Santander Credit Card

Ballard

I've have a Santander credit card since February and it has a 23 month interest free period for purchases (and balance transfers but I didn't need one). My only gripe with it is that the statement narrative always starts along the lines of PURCHASE DOMESTIC LONDON and I have to expand this to see who the heck I've spent my hard earned with. I've brought this to their attention but I don't expect much to be done.

I digress, though. The point of this post is to gauge opinion as to whether they'd raise my limit in the near future. I was given a £6,200 limit and am £4,600 into this. I have £20,000 in the 1-2-3 account and £11,000 in an ISA with them.

I've never requested a limit increase before and don't know whether to leave it for Santander to offer me a higher limit (or not) or speak to them about it. I have no requirements for any large purchases in the near future but I put pretty much everything onto this card so I'll exhaust it within a few months.

I do have a 40 day holiday in November/December and have most of the accomodation to pay for when I get there so I'll want a decent amount available. I can use my Tesco credit card and get points if necessary but I prefer the interest free option.

MrSilk

Depends on your salary, your limits on other credit agreements and of course how much you pay each month towards the balance.

Vortigern

Ballard wrote: »

I've have a Santander credit card since February and it has a 23 month interest free period for purchases (and balance transfers but I didn't need one). My only gripe with it is that the statement narrative always starts along the lines of PURCHASE DOMESTIC LONDON and I have to expand this to see who the heck I've spent my hard earned with. I've brought this to their attention but I don't expect much to be done.

I've also raised this issue with them. It's even worse when you download the transactions as a .QIF file because the number of characters is limited and you don't get much beyond the (unwanted, irrelevant) "PURCHASE DOMESTIC"

With regard to your credit limit, I should wait until you've had the card for at least six months, and perhaps until a month before your holiday. If this is a foreign holiday, you could consider a Halifax Clarity card as a backup to the Santander. Both are good for foreign transactions, unlike Tesco.

Ballard

MrSilk wrote: »

Depends on your salary, your limits on other credit agreements and of course how much you pay each month towards the balance.

My salary will soon be zero as I'm about to be made redundant but this isn't my main account so I wouldn't expect them to see a difference. Other than a couple of credit cards which I don't use and a piddling mortgage which is financially beneficial for me not to pay off I don't have any other lines of credit. I do have several savings accounts (mostly ISAs) dotted around.

Being as I'm in the 0% interest period I pay the minimum amount each month.

Ballard

Vortigern wrote: »

With regard to your credit limit, I should wait until you've had the card for at least six months, and perhaps until a month before your holiday. If this is a foreign holiday, you could consider a Halifax Clarity card as a backup to the Santander. Both are good for foreign transactions, unlike Tesco.

I'm considering the Clarity but I'll probably stick with my current cards, particularly if I can get the limit up on this one. I have a Travelex Supercard and although the VISA exchange rate is around 1% off that of Mastercard I'd have use of the funds for another year whilst it sits on Santander at 0%. The other option is my Tesco credit card (via the Supercard) which would give me clubcard points to offset against the poorer exchange rate.

msallen

I wouldn't get your hopes up too much, although it is possible. The bottom line is that a 0% offer is a loss leader to get you to sign up for their card. You've now got the card so they have little incentive to lose even more on the deal.

SuzieSue

I applied for a 123 cc and they gave me a low credit limit. I rang them and asked them if it was worth appealing and they said that it could affect my credit rating. So instead, I applied for their other 0% cc as was accepted with an identical credit limit.

shane1104

Ballard wrote: »

My salary will soon be zero as I'm about to be made redundant but this isn't my main account so I wouldn't expect them to see a difference. Other than a couple of credit cards which I don't use and a piddling mortgage which is financially beneficial for me not to pay off I don't have any other lines of credit. I do have several savings accounts (mostly ISAs) dotted around.

Being as I'm in the 0% interest period I pay the minimum amount each month.

forgive me for being naïve, but aren't you obliged to let them know a change in circumstances that would cause an effect/affect(sp?) on ability to repay? unless you have another job lined up?

Ballard

shane1104 wrote: »

forgive me for being naïve, but aren't you obliged to let them know a change in circumstances that would cause an effect/affect(sp?) on ability to repay? unless you have another job lined up?

I've been wondering that myself, to be honest. I will get around to looking into it in the next few months.

Vortigern

shane1104 wrote: »

forgive me for being naïve, but aren't you obliged to let them know a change in circumstances that would cause an effect/affect(sp?) on ability to repay? unless you have another job lined up?

I don't believe any CC company or bank requires an existing customer to advise them of a change in circumstances.

Some CC companies require a declaration that there is no impending change of circumstance for a new customer's application.

SuperHan

When I rang to ask Santander to increase my limit after my salary increased 3 fold from when I applied, I was told they did not have the systems to manually increase limits, and I would have to wait until I maybe one day got a letter telling me they had increased my limit. They also had no way of recording my increased wage on their system to inform this decision.

I'm now stuck with a £800 limit on my 123, despite some of my other cards offering £6.5k because they still believe I only earn £8k