Help with 0% purchase credit card

CapitalJ

Haha!! That's kind of what I thought. It's actually an (approx) 10k limit on the existing card - so I'm using over 50% of my available credit on that card, which I think I read someone where might be factor when it comes to credit scoring (do you know anything about this?). Essentially, as I've still got until November to pay off this card, I didn't want to pay it off, close it down.. wait a month.. and then not get accepted on a new card and have no available credit to me - and no accessible money as I'd have spent it all paying off the card. That would really feel like shooting myself in the foot!

Perhaps I should pay off a grand to drop me under the 50% threshold, wait a week, and then apply for the new card? It's a tricky balancing act trying to guess what criteria you might get weighed on!!

Also, I've never checked my actual credit score - is this something that might help inform my decision now - I think I can get a report for free by doing the Experian trial but then cancelling...

[Deleted User]

CapitalJ wrote: »

I'm using over 50% of my available credit on that card, which I think I read someone where might be factor when it comes to credit scoring (do you know anything about this?).

This can be a factor, but it's more of a total balance / total limits issue. So although you're using 6k of 10k (quite high), you're also using 6k of 20k (across both cards) - not so bad.

Always worth keeping an occasional eye on your credit reports.

You could try one of the soft searches - Bcard or Nationwide. I know they're not the cards you want, but would be an indicator if they provisionally accept/decline you.

CapitalJ

Ahh sorry I misread you earlier - the limit on the Sainsburys card is actually 6k (and just over 10k on the Natwest one), so that's just short of 6k used out of a total available of 16k. Not quite so good...

That's interesting about the soft searches - so Barclays and Nationwide don't leave 'footprints'?

[Deleted User]

No - so you won't look desperate for credit when you come to make a real application

CapitalJ

Right, ignore everything I've told you - I just got my credit report from Equifax (apparently had the Experian free trial before so can't do that again!). Everything looks good, all my old cards / accounts are showing as "Satisfied". The credit limit on my Natwest credit card is £16,200 (the 10k I quoted earlier was the amount remaining, oops). So I've just worked out I'm using 26% of my total available credit space, which is nowhere near the 50% I thought it was. My thinking is, since the credit limit on my Sainsbury's card is relatively low (£6k), it would probably be detrimental to close the Natwest one before applying for a new one (?)

I've just tried applying for a Barclays card with the soft-search and it threw up four cards where my "Likelihood to be accepted" is I'm "80-90%", with "90%+" for the 'Barclays Initial Credit Card.'

What do you think? Just dive in the for the Tesco card I originally wanted?

CapitalJ

For the sakes of anyone else in a similar predicament and unsure what to do, I just went for it and got accepted for the 16th month Tesco card and they've given me a 7k limit. That's exactly what I was after! Thanks for all your help zx81.