Credit card limits....

barnishroader

Hi,

I was wondering if there was a way of finding out the limits that you will be set before you get a credit card.

My wife has a Virgin card.
It is her first and only card and she was given a £4100 limit.
The initial 0% deals ended last month and i looked into getting her a card to transfer the balance of £2500 to.

As i had recently set up an Alliance & Leicester bank account for her and their card seemed to be one of the best long term 0% mentioned on this site, i went for that.

The limit they offered was £1200.

Therfore this is no good for moving the full balance.

What would my best option to go for now?
If i apply for another card in the hope that it will have a better limit then that will add another search to her credit score and may not even have enough of a limit.
Or should i cancel her Alliance & Leicester card and try for another one?

Without knowing the limit before you accept it is difficult to make these decisions.

Any help please would be much appreciated.

exel1966

There aren't any companies which will tell you in advance what your credit limit will be. There are never any guarantees, not even for those with perfect credit histories. It is purely and simply a gamble as to whether you'll get what you need. To receive a credit limit of £4100 on her 1st card was VERY generous of Virgin !

Have you tried explaining to A&L that you need a higher limit to enable a BT. They might possibly increase the limit if they think they're getting something out of it.
One more search in a short space of time will not particularly harm her credit rating unless you have applied for other forms of credit elsewhere recently OR you intend to apply for more credit.
To cancel the A&L card now will be pointless as the credit search has now been done and you cannot remove it. Use the £1200 and apply for another card, but remember there are NO guarantees. Some companies are more generous than others, EGG being one of them GENERALLY !

barnishroader

exel1966 wrote: »

There aren't any companies which will tell you in advance what your credit limit will be. There are never any guarantees, not even for those with perfect credit histories. It is purely and simply a gamble as to whether you'll get what you need. To receive a credit limit of £4100 on her 1st card was VERY generous of Virgin !

Have you tried explaining to A&L that you need a higher limit to enable a BT. They might possibly increase the limit if they think they're getting something out of it.
One more search in a short space of time will not particularly harm her credit rating unless you have applied for other forms of credit elsewhere recently OR you intend to apply for more credit.
To cancel the A&L card now will be pointless as the credit search has now been done and you cannot remove it. Use the £1200 and apply for another card, but remember there are NO guarantees. Some companies are more generous than others, EGG being one of them GENERALLY !

Yeah i thought it was v generous of Virgin as any i have ever applied for only give 1500-2000!

Is that maybe a ploy by the companies to counter people BT from card to card?
If they set a low limit then people are likely to use up the full amount with a BT and may not have it paid off by the time the intro period is over meaning you pay interest or they offer to up your limit after the intro period is over.

As far as i know she has had no other apps for credit other than a loan a few years back and has no intention to make any so after i get her to phone A&L i'll look into other companies cards.
Never checked out EGG before so will maybe see what they can offer.

rsykes2000

Mind if you are BTing that the fee charged doesn't take you over your limit, ie don't BT the whole 1200 in one go...

barnishroader

rsykes2000 wrote: »

Mind if you are BTing that the fee charged doesn't take you over your limit, ie don't BT the whole 1200 in one go...

it fine as they only allow you to transfer 90% of your limit.
thanks anyway

raff_2

Hi, I have several cards but non are maxed out, I paid £4.99 for an Experian credit score to tell me how good a risk I am to lenders, I got a score of Your score is: 970 on a scale of 0-1000 Excellent Yeh right, I then applied for a PO card to do balance transfers and was refused, I was GOBSMACKED to say the least. When I spoke to Experian I was told it was their scoring and lenders all have their own little way, I argued for a refund based on the fact the service was totally pointless and based only on quality of my payment history. They also advised me if I had for example a £9k credit limit but only had £4k on the card, I should ask the card company to reduce my credit limit to £4k, the reason being that lenders will see a potential for me running up depts I can't handle which makes me a larger risk to them and so its a no thanks from them. I have also learnt that when you pay off a card (which feels very nice) , don't close it but ring them and ask for a balance transfer deal or you may close the card account because you don't require it any longer now it is paid off, or keep it and wait until they have a balance transfer offer then use it.

raff_2

..........

[Deleted User]

I am sorry to tell you this but the A+L card wont let you BT from the virgin card. Both cards are owned by MBNA a subsiduary of the Bank of America, which also explains the low limit, it means this company ie MBNA rates you at 5300.

Try getting a HSBC, RBS or HBOS cards as they normally offer high credit limits because they own half the world. :beer:

Of the three I believe RBS are the main group at the mo after punters thus offering the best deals so try ulster, rbs or natwest (all the same company)

Top tip for the future - GOLDEN RULE all 0% or near 0% credit card debt must be matched by an equal quantity of savings - otherwise you get into trouble like you have done now

Top tip number 2 find out which companys own which companys, that are in bed with which companys that run which cards. Eg as you have just found out to ur missfortune you have two MBNA cards, they dont like to lend themselfs money atr 0% trust me

barnishroader

Yant1 wrote: »

I am sorry to tell you this but the A+L card wont let you BT from the virgin card. Both cards are owned by MBNA a subsiduary of the Bank of America, which also explains the low limit, it means this company ie MBNA rates you at 5300.

Try getting a HSBC, RBS or HBOS cards as they normally offer high credit limits because they own half the world. :beer:

Of the three I believe RBS are the main group at the mo after punters thus offering the best deals so try ulster, rbs or natwest (all the same company)

Top tip for the future - GOLDEN RULE all 0% or near 0% credit card debt must be matched by an equal quantity of savings - otherwise you get into trouble like you have done now

Top tip number 2 find out which companys own which companys, that are in bed with which companys that run which cards. Eg as you have just found out to ur missfortune you have two MBNA cards, they dont like to lend themselfs money atr 0% trust me

might also explain this:
my own first card was a halifax one card. when the 0% was about to run out i applied for a RBS as it had best offers on at that time.
the limit was a 1100 as opposed to the 2200 i had on the halifax card.
am i right in thinking they are both the same company?
when i tried to balance tranfer the first time they couldnt do it but they guy tried again and it went through and he told me that sometimes they can and sometimes they cant transfer between these cards.

will look into the rbs card but soooo wish i had known this before getting her the A&L card as she thinks i messed up her application!

exel1966

raff wrote: »

Hi, I have several cards but non are maxed out, I paid £4.99 for an Experian credit score to tell me how good a risk I am to lenders, I got a score of Your score is: 970 on a scale of 0-1000 Excellent Yeh right, I then applied for a PO card to do balance transfers and was refused, I was GOBSMACKED to say the least. When I spoke to Experian I was told it was their scoring and lenders all have their own little way, I argued for a refund based on the fact the service was totally pointless and based only on quality of my payment history. They also advised me if I had for example a £9k credit limit but only had £4k on the card, I should ask the card company to reduce my credit limit to £4k, the reason being that lenders will see a potential for me running up depts I can't handle which makes me a larger risk to them and so its a no thanks from them. I have also learnt that when you pay off a card (which feels very nice) , don't close it but ring them and ask for a balance transfer deal or you may close the card account because you don't require it any longer now it is paid off, or keep it and wait until they have a balance transfer offer then use it.

You have learnt the expensive lesson of paying for a credit score which means absolutely nothing. It is used by the CRA's a s a marketing tool to relieve you of your cash only. Every lender will use their own criteria/customer profile to assess whether you are good enough for credit.

inmypocketnottheirs

barryheffron wrote: »

might also explain this:
my own first card was a halifax one card. when the 0% was about to run out i applied for a RBS as it had best offers on at that time.
the limit was a 1100 as opposed to the 2200 i had on the halifax card.
am i right in thinking they are both the same company?
when i tried to balance tranfer the first time they couldnt do it but they guy tried again and it went through and he told me that sometimes they can and sometimes they cant transfer between these cards.

will look into the rbs card but soooo wish i had known this before getting her the A&L card as she thinks i messed up her application!

Halifax are Bank of Scotland (referred to as HBOS).

RBS is Royal Bank of Scotland (also owns Nat West).

HBOS and RBS are totally different companies.

HTH