Applying for two credit cards without harming credit rating

FrugalAspirations

I have three 0% cards on the go currently, two of which are coming to the end of their deal within the next 12 months – one in June this year and the other in March next year.

Normally I’d apply for new 0% cards and transfer the balances as the deal is coming to an end, but I’m currently on maternity leave and will be on SMP in June, so my income will suddenly be very low and will hit £0 for a while before I go back to work in September. With this in mind I don’t think I could successfully apply for a new card until September, maybe even October. This would mean that, assuming I can’t transfer the other balance at the same time, I would need to apply for another card less than 6 months afterwards the first.

I’m worried that I would be refused for the second card because the application would be so close to the first, which would mean waiting even longer to get a replacement deal.

I can see a few options but not sure which is best:

1. apply for the cards at the times set out above and hope for the best
2. Pay off a large chunk of the card with the deal that expires in March (it’s the smaller of the two balances) now out of my savings, but leave myself with a much smaller cash cushion (less than £1,000)
3. Apply for a new 0% card now while I have a bit more money coming in, rather than waiting until the respective deals end, although I know my income will be dropping within the next couple of months.

What should I do?

[Deleted User]

Two searches isn't a big deal, but you're very unlikely to be offered 0% deals with an income of some significance, so you either do it now or when you're back at work.

However, you'll need to declare your imminent drop in income, which could also be a stumbling block.

Sandtree

FrugalAspirations said:
3. Apply for a new 0% card now while I have a bit more money coming in, rather than waiting until the respective deals end, although I know my income will be dropping within the next couple of months.

Almost without exception either directly or indirectly lenders ask you to declare that you know of no reason that your income will be reducing from what you have declared on the application and therefore option 3 above would constitute application fraud if you failed to disclose the soon to be income.

Ultimately lenders see your credit history, such as applications, and make their own minds up. When you apply for the second card there would only be one other search on file and so its impact is likely to be small. The Mrs just took out two new 0% cards about a week apart without any issues.