Right use of cards??

wigglers

My  fiance and i hsve Debt it's both our debt we have kids,, live together and share everything so no worries with that. But we have managed to transfer it all to zero percent with various offers.. M n s have agreed and are severing a card with 1k limit which wasn't enough to transfer. So now I'm thinking maybe use the m n s card to get diesel etc on it and pay it off in full every month.. Would that improve my credit rating over time? Or shall i ring the company at which i  have been accepted and filled in a bt for, and lower the balance transfer by a grand? So i can put the rest grand in the n and s card  Also should i contact them and Ask for a spending card or leave it as what they Are sending me out? Thanks

JamesPeter

wigglers said:

My  fiance and i hsve Debt it's both our debt we have kids,, live together and share everything so no worries with that. But we have managed to transfer it all to zero percent with various offers.. M n s have agreed and are severing a card with 1k limit which wasn't enough to transfer. So now I'm thinking maybe use the m n s card to get diesel etc on it and pay it off in full every month.. Would that improve my credit rating over time? Or shall i ring the company at which i  have been accepted and filled in a bt for, and lower the balance transfer by a grand? So i can put the rest grand in the n and s card  Also should i contact them and Ask for a spending card or leave it as what they Are sending me out? Thanks

If M&S are severing the card, then it is highly likely no further spending can be made on the card and any debt currently owing on it will need to be paid back (if necessary by some arrangement which will adversely affect your credit rating for upto 6 years), as you appear to be saying you cannot transfer this debt?

sleepyjones

Negating the above, yes, in theory.  Any account you've had for a long time will look better to potential lenders.  So, even if it's a card with a £500 limit that you make use of and pay off in full will improve your history over time (even if it's only £50 per month).  

Try and pay off any overdrafts if you have any ... and don't use it if you can avoid it.

wigglers

No m and s are sending a new card balance transfer plus. But it only has a limit of 1k. I've managed to transfer all other debt to other cards so this is not needed. So i can either try using it or ring mbna and try get them to change the bt to take of the 1k that i can transfer to it?.. My idea is leave it and use it to build the reading back up.. You see what i mean? 

Thesaltmustflow

wigglers said:

No m and s are sending a new card balance transfer plus. But it only has a limit of 1k. I've managed to transfer all other debt to other cards so this is not needed. So i can either try using it or ring mbna and try get them to change the bt to take of the 1k that i can transfer to it?.. My idea is leave it and use it to build the reading back up.. You see what i mean? 

I'm pretty sure BT's cannot be cancelled or altered once initiated. MBNA definitely says that in the T&C's as I have 2 of them. 

wigglers

Ahhh ok yeah seems like I'll have to leave it as is then. 

enthusiasticsaver

The best way of improving your credit rating is actually to reduce the reliance on them so the percentage of usage compared to limits reduces.  I would therefore suggest you move away from using the cards as they affect budgets and people tend to think more carefully about spending on debit cards or cash rather than credit cards.  I can only guess the reason for this is people think they have a month to sort out payment but in fact what they are doing is spending from the next pay cheque. Are you sure you can be disciplined to pay the M and S card off in full each month and not be tempted to reduce the payment so before long you have yet another debt you need to repay?