What would you do?

gozaimasu

Two credit cards to choose from, both 0% interest BTs with no fee.

1. Eligibility checker gave a pre-approval with a specific limit
2. Eligibility checker gave 95% chance of being accepted, but no mention of limit or pre-approval.

Which one would you apply for? Pre-approval is the safer option but what if you wanted a higher limit?

Jami74

Apply for the first one. Once approved and balance transfer done apply for second one

gozaimasu

Thanks! Didn't even think of that.

In general, is it of benefit to reduce credit limits on old cards in order to encourage other lenders to offer higher limits on new ones? Got a card that's been sitting around unusued and I could easily halve the limit. Doing that would increase my overall credit utilisation ratio though.

Brie

the more your total credit limit is on all cards the more of a risk you are.  at least that's what my bank said when I was applying for a mortgage.  

[Deleted User]

The pre-approvals are not 100% as they may still decline on full application.

I would be aware of upto X months as you get less plus reducing credit limits may not filter through immediately.

Good luck 🤞 

gozaimasu

Brie said:

the more your total credit limit is on all cards the more of a risk you are.

Yeah I can see why - more credit available to spend, so no matter your payment history they still think it's a risk, however infinitessimal, that one day we'll go mental and max them all out. In the same way, that even if we have savings, it is never taken into account for mortgage "stress testing" purposes, just in case one day we go mental and spend all our life savings in one go.