Getting higher limit on new card

doveman

I've currently got a Royal Bank of Scotland credit card with a £4,000 limit. No debt on it (I clear it every month) and no other debt.

I want to get a new 0% purchase card to pay for some dental work and get rid of the RBS card but I did a eligibility check with Santander and it pre-approved me for an All in One card with a £2,600 limit, which is too low for me. Is anywhere else likely to offer me a higher limit or is there anything I can do to make that happen? I don't think all providers offer an eligibility check and I don't want to make an actual application, which I presume will be reflected on my credit report, only to be given a card with a limit that's too low to cover what I need.

onlyfoolsandparking

It's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question. Any prospective lender will only give you a limit that suits their risk profile of yourself. The limit may or may not be appropriate for you but it is what it is. Out of interest how many cards do you have currently and how much is your dental work likely to cost.

If I were in your position I wouldn't be too quick to get rid of the RBS card, it's still a decent amount of credit. I wouldn't need a new purchase card as I have a number of cards with decent deals so I would pay for all the treatment on one of my cards and then BT the balance over to another, job done, you would have to take the hit on a few weeks interest doing it my way but it could be better than applying for a new card and you wouldn't have to be concerned about only getting a 'low limit'

This all depends on how many cards you currently have of course and if you are currently being offered BT/MT deals . 

doveman

I don't have any other credit cards, just the RBS one, which I've had for quite a while so the credit limit's been bumped up over the years (by them, I never requested an increase). The dental work is probably going to cost in the region of £4,000 but I might be able to get some of it done first, then pay that off, and then get the rest done and pay that off before the 0% period ends if it's long enough.

I'm not sure if the Santander All in One I've been pre-approved for is a definite 20 months 0% on purchases or if it's up to, as the email doesn't say anything about that, it just says the limit that I've been approved for. There's a £3/month fee for that card, so the Sainsbury's card might be better but I won't know how long the 0% purchase period is going to be until after I apply for it (it's up to 21 months).

Presumably any 0% BT card I apply for will only give me the same limit as I'd get with a 0% purchase card, so unless I can get a new card with a limit around £4,000 I won't be able to just pay for the dental work with my RBS card and then BT to a 0% card and as you say, doing that would incur a few weeks interest (and BT fee) so 0% purchase is preferable.

jay1804

doveman said:

I don't have any other credit cards, just the RBS one, which I've had for quite a while so the credit limit's been bumped up over the years (by them, I never requested an increase). The dental work is probably going to cost in the region of £4,000 but I might be able to get some of it done first, then pay that off, and then get the rest done and pay that off before the 0% period ends if it's long enough.

I'm not sure if the Santander All in One I've been pre-approved for is a definite 20 months 0% on purchases or if it's up to, as the email doesn't say anything about that, it just says the limit that I've been approved for. There's a £3/month fee for that card, so the Sainsbury's card might be better but I won't know how long the 0% purchase period is going to be until after I apply for it (it's up to 21 months).

Presumably any 0% BT card I apply for will only give me the same limit as I'd get with a 0% purchase card, so unless I can get a new card with a limit around £4,000 I won't be able to just pay for the dental work with my RBS card and then BT to a 0% card and as you say, doing that would incur a few weeks interest (and BT fee) so 0% purchase is preferable.

When I got approved for a Santander All in one card a couple months ago, they gave me the full BT and purchase offer period. I don't think Santander change the offer period, they either approve or decline you. Also you can only increase your limit after 6 months, if eligible.

It might be a good idea to check Llodys banking group(Halifax, Lloyds and Mbna) and Virgin Money as they all give you your estimated credit limit and your likelihood of being approved.

If you bank with Nationwide they also offer the same as above.

Alex9384

Apply for a Halifax credit card.

Once you have the card, you can apply for a second one (no more hard searches, only for the first card)

After having the second card for at least 7 days, you can call them and ask to transfer a portion of your credit limit from card 1 to card 2 or vice versa. Let's say you have the same 5000 limits on both cards, so 10k in total. You can make it a 9000 limit on one card and the other one will be reduced to 1000.

I'm just not sure if you can apply for 2 cards in the same month. I applied for the second one after 10 months.

doveman

Alex9384 said:

Apply for a Halifax credit card.

Once you have the card, you can apply for a second one (no more hard searches, only for the first card)

After having the second card for at least 7 days, you can call them and ask to transfer a portion of your credit limit from card 1 to card 2 or vice versa. Let's say you have the same 5000 limits on both cards, so 10k in total. You can make it a 9000 limit on one card and the other one will be reduced to 1000.

I'm just not sure if you can apply for 2 cards in the same month. I applied for the second one after 10 months.

Thanks for the suggestion. I would have done that but I've already got a Lloyds card now. They only offered me slightly more than Santander (£3,000 vs £2,600) but I'll just get some of the dental work done now and then pay it off, or ask them to increase the limit in 6 months as I've got 0% on purchases for 21 months.