Banking and credit cards

Paul_B.

I'm looking at making some largeish purchases in a few months time so was looking around for a 0% purchase credit card to put it on. Santander have the longest period for this. Would it make the potential limit higher and chances of acceptance better if I were to be doing my day to day banking there?

I've got almost all of my savings there. Current day to day banking is done at RBS. I also have an existing Santander CC but it's got a puny limit and only kept for foreign use (it's a zero).

Not usually one for a credit card but 0% makes sense opposed to taking money out of savings and losing interest on that however small.

Thanks for any advice!

Paul_B.

Has anybody got any input on this or does it not matter in the slightest?

YorkshireBoy

Paul_B. wrote: »

Would it make the potential limit higher and chances of acceptance better if I were to be doing my day to day banking there?

Not necessarily. I don't 'bank' with MBNA, yet I have a near £25K limit card with them. I don't have day-to-day banking with Yorkshire Bank (although I do have £3K in my Current Account Direct making 4% AER), yet I have a near £10K limit card with them.

I've got almost all of my savings there.

Often savings (in a pure savings account) don't have any impact on internal scoring. It's current account management and throughput that counts.

Current day to day banking is done at RBS.

They have a 15 month 0% purchases card. Isn't that long enough?

I also have an existing Santander CC but it's got a puny limit and only kept for foreign use (it's a zero).

When Santander guaranteed me a 1-2-3 card a couple of years ago, it was to be at the expense of my £8K Zero card, which they wanted to close. This led me to believe they only allowed one card per customer (others' experience may differ), so you may fall down at the first hurdle?

Paul_B.

Thanks for the input, that's certainly useful and plenty of good stuff there to consider. I would have thought that savings with a bank would have mattered, learn something new! I wouldn't be looking at getting rid of the Zero, it's handy for foreign purchases despite the puny limit. Although it ensures when I'm abroad that I pay it off that bit quicker as it's cash advances and no to very little purchases. Bit cheeky asking you to ditch it, I remember calling years ago asking them to raise my limit and they flat out refused as it was a Zero card.

15 months is long enough with RBS, I also noticed Nationwide have a Select Card which I could get as I've got a FlexDirect there, although they seem to be difficult to get credit from. Have any others here had experience in getting Nationwide?

rb10

Paul_B. wrote: »

Would it make the potential limit higher and chances of acceptance better if I were to be doing my day to day banking there?

Not in just a few months - they'd most likely be looking at six months' of salary credits before it had a positive impact on a CC application.

Paul_B. wrote: »

I also noticed Nationwide have a Select Card which I could get as I've got a FlexDirect there, although they seem to be difficult to get credit from. Have any others here had experience in getting Nationwide?

Note that the Select card also gives 0.5% cashback on all sterling purchases.

Provided your credit history is clean, then you should be able to get a Select card.

On a different (but related) note, I'd suggest moving your main banking to Nationwide. You'll most likely find them much better than RBS!

Paul_B.

I am very tempted to move it over, there are a few things that irk me about RBS. That said there's a few things with Nationwide that niggle as well. Such as the lack of payment references which makes reconciliation a little more difficult and the end of month statement being very difficult to read with the tightly packed text. Minor stuff all said, the Internet Bank is impressive however.

I noticed the cashback, a nice little bonus. Do you know if the Nationwide 0% on purchases is just for the first 30 days? I noticed their calculator said the first 30 days but I presume they're including that for interest calculation purposes rather than an account limitation.

Credit history is clean as a whistle. I've got a Coop Clear credit card but it's not really competitive for larger purchases, interest on it isn't too bad but account management isn't the easiest, even amending the Direct Debit means sending them a form!

datlex

Are you looking at a 0% card for the purchase because you don't have the money now to cover it or because you want to keep the money and pay for it interest free in instalments?

Paul_B.

datlex wrote: »

Are you looking at a 0% card for the purchase because you don't have the money now to cover it or because you want to keep the money and pay for it interest free in instalments?

It's simply to earn more interest and make better use of money. I would be looking at getting the card in a few months time just before moving.

My intention is to setup a repayment plan as soon as possible after making the purchases so there's a fixed plan to have repaid the card before the end of the 0% deal. I might not earn a huge deal of interest but something is better than nothing!

rb10

Paul_B. wrote: »

I am very tempted to move it over, there are a few things that irk me about RBS. That said there's a few things with Nationwide that niggle as well. Such as the lack of payment references which makes reconciliation a little more difficult and the end of month statement being very difficult to read with the tightly packed text.

That's probably largely just what you're used to. I haven't noticed the statement being difficult to read.

Paul_B. wrote: »

I noticed the cashback, a nice little bonus. Do you know if the Nationwide 0% on purchases is just for the first 30 days? I noticed their calculator said the first 30 days but I presume they're including that for interest calculation purposes rather than an account limitation.

The website makes this quite clear ... 0% on purchases for 15 months.

I've also only just seen that they're giving 2% cashback on all purchases in the first 90 days if you apply before 19 February.

YorkshireBoy

Paul_B. wrote: »

I noticed the cashback, a nice little bonus.

Even better at the moment, as they're paying an additional 1.5% cashback for the first 90 days.

Do you know if the Nationwide 0% on purchases is just for the first 30 days? I noticed their calculator said the first 30 days but I presume they're including that for interest calculation purposes rather than an account limitation.

Any purchases you make during the 15 month intro period will be 0% until the date which is 15 months after account opening.