Repaying Credit Card with Another..

MrJester

Hi all.

So today I just got my credit rating with Experian, never had it before, and it comes up "Fair" at 821. Soon I will be going from student/part time worker into full time employment and I felt it a good time to start considering my credit rating and how to improve it. Started with basic things like getting all my addresses set to the same place finally, and going to get myself on the electoral roll etc the advice on MSE is great for doing simple changes to help it along.

Anyway my specific topic for here is,
I have a credit card that is generally maxed out at £1,200, I keep it under the limit but I'm only paying minimum generally but I'm trying to pay more each month so right now it's at £1156.78
My credit report states that I have "available credit" of £729.

So I was just wondering that if I were to apply for a balance transfer credit card up to say £700 then I might stand a good chance of being accepted for it? Then I can at least transfer £700 over to this new card and start paying off a chunk of it without the same amount of interest thats currently adding each month.

Does this make sense as a good idea? I'll screenshot the cards that Experian has 'matched' to me, whilst they all say Balance Transfer Rate N/A a few of them do intact work as balance transfers, do any of these cards seem like a good option?

I cant post links but please take a look at these images for what was 'matched' to me
i.imgur.com/Dh8uXJD.png
i.imgur.com/JBBZypt.png

Any advice you can share will be greatly appreciated!

Tixy

Hi

The available credit they refer to is the difference between your balances and your limits, i.e the amount you have available to spend on that card (at the date of the last update).

It has nothing to do with your likelihood of being accepted for another card or what limit they may give you.

If you want a new balance transfer card and what to get an indication as to whether you might be accepted I would look here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards#eligibility

iAMaLONDONER

JoeJester wrote: »

Hi all.

So today I just got my credit rating with Experian, never had it before, and it comes up "Fair" at 821. Soon I will be going from student/part time worker into full time employment and I felt it a good time to start considering my credit rating and how to improve it. Started with basic things like getting all my addresses set to the same place finally, and going to get myself on the electoral roll etc the advice on MSE is great for doing simple changes to help it along.

Anyway my specific topic for here is,
I have a credit card that is generally maxed out at £1,200, I keep it under the limit but I'm only paying minimum generally but I'm trying to pay more each month so right now it's at £1156.78
My credit report states that I have "available credit" of £729.

So I was just wondering that if I were to apply for a balance transfer credit card up to say £700 then I might stand a good chance of being accepted for it? Then I can at least transfer £700 over to this new card and start paying off a chunk of it without the same amount of interest thats currently adding each month.

Does this make sense as a good idea? I'll screenshot the cards that Experian has 'matched' to me, whilst they all say Balance Transfer Rate N/A a few of them do intact work as balance transfers, do any of these cards seem like a good option?

I cant post links but please take a look at these images for what was 'matched' to me
i.imgur.com/Dh8uXJD.png
i.imgur.com/JBBZypt.png

Any advice you can share will be greatly appreciated!

The credit 'rating' given by Experian,Equifax or Noddle (Callcredit) are meaningless to lenders. It's the information in your report that matters.

Do you have any missed payments?

MrJester

Tixy wrote: »

Hi

The available credit they refer to is the difference between your balances and your limits, i.e the amount you have available to spend on that card (at the date of the last update).

It has nothing to do with your likelihood of being accepted for another card or what limit they may give you.

If you want a new balance transfer card and what to get an indication as to whether you might be accepted I would look here -

I see, duly noted thank you.
My best eligibility is 30% for balance transfer cards, and 50% for bad credit cards.
Not worth applying most likely. I assume it will improve a lot when I'm actually earning a lot more, as I have barely any issues which I will go into after this next reply..

iAMaLONDONER wrote: »

The credit 'rating' given by Experian,Equifax or Noddle (Callcredit) are meaningless to lenders. It's the information in your report that matters.

Do you have any missed payments?

I know that the rating is completely independent, but it's nice to be able to grade it from the information there is on me for credit.

From my credit report, it clearly indicates that it is quite aware my spending on my credit card is very close to the limit, which is having a negative impact on it.
It also says "You have recently opened 1 or more credit accounts". I haven't opened ANY new credit accounts recently, I have applied for finance on a macbook which was of course rejected quickly so unless this also includes applications for credit then that is wrong and what can I do about that? It doesn't seem to give further info into what it is.

The credit accounts held for me in my report shows that all my credits are in the green and Satisfactory.

It may be worth mentioning that I have literally only this week updated all my addresses to the same one address so I'm aware this might take some time to be clear in my credit reports/info as I know this is an important factor to have one address in many respects. I can see it shows my main bank account at a previous address so that definitely hasn't yet updated.

MrJester

Any further thoughts

MrJester

Furthermore is there anyway of knowing how much in amount you are likely to be allowed to have?

I assume this would be different between lets say a lender, and asking my bank for an extension on my overdraft?
I've tried to extend it to £2000 because with my account you can interest free subject to status and they've not allowed me to extend it over £1000 thus far. I was told over the phone that charges that have been added to the account when money wasn't in there to pay for transactions etc affected it quite a bit, usually this was due to the fact that I kept my money spread across different accounts (like esavings) and just transferred it across when I needed it, I no longer do this and just keep the money in one big pot and thus I haven't had any charges for quite some time with my account. Perhaps I would be in a better situation to enquire for an extension, it would obviously really help me to pay off instantly a chunk of my credit card, I just don't know how much I can ask for because I would assume the amount they would be willing to provide might be a particular amount and I'm just asking for too much, no idea.

MrJester

Just called my bank. They let me extend my overdraft! Got it up to £1500 so it gives me another £500 to play with, I'm going to pay that straight off my credit card!

Brilliant.

Tixy

Is your overdraft a cheaper APR than your credit card?

Alarae

I wouldn't pay too much attention to those eligibility checkers. They gave me a 0% chance of getting the Amex Platinum Everyday Cashback, but when I applied (more for funsies since I didn't expect to get it) I of accepted immediately with a £3000 limit.

I'd say to just apply for a card and give it a go. Probably Barclaycard, since I've heard they are more lax then other lenders.

CLAPTON

an OD is liable to be recalled on demand so you would be very unwise to max it out and keep it maxed out


you need to spend less and pay the debt off

whilst it is sensible to reduce the interest you are paying where possible , your basis problem is you spend more than you earn

either earn more or spend less.

MrJester

Tixy wrote: »

Is your overdraft a cheaper APR than your credit card?

It's 0% at least while I'm still a student, when I go into full time work I believe it then changes, I remember reading it a while back something like you have a year to pay it back before they charge you for it or similar.

Alarae wrote: »

I wouldn't pay too much attention to those eligibility checkers. They gave me a 0% chance of getting the Amex Platinum Everyday Cashback, but when I applied (more for funsies since I didn't expect to get it) I of accepted immediately with a £3000 limit.

I'd say to just apply for a card and give it a go. Probably Barclaycard, since I've heard they are more lax then other lenders.

Fair enough, I already have a Barclaycard.

CLAPTON wrote: »

an OD is liable to be recalled on demand so you would be very unwise to max it out and keep it maxed out


you need to spend less and pay the debt off

whilst it is sensible to reduce the interest you are paying where possible , your basis problem is you spend more than you earn

either earn more or spend less.

Its a student OD. They can recall it sure but there's no reason for them to currently, the woman advised me I wouldn't be able to get it up to the 2000 interest free OD but said might be able to stretch an extra 500 which was approved.

I went ahead and paid £416.30 off my CC. This will make it more manageable to pay back within the year for me for sure e.g. when I go into full time paid work.

I DID spend more than I earned, with the CC, and lead me to this issue right now. I earn enough to live on in all respects right now and now I'm going to pay £50 a month until I go into full time work on my CC which should consistently reduce the interest + pay it off slowly. I'll use the CC payback calc on MSE to check.

For the record I don't ever have the overdraft near the limit often. I have a monthly pay check of £550 ish, and there's always chunks of money in there for my rent and bills.
They allowed me to extend the OD without being at the max because the money in there left was basically for my rent and bills, but I will shortly receive a pay check so spending that money is OK as the pay check is coming in.
Whilst this is somewhat counter productive, still overall per month I will earn enough on what I spend/have to pay for.