First time refusal

alibat_2

Help! I don't know what to do. I applied for a Virgin card as I'd heard they give large limits and I have a large egg balance to transfer by the end of the month when my 0% period expires. I'd checked my experian file and done a score check. I'd been informed that my score was excellent. Moneysupermarket check had also been good I've never missed any payments or been turned down before. Now I have an unsuccessful application on my file and I don't know what to do. I do have (very)high outstanding debt that I am paying off. My husband has no debt, in fact he is a real saver which is why I've not been able to tell him.

The fact that I already have an MBNA card (which was originally a BOS one) with a resonable amount of unused credit on is one reason. In fact, 4 out of my 6 cards are low LOB cards which all have unused credit on. The problem is, I can't put anymore on these as the transfer rates would not be of the same level and I would end up worse off. The high level of my debt relative to my income is the other reason. I'm scared of telling my husband as I'm sure he'd leave me (he works for a bank). I don't know if I've got enough flexibility to shuffle. Any suggestions (and I know telling my husband is the obvious one, but believe me, my life wouldn't be worth living). The cards I have are Egg, HSBC, M&S, Barclaycard, MBNA and AMEX. I also have a loan.

CLAPTON

Your credit record only shows that a credit search was carried out and not its result.

I would think you were turned down because of the level of your debts.

Without knowing your full financial details its impossible to give any significant advice.

I would suggest you go over to the debt free wanabe board and post a full SOA.

MABLE

alibat wrote: »

Help! I don't know what to do. I applied for a Virgin card as I'd heard they give large limits and I have a large egg balance to transfer by the end of the month when my 0% period expires. I'd checked my experian file and done a score check. I'd been informed that my score was excellent. Moneysupermarket check had also been good I've never missed any payments or been turned down before. Now I have an unsuccessful application on my file and I don't know what to do. I do have (very)high outstanding debt that I am paying off. My husband has no debt, in fact he is a real saver which is why I've not been able to tell him.

The fact that I already have an MBNA card (which was originally a BOS one) with a resonable amount of unused credit on is one reason. In fact, 4 out of my 6 cards are low LOB cards which all have unused credit on. The problem is, I can't put anymore on these as the transfer rates would not be of the same level and I would end up worse off. The high level of my debt relative to my income is the other reason. I'm scared of telling my husband as I'm sure he'd leave me (he works for a bank). I don't know if I've got enough flexibility to shuffle. Any suggestions (and I know telling my husband is the obvious one, but believe me, my life wouldn't be worth living). The cards I have are Egg, HSBC, M&S, Barclaycard, MBNA and AMEX. I also have a loan.

Why not ask MBNA to transfer your unused credit to Virgin card (they are operated by the same company). I did this when applying for their Sony card. I already had an MBNA card with unused credit and asked them to do a transfer to the Sony card. They agreed and gave me zero percent for 12 months. In my case they offered more credit but I inclined.
Worth a try!

alibat_2

Thanks both of you. Virgin did say there were two reasons for turning me down, my current debt and having a MBNA card already (wished I'd known that at the start). I will definately look into having the outstanding balance transferred. I don't have the figures to hand but I think I have about 2k of unused credit on the card. I have about 3K unused on M&S, 5K on HSBC, 2K on Amex and smaller amounts (under 1K) on the Barclaycard and Egg cards. I suspect having this level of unused credit isn't doing me any favours either. The exact figures are at home (I'm currently at work). I'm sure I should be able to do some shuffling. I know about Barclaycard having a low balance transfer rate for existing customers but I'd be very interested if anyone knows if Amex, M&S and/or HSBC do.

Also, I did wonder about asking Egg to convert the balance into a loan as it's around 7K. Do they do this and what are my chances of being accepted?

Finally, although I don't have the exact figure on me here, my debts are around 45K. Yes, you read that right on a salary of around 30K. I will write a full SOA on the DFW board in the next few days. I was shocked at the full amount. They are about 10K more than I thought they were. I am determined to be debt free. At the moment, I want to make sure more of my money goes on paying the debts rather than the interest.

mleonard79

alibat wrote: »

I know about Barclaycard having a low balance transfer rate for existing customers but I'd be very interested if anyone knows if Amex, M&S and/or HSBC do.

Hi Alibat,

M&S recently offered my mum 5.9% for the life of the balance without a bt fee so it might be worth giving them a call to switch some of it to them as if you can't get a 0% card at the moment then getting as low a rate as you can is the next best thing. As for the others I'd just ring them up and ask what their best deal on balance transfers is at the moment just in case.

Regards

Michelle

alibat_2

mleonard79 wrote: »

Hi Alibat,

M&S recently offered my mum 5.9% for the life of the balance without a bt fee so it might be worth giving them a call to switch some of it to them as if you can't get a 0% card at the moment then getting as low a rate as you can is the next best thing. As for the others I'd just ring them up and ask what their best deal on balance transfers is at the moment just in case.

Regards

Michelle

Was she an existing or new customer? I thought you could only transfer at this rate for the first six months. It I can, this would be brilliant.

mleonard79

alibat wrote: »

Was she an existing or new customer? I thought you could only transfer at this rate for the first six months. It I can, this would be brilliant.

She's an existing customer and has been for quite a few years. What they're offering at any given time and even to different customers can change quite a lot but it's definitely worth phoning up and asking what the best deal they have at the moment is.

Regards

Michelle