Cards with high initial limits

Guzza

I'm looking to apply for a 3rd credit card shortly but I am looking for one with a high initial credit limit.

A little bit of info about myself, credit history and current credit card info:-
Part-time working for council, part-time self-employed property investor. (circa £20k before tax)
Good credit history - 5 secured mortgages, 2 credit cards, 1 unsecured loan with Zopa (£7.5k), Home owner, 2 years at current address, on Electoral Register. One default (British Gas) wrongly put on about 3 years ago but challenged and was then removed.
Capital One - since 2012 - the one which boosts credit rating - maxed the limit at £1,500 (paid off in full every month) - norm spend under £100/month
Barclaycard - since Oct 2015 - was £3k up until 2 days ago, did online CLI to £7.5k instantly accepted (paid in full every month) - norm spend around £250-1000/month.

Looking to end up with total limits circa £50-100k+ - in order to help with refurb materials and property purchases.

Want to gauge opinions of which supplier offers higher initial limits. I have heard MBNA on the grapevine. If this is true, is it MBNA MBNA or Virgin MBNA or 'Other' MBNA? Any other cards that may be suitable that offer higher limits? Or is it all a game of chance?

Looking for other people's experiences/examples as well.

Thanks!

bigadaj

Mbna would be worth a go.

You have a relatively low income, part of which isn't from paid employment which lenders may see as less reliable.

A single application is worthwhile but credit is now more difficult for many people, particularly where you might want to get to higher limits in a short period of time.

I can't see you getting limits of three or four times your income, certainly not in a short period of time, but a couple of applications every few months won't do too much harm.

Edit - Amex can also give high limits but have fairly strict acceptance criteria.

Anthorn

I'll put it this way: If I was a prime lender I would not give you a credit limit of £50k - £100k when the income you have is £20k a year from part-time work and speculative investments. In fact I wouldn't give a card in the first place.

The capital requirement placed on banks after the 2008 crash is being eroded as well as more money being printed to stimulate lending to business and consumers. So I think we can expect higher credit limits in the near future.

To date my highest starting limits have come from MBNA and Amex. The starting limit from Lloyds Bank was very low in comparison but after 3 months it was tripled!

Guzza

Thanks for the responses.

I understand why lenders may be cautious dependent on income.
I would say that I have good utilisation % (having worked for a loan company previously I know how best to maximise this) and until recently managed £500k worth of secured debt.
Not everything should be income based but I know I may struggle to get up to that target figure to start with. The aim is to build up the investment side and target an income of £40-50k p.a - just looking to utilise clever borrowing strategies.

MallyGirl

Barclaycard gave me my highest limit (0% BT), followed by Virgin (0% money transfer), followed by Amex (0% purchase).