Can I apply for more than one 0% balance transfer card in one week to cover balance?

Olive_8

Hello, seeking advice on the below situation, I am very new to all this!

I was hoping to move £8,500 debt (5,500 on the CC & 3,000 overdraft, TSB) onto a 0% BT card, and was on Monday, accepted for a virgin money (32 months @ 0.59% fee) card, however only for a balance of £2,200 (still something!). I am wondering if I should try to open another 0% balance transfer card to cover the remaining credit card balance & my overdraft. I was thinking of going for one with a longer 0% time & a higher initial fee so that I can get a bigger credit limit - does this make sense? And can I apply for more than one credit card in the same week!?!?

I then plan to use my TSB a/c as my business account and set up a basic or current a/c with virgin money as my personal account (I have recently registered as self employed). I am determined to get my debt problem sorted !! But I feel a bit lost as how to proceed given I didn't get the full amount! Any help & advice would be so appreciated )

Olive

Sharon87

You can apply for as many cards as you want, but you may not be accepted for them all. 2 searches should be fine in one week. Be careful about doing 3 or more searches as you may not get accepted for so many in such a short space of time. But 2 should be fine

Nasqueron

Your credit limit is generally set by how much debt (or available credit) you have vs your salary, regardless of initial fee, banks need to be responsible lenders so if you have 8,500 debt + 2,200 available on the BT card so total debt/credit = £10700 - if you have a salary over £20,000 you might get another card but unlikely to get another £6000 unless you have a much higher salary (no guarantee you won't use the card for more spending) and if you were earning say £30,000 unless you had a poor credit record then you'd imagine Virgin would have given you more credit

chattychappy

Yes, I've done this.

If you're going to apply for two in quick succession, there is a logic in doing the second one as soon as possible. The provider will see the search logged in respect of the first application, but not that an account has been opened. If you delay, then the existance of the first account might be apparent to the second lender and they might be concerned about the amount of available credit you have. Of course, it might work the other way around - if you are up to your limits, then having an additional account open (but same balance overall) means you are no longer looking so stressed...

MallyGirl

and don't forget that you can't pay off an overdraft with a BT card - you need a money transfer for this

Olive_8

Thanks all.

Sadly I will have missed the super-speedy attempt at opening a 2nd account as I just received my MT from Virgin Money today. So now I don't know if it's best to use that £2050 to pay off my O/D or my CC before attempting to apply for another 0% BT/MT card??....

Thank you !

MallyGirl

pay into OD and also ask them to drop the OD limit so you don't go back there again

chattychappy

Olive_8 wrote: »

Sadly I will have missed the super-speedy attempt at opening a 2nd account as I just received my MT from Virgin Money today.

Not necessarily. Whereas searches are shown instantly, "account status" information is only reported periodlically. So there is a lag between an account being opened and it showing on the CRAs.

Olive_8 wrote: »

So now I don't know if it's best to use that £2050 to pay off my O/D or my CC before attempting to apply for another 0% BT/MT card??....

The usual advice is to throw monies at the balance with the highest APR first. If there isn't much in it, then I would pay off the overdraft first since many cards don't offer money transfers.

MallyGirl wrote: »

pay into OD and also ask them to drop the OD limit so you don't go back there again

I think this comes down to pyschology. Many banks will let you have an unauthorised overdraft and simply charge you more for the privilege. So if the OP is "weak willed", the effect of this could be to simply incur more charges. If "psycho" factors are at play, this could be a reason for not paying off the overdraft first. If the OP pays off a CC then she could close the account - and that would indeed stop spending.

Olive_8

chattychappy wrote: »

Not necessarily. Whereas searches are shown instantly, "account status" information is only reported periodlically. So there is a lag between an account being opened and it showing on the CRAs.



The usual advice is to throw monies at the balance with the highest APR first. If there isn't much in it, then I would pay off the overdraft first since many cards don't offer money transfers.



I think this comes down to pyschology. Many banks will let you have an unauthorised overdraft and simply charge you more for the privilege. So if the OP is "weak willed", the effect of this could be to simply incur more charges. If "psycho" factors are at play, this could be a reason for not paying off the overdraft first. If the OP pays off a CC then she could close the account - and that would indeed stop spending.

Thanks for all this very helpful sensible advice. Re the last comment, what does OP stand for? <New to all this>

john1002

OP = Original poster so in this case you

John