Confused - please help?

Vikkii

Hi - just after a bit of advice in 'simple' terms if anyone would be so kind....

I'd like to do a balance transfer off one of my cards as although I pay £65 a month, it's only actually paying £10 off the debt.

I've checked my credit rating with Noddle, which gives me 3/5 :question:. Checked my score with Experian, which gives me a 970 - supposedly 'excellent' score (5 positive factors, and 1 negative, which is that my credit is 68% of my limit), and my rating when I did the comparison on moneysupermarket was 'good'.

However, the cards suggested by Experian are somewhat different to the cards suggested by moneysupermarket. Oh and I did a Nationwide 'soft search' a couple of weeks ago which gave me a quote of £2,800 at 15.9%.

I suppose what I'm asking you experienced credit carders is - what do you reckon my chances are of getting a decent BT card without being rejected?

I'm too scared to actually go ahead and apply for one at the mo!

Thanks in advance.

sammie28

From what i have read on here, £2800 with 15.9% has a very good chance of being accepted. (sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong)
I only got offered £1000 at 19.9%, which is more often than not a decline! So i didn't bother going ahead.

rubyinthesky

That sounds similar to my story in the credit history/soft searches, etc. I got the same with Nationwide, but same evening, I also applied for Fluid and it wouldn't give me an answer, so I assumed that they would turn it down. Ten days later I got a text off them to say I had been accepted at £3000. I can't remember exactly, but I think the interest was better on the Fluid than the Nationwide (which I also got £2800 and 15.9% on a soft search, but didn't go through with the application).

I got the Fluid card and didn't actually need it any longer, as I had been accepted for a really low interest loan with my bank, First Direct, to pay off the Barclaycard that I was paying interest at a much higher rate, on £7k. I still got the Fluid card in the post this week.

twiglet98

Does anyone know if there is a way to make it clear on applying for a card that the intention is to BT and then cancel the card from which the balance has been transferred (assuming the new card offers sufficient credit to cover the whole debt on the original card)? I can't see how to stress at the application stage that the BT card is required instead of the original, not in addition to it.

Vikkii

I forgot to mention that I usually only pay the minimums on all 3 cards I have :-/ Really need to try a pay just a few quid more on each every month - am guessing that would help?

[Deleted User]

twiglet98 wrote: »

I can't see how to stress at the application stage that the BT card is required instead of the original, not in addition to it.

You can't. They'll assume it's additional credit.

Vikkii wrote: »

I forgot to mention that I usually only pay the minimums on all 3 cards I have :-/ Really need to try a pay just a few quid more on each every month - am guessing that would help?

Yes. Min payments look like you're struggling.

unimaginative_user_name

Vikkii wrote: »

I forgot to mention that I usually only pay the minimums on all 3 cards I have :-/ Really need to try a pay just a few quid more on each every month - am guessing that would help?

Even £1 over the minimum payment each month will have an impact.

Martin has a tool on the credit card section of the main site where you can enter your cc balance, the APR and the amount you repay each month and it calculates how long it will be before the debt is repaid. You can play around with it and the results are interesting. I'd love to post a link but I can't at the moment as I haven't been a member long enough.

The tool is called the Minimum Repayment Calculator.

Vikkii

Thanks for all the replies, I'll try & bung a few more quid at each card (I have 3 ) each month then maybe try applying for another for my balance transer, still too nervous to apply at the moment!

smithers1981

I think you should just GO for Nationwide card, i was offered £3200 @ 19.9% in soft search and when proceeded this is what i actually got.

ONE or TWO searches are not going to hurt, i think people over think things and talk themselves out of applying for the best deals.

They say YES you save hundreds in interest, they say NO you haven't lost anything.

PS apply through the meerkats for free TOY which can be flogged on EBAY for £20

Vikkii

Thanks - I'm going to look again properly at the weekend when I have more time.

One more question though please - I was looking at my Experian report and in the 'alias' section it said I had *five* aliases? When I clicked into it, there were 3 with complete misspellings of my name which I knew nothing about and as far as I'm aware have never been on anything - a) will this affect anything (application wise) and b) how do I go about correcting it? Obviously there should be the one with my maiden name which is correct, but the others are a mystery!

Experian_company_representative

Aliases don't affect your credit score - they just help make sure all of your data is included on your credit report. However, you can certainly ask us to remove any misspellings. Easiest way is to use the Experian online query form.

James Jones