Please can someone help me through the minefield...

supersezzie

I'm so confused by all this and having some money issues so if anyone can help me I'd be more than grateful

I have a balance of about £500 on a Natwest Credit card and the interest free period expires in mid January, so I am looking to transfer the balance.

I applied for a barclaycard and got it with a £1000 credit limit which was offering about a year interest free on payments and balance transfers. But now I have hit some major problems. Because I moved house in the last three months and it took some time to find work (as I've just graduated from university), I have been struggling to pay the rent. My boyfriend gets his university loans through in January and I am halfway to finding well-paid work, having found a well-paid part time job and I'm now temping around it to get some more money. The thing is, I started using the credit card to save some money and get us through the hard patch until January, and, knowing I have enough money coming in then, I wasn't too worried about it, so I spent about £350 on the card and was planning to save the rest to do a balance transfer and pay it all off over the year. Unfortunately, the bank have now written and told me they have reduced my limit to £260, which I can only assume is because I spent too much on it too quickly. I feel frustrated because if they had not reduced the limit, they would have seen that I wouldn't have spent any more on it as I was already at the point where I had got everything I had planned to buy, and I don't understand how the limit can be lower than the balance.

Now I don't know what to do. I only applied about 6 weeks ago so is it too soon to apply for another card? And will they charge me interest on the rest of the balance over £260? And I'm worried if I re-apply for another card that a, I won't get it in time, and b, they will refuse me and my credit score will be lower. If I don't get one in time, but move the balance asap, that will still save me money won't it because I will only have to pay the high interest charges for a couple of weeks? And am I likely to be rejected now? And I'm not sure what to put as my job - I am currently earning a reasonable wage in my part-time job, and have another job lined up for the rest of the week due to start in January, but it's not brilliantly paid and I'm waiting to hear from some better options as I've had a couple of interviews. Sorry this is long, if anyone can help me with what to put on the form, where to go and what to do I'd really appreciate it. I'm struggling to keep on top of this with the stress of moving and job hunting as well.

Thank you!

battyboimatt

I would agree, surly they can not lower your creidt limit to a balance which is less than your outstanidn amount, they are of course entitled to review and lower your balace but they normally lower it in accordance to what you owe ie credit limit was £1000 you owe £650, they can not lower it to say £500 because then it would be them making you go above your limit and surley would have lots of legal issues to them doing this, however they can for example: Credit Limit £1000 you owe £650 lower the limit it say £665 giving lea way for a late payment. You could always apply else where because dont forget it normally takes a month or so to reflect your new credit limt on your credit file, infact several comains on mine barclaycard and aqua havnt updated my file since the end of octber this year.

Hope this helps