LTSB used to prohibit the creation of a deliberate positive balance such as the one you're proposing. I can't find such a condition now, but I'm sure their systems would still highlight it.

Don't forget, many providers (Amex is one) limit your spending in any particular statement period to the amount of your credit limit.

Why don't you just split the payment (some on credit card and some on debit card)?

SUESMITH_2

i tried to do this a few years ago and when i phoned my cc company I was told no

Nancy123

Dammit! I really wanted to be able to pay it in one go. I wondered if it was possible because I rounded up my last credit card payment to them and I am 3p in credit at the moment so wondered if I could just make it more.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

LTSB used to prohibit the creation of a deliberate positive balance such as the one you're proposing. I can't find such a condition now, but I'm sure their systems would still highlight it.

Don't forget, many providers (Amex is one) limit your spending in any particular statement period to the amount of your credit limit.

Why don't you just split the payment (some on credit card and some on debit card)?

Hi YorkshireBoy, is it possible to split the payment with Elephant? I have thought about this but a google search has returned nothing and surely they would want you to pay monthly because they make more money, therefore they wouldn't let you do it?

I've never bought car insurance before so please excuse my ignorance

[Deleted User]

just pay them what your limit is on cc the rest on a debit card,cant see how that would be a problem

AdamJK_2

You can pay the card into credit but that is against your T&C's on the card. The bank in those circumstances, although unlikely, could seek to close the card account if they suspect foul-play.

That said I doubt that the transaction would go through even if you did do it. The system would recognise a £1,400 single transaction as being impossible on a £1,250 limit card and decline it I suspect. By far the best suggestion would be either splitting the transaction onto the credit card and debit card combined, or splitting the trans into two seperate credit card transactions with a payment to the card in the middle.

MattLFC

Nancy123 wrote: »

Hi YorkshireBoy, is it possible to split the payment with Elephant?

Why don't you phone them and ask? This isn't the Elephant.co.uk support forums, there really are some lazy folk on here.

http://www.elephant.co.uk/contactUs/phone.php

If you are old and responsible enough to insure and drive a car, you are old and responsible enough to make a phonecall to your insurance provider. Why expect others to do it on your behalf? It's even freefone

chattychappy

MattLFC wrote: »

Why don't you phone them and ask?
...
If you are old and responsible enough to insure and drive a car, you are old and responsible enough to make a phonecall to your insurance provider. Why expect others to do it on your behalf? It's even freefone

Ha ha ha .. yeah

I don't know if insurance call centres are any better, but in the case of CCs it's often the case that their own call centre staff don't know the answer. So people prefer to ask here! (Plus quicker.)

older_wiser

MattLFC wrote: »

Why don't you phone them and ask? This isn't the Elephant.co.uk support forums, there really are some lazy folk on here.

http://www.elephant.co.uk/contactUs/phone.php

If you are old and responsible enough to insure and drive a car, you are old and responsible enough to make a phonecall to your insurance provider. Why expect others to do it on your behalf? It's even freefone

I tend to agree with chattychappy most CS reps don't compare to the information you can get from this forum. While it may seem lazy to some and probably is in some situations. I'd much prefer getting advice from someone whose experienced similar situations than a CS reading a script.

Curr946

eh... just remember that if you do use all of the credit limit on your card, you will be hit with over limit charges every month until there is enough credit left to accommodate the interest.