Credit Card Limit

smudger478

Hello All


We are looking to get a credit card with 0% interest for a decent period of time to pay for flights to Asia for 5 people at the end of the year. Obviously the sooner we book the flights the cheaper deal we will get. My question is regarding the limit CC companies will offer - anyone know if we can find out in advance what the limit might be? We have a decent credit rating and have never been refused credit before.


Any advice would be welcome.


TIA


Laura

YorkshireBoy

Generally the only way you'll find out beforehand (although not with all lenders) is when your existing bank account providers make you a guaranteed credit card offer and indicate a "likely" credit limit.

The lenders giving the best credit limits in my opinion, and experience, are MBNA and your own bank. The bad news is that MBNA don't have any really good purchase offers at the moment. Then again, maybe a circa 2% fee for one of their money transfers would work for you on 3 counts?...

1. There would be no credit card fee to pay on the transaction, and

2. You'd get 2 years 0% interest...more than you'd get with the best 0% on purchases card available at the moment, and

3. The flight costs are bound to go up by more than this (I know flights I booked 2 months ago for Greece have nearly doubled since then).

sgtwilks6

I have a similar situation. I want to do a balance transfer of 7k. Have applied for an alliance & Leicester and got declined. I applied for a Halifax online and got accepted there and then, but could only transfer about 1k? How do i get a a card with a high credit limit?
I have an 'excellent' credit history according to experian.

DCFC79

sgtwilks6 wrote: »

I have a similar situation. I want to do a balance transfer of 7k. Have applied for an alliance & Leicester and got declined. I applied for a Halifax online and got accepted there and then, but could only transfer about 1k? How do i get a a card with a high credit limit?
I have an 'excellent' credit history according to experian.

Experian aren't lenders and lenders don't see your score.

chattychappy

My suggestion would be that you push off two applications at the same time. The search in respect of the first will (probably) show up when you make the second, but the account (if approved) won't have been set up so it won't show as available credit. This might result in your getting decent limits on both cards. Any conventional travel agent should be able to split the transaction over both cards.

You don't say where in Asia you are going to. I spend alot of time in SE Asia/Hong Kong/Taiwan and have been doing trips backwards and forwards for 20 years. It isn't necessarily the case you save a lot by booking months ahead, though granted it is safer if you have specific dates you must fly on.

smudger478

Thanks for all the info, we are visiting family in Nepal but intend flying to Kuala Lumpur first for Christmas then an internal flight to Katmandu and return to Kuala Lumpur for the return flight so we are quite inflexible with dates and still unsure of the overall cost. Maybe the idea of two cards would be better for us.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

smudger478 wrote: »

...Obviously the sooner we book the flights the cheaper deal we will get...

As chattychappy said, not necessarily. I've been watching Emirates prices from the UK to Asia/Pacific for the last few months and they've been bouncing up and down every few weeks as the airline holds special sales. On the other hand, as you have specific xmas dates, you are probably right to book when you can.

[Deleted User]

I've applied for several cards over the last few months and my largest credit limit was £6k from HSBC (and I don't bank with them). HSBC's process is quite arduous though with the credit agreement and direct debit forms both having to be sent and returned by post and I didn't find out the limit until receiving the card.

cakeforbrains

I find there is no rhyme or reason to credit limits. My husband has several cards, which range from having limits of £500 to £9600. The latter is a Nationwide card, who he banks with, and who keep requesting for him to agree to a limit increase to £12k.

I can only assume that they 'like' us because they've pocketed a lot of interest (recently nearly dealt with by a combo of paying and balance transferring).

smudger478

Hello Again
Right, have applied for M & S card and waiting to hear back. Also applied for Halifax and got an immediate rejection? When it states annual income should that have been a combined income of both my husband and I or just mine as I only put my income. Now worried the M & S will be rejected as well Any advice?