Balance transfer woes

couldnotthinkofagoodusername

Hey All,
New to the forum, need some advice.
I have some debt on a credit card and looking for options to do a cheap balance transfer.
I found a great looking 0% balance transfer deal via MSE, so applied. The application was accepted, but with a credit limit way too low to be of any real use. I made a complaint to the new card issuer, on account of having told them how much I wanted to transfer in the application. But they say the credit limit cannot be increased due to the information they got from my credit record.

So, I signed up to one of the credit agencies and got my credit record. I can see that only mark against me is that I'm using higher than 60% of available credit on the card I'm trying to clear. Apart from my mortgage, I have no other debt, and my payment history is perfect.

I don't have the money to pay my current card down to below 60%, so now I really don't know what to do. The card I'm trying to clear, is the very thing that's stopping me getting a cheaper card to clear it.

I'm thinking that my options are:
1. Ask my current card issuer for a higher credit limit. Then try again in a month's time hoping it has improve my utilisation percentage.
2. Apply to another issuer, hoping to have better luck.
3. Get a personal loan to clear it, but that wouldn't be 0%, and likely would have early repayment charges.

Obviously all of these ideas will cause another search on my credit record, which might negatively affect trying the other options.
Wondered if anyone else has had similar experience, and what's the best way around it?

cymruchris

4. Look at what you spend on a monthly basis, see what you can do to trim it. Reduce your broadband package, discontinue netflix, reduce sky, move down a tier or two on the mobile phone contract, sell those things in the wardrobe you haven't touched for 6 months, dig out your old phone and put it on ebay. 

Lenders are tightening their criteria due to the current pandemic. As your level of debt to salary is probably too high, nobody will give you another card. You have to focus on getting your debt down as quickly as you can. It'll probably mean you start paying interest - but zero percent offers aren't guaranteed to be available to everyone forever - so you should always have had a plan in place to deal with the debt if the 'free credit' ran out. Option 1,2 and 3 aren't likely to help. 

You can try an eligibility checker for one of the poor credit cards that might have a 6 month balance transfer option, but again the limit isn't going to be what you want.

For now - balance transfer the maximum you can, work on paying down the other debt, and then work on getting the balance transfer down as well. I don't think 'free credit' is going to be available easily for at least another year.

couldnotthinkofagoodusername

Thanks cymruchris, very much appreciate the reply, and I'm sure you have a point about lenders acting different due to the pandemic. 
As I say though, the only indication they've given me is the credit utilisation percentage on that one card. Last time I got my credit report (a couple of years ago when I was looking for a mortgage) my credit score was 999-Excellent. Now its about half of that, seemingly all due to this one yellow mark.

Going the route of just trying to pay it off over time, at maximum interest rate, without even trying to get a better deal doesn't seem the best option to me. I mean, I might be forced to do that, but I might as well at least try to get a better deal, right?
If no issuer will give me a card anyway, I guess it doesn't matter if I have more searches on my record.

Just looking for advice on the best option, or if there are other ways that I haven't thought of.

[Deleted User]

Don't worry about the pretend credit score.  It's not a factor in anything and certainly not in lending.

Once you've transferred what you can, focus on the interest bearing debt.  This will in turn bring your debt down faster, opening up other opportunities for another offer.

cymruchris

No other ways you haven't thought of - aside from what I've outlined above really. The situation isn't going to improve in the 'next few weeks' - credit isn't suddenly going to become available again because there might be a vaccine in a few months, so if the eligibility checkers are saying no - you've got to address the debt itself, and cut every luxury for a few months to bring it down.

It might not be what you had planned to do, but it might also be a blessing in disguise if you can achieve a significant reduction over the next few months to put you in a stronger position for the future. Of course if you're really struggling, you need to speak to your card issuer rather than just stop paying, but any arrangement you might come to could potentially affect your credit history.

Scores mean nothing. 999 - 99999 -  9999999999999 - only you see them. Lenders are only interested in data and history. For now they see you as a risk as you're carrying debt.