Little bit confused

Silverstar

Hi folks,

I'm in the process of paying off the credit card debts that I ran up as a student. In the last year and a half, I've got my debt down from around 11k to just over 6k, and have had all of this on various 0% cards, which I have moved every six months. The interest free period of these cards is just about to expire, and I therefore applied for a couple of new ones, and was refused for both due to problems with my credit rating. I have however successfully set up a new bank account.

I sent off for my credit report, and there don't appear to be any problems on it. I haven't gone over my overdraft or had a late payment in well over a year, and when I applied for my last round of cards six months ago, I had no problems getting them. Nothing has appeared on my report since then to bring my score down.

The only thing I can possibly think of is that I'm not on the electoral roll, but then, I wasn't six months ago either.

It's been suggested to me that interest rate changes mean that the banks and credit card companies are really tightening up on who they provide cards to. Is this likely to be the reason, and if so, is there anything I can do about it? I'd really rather not go back to paying interest when I feel I've made such a good effort over the last year.

Thanks

jonesMUFCforever

It could well be.

Have you formally closed some of the old cards which you have cleared?
If not your 'potential' debt (ie add up all your credit limits) could be spooking some lenders now.

Silverstar

Yeah, I closed all my old cards as soon as I'd transferred the balances off them, and they are all showing up on my credit report as 'settled', which I assume is financial-speak for closed. The only ones not settled are the ones I'm using at the moment.

jonesMUFCforever

In that case your limits or total outstanding is now being considered too high and lenders are thinking you are too much of a risk to issue a new card.

Whilst you may hate to pay interest it might be time to consider a loan to pay them all off.

anniecave

do you know what your credit rating is - (like the excellent, good, fair categories that experian use)? It could be that you have applied for cards that want a credit rating higher than yours is? There is a smart search with experian on the moneysupermarket.com website if you don't understand what I mean.
If this is the case might be best to leave it for a couple of months (paying interest) and apply for ones you'd be more likely to get?
Have you asked any of your existing card prividers? Sometimes providers offer a repeat deal or can offer you a lower rate if you ask?
Or have you considered going for a low life of balance rate offer rather than 0%? Providers are more likely to offer this than 0%.

All the best with getting yourself sorted.

CLAPTON

Why aren't you on the electoral roll?
I know you said you had no trouble six months ago but normally 'no electoral entry' no credit.