Struggling to get a long-term 0% balance transfer for 24 months or more.

grumbler

rocktron_amp said:

Marchitiello said:

@rocktron_amp how many cards do you already have and what is your total credit limit vs Income? This will be one of the main factor of not being able to get a new card.

There are periods where banks may actually not make offers available to existing customers but still have offers for new customers (e.g. your Tesco Example, currently they have two balance transfer card, different terms and fees). The risk with closing an account and then hoping for an offer as a “new customer” in 6 to 12 months is that the credit limit you will re-start with may be considerably lower than you have now.

Therefore you may want to risk it applying for a card (check the actual card eligibility checker rather then a comparative site one) and if you manage to transfer all the balance, think about which cards you may want to start closing to make room for new limits in the future. 

Barclaycard has a 30 months offer at the moment and can attract £25 cashback via certain sites links.

Barclaycard	19.400%	£1,344.26	£15,900.00
RBS	9.900%	£4,089.87	£16,000.00
HSBC Gold	14.900%	£6,094.02	£12,700.00
MBNA	20.930%	£4,205.25	£18,000.00
Virgin	20.000%	£9,257.23	£13,200.00
Halifax	19.200%	£6,280.47	£9,500.00
Tescobank	17.472%	£3,031.70	£10,900.00
Sainsbury's	28.900%	£0.00	£8,000.00
Lloyds Bank	15.940%	£2,094.50	£12,900.00

IMO, with more than £100K of available credit it's hardly a surprise that you have problems with getting more unsecured credit, especially promotional, - unless you have a really big salary.

born_again

rocktron_amp said:

Marchitiello said:

@rocktron_amp how many cards do you already have and what is your total credit limit vs Income? This will be one of the main factor of not being able to get a new card.

There are periods where banks may actually not make offers available to existing customers but still have offers for new customers (e.g. your Tesco Example, currently they have two balance transfer card, different terms and fees). The risk with closing an account and then hoping for an offer as a “new customer” in 6 to 12 months is that the credit limit you will re-start with may be considerably lower than you have now.

Therefore you may want to risk it applying for a card (check the actual card eligibility checker rather then a comparative site one) and if you manage to transfer all the balance, think about which cards you may want to start closing to make room for new limits in the future. 

Barclaycard has a 30 months offer at the moment and can attract £25 cashback via certain sites links.

This is my standing as of December 2022

Provider | interesting rate | current | credit limit

Barclaycard	19.400%	£1,344.26	£15,900.00
RBS	9.900%	£4,089.87	£16,000.00
HSBC Gold	14.900%	£6,094.02	£12,700.00
MBNA	20.930%	£4,205.25	£18,000.00
Virgin	20.000%	£9,257.23	£13,200.00
Halifax	19.200%	£6,280.47	£9,500.00
Tescobank	17.472%	£3,031.70	£10,900.00
Sainsbury's	28.900%	£0.00	£8,000.00
Lloyds Bank	15.940%	£2,094.50	£12,900.00

Sadly I am already with Barclaycard. 

RBS, Barclaycard are non 0% rate account

I managed to do 0% balance transfer to HSBC for 15 months September 2022

I managed to close the Sainsburys card last year August 2022 - some as you said, I might be able to get back to long term Sainsbury deal as a new customer later this year.

If you use these Barclay or MBNA checker is it a "soft" or "hard" check. If you keep searching, does that go on the experian?

TBH with available credit or to put it another way protentional debt of £117,100.00 & a current debt balance of £36,397.30

Unless you are earning double that. I would be surprised  in anyone will give you a new card, or even consider a 0% offer. They are not going to want to risk a default.

I think you need to head over to the debt board. Run a SOA (statement of Affairs) & seek some advice. As it looks like you are on the verge of heading for serious issues, if not already there. (subject to your income)

rocktron_amp

born_again said:

rocktron_amp said:

Marchitiello said:

@rocktron_amp how many cards do you already have and what is your total credit limit vs Income? This will be one of the main factor of not being able to get a new card.

There are periods where banks may actually not make offers available to existing customers but still have offers for new customers (e.g. your Tesco Example, currently they have two balance transfer card, different terms and fees). The risk with closing an account and then hoping for an offer as a “new customer” in 6 to 12 months is that the credit limit you will re-start with may be considerably lower than you have now.

Therefore you may want to risk it applying for a card (check the actual card eligibility checker rather then a comparative site one) and if you manage to transfer all the balance, think about which cards you may want to start closing to make room for new limits in the future. 

Barclaycard has a 30 months offer at the moment and can attract £25 cashback via certain sites links.

This is my standing as of December 2022

Provider | interesting rate | current | credit limit

Sainsbury's	28.900%	£0.00	£8,000.00

Sadly I am already with Barclaycard. 

RBS, Barclaycard are non 0% rate account

I managed to do 0% balance transfer to HSBC for 15 months September 2022

I managed to close the Sainsburys card last year August 2022 - some as you said, I might be able to get back to long term Sainsbury deal as a new customer later this year.

If you use these Barclay or MBNA checker is it a "soft" or "hard" check. If you keep searching, does that go on the experian?

TBH with available credit or to put it another way protentional debt of £117,100.00 & a current debt balance of £36,397.30

Unless you are earning double that. I would be surprised  in anyone will give you a new card, or even consider a 0% offer. They are not going to want to risk a default.

I think you need to head over to the debt board. Run a SOA (statement of Affairs) & seek some advice. As it looks like you are on the verge of heading for serious issues, if not already there. (subject to your income)

I guess being in the IT business (one of the victims of Big City Bank Blanket IR35 decision making of contracting until 2020) and I spent more than I should thinking that entire would continue everlong like Hunky Dory ( David Bowie album cover) and then the global pandemic hit as well. Lesson learnt harshly. I am kicking myself ever since.

To the other poster,  I closed off Sainsburys credit card months ago.I actually phoned the customer service and cancelled the account by phone. Using the Sainsbury Mobile App is not good enough. I maybe had £0.01 and said **c* it. Thanks for advice about 90 days, I might give that one ago next month.

I am not earning quite as at a 6 figure salary, but I try. Obviously I am thinking hard to find a higher paying job (in this stupid economy) and that would be easy do it. I am now fully permanent employee for the foreseeable future and in my opinion UK IT contracting market is pants. You used to be able run a VAT registered LTD company easily in the UK, but because of IR35, it is hard to have guarantee income (feast versus famine), which got me into this mess in the first place.

One question: could a car balloon payment (potential) effect my credit risk outlook? I am in my second Personal Contract Purchase plan. If the worse comes to worse, I'd just had over the car and keys back to the dealership at the end of my 4 years (2026) or at the two year midpoint review.

Yes I will also do as you say SOA

Back to the pressure day job then

Wonka_2

As some reassurance that it can be done I was in a similar situation 6yrs ago - £40k on cards, on a sub-£100k joint income

Albeit the world was a different place financially we put £20k on mortgage, extended by a year and fixed the rate for the entirety (10yrs) and took out a personal loan over 5yrs for the remaining £20k @ 2.9%

At the same time cut all but 2 of the cards up and committed to clearing the balance each month

Not missed a month since and all (currently) under control

I've got to say there were a few weeks of discomfort as we realised the scale of the issue and that the limit was reached but glad we did it then before banks/institutions started calling in debts/cancelling cards 

Stuart_W

You can save £2.50 per day in interest by shifting your Virgin balance to your RBS balance if the 9.9% is standard and not promotional. I've often found balance transfers in non-promotional periods to standard interest rates can be done fee-free (daily interest only). Might be worth exploring mortgage/personal loan options to get interest rate down (not to increase credit - you'll need the discipline to close down a few accounts). The 3 year 8.9% card from Co-op might be a temporary measure if they'll have you - I've known a few folk get this who have a lot of credit elsewhere - but it'll be a stretch to get approved for anything.

Perksy5

If you have a mortgage and a high enough income and equity, you could look to remortgage over an extended term to give you breathing space.
Yes you may potentially pay more interest but if you're on the verge of drowning this is a solid choice.
Definitely seek help and explore all of your options quickly. If you have a significant other who you're sharing an existing mortgage, speak to them as well and just be open about everything. Mustve taken a lot of courage to post all this but keep going, you'll find a solution that works for you.

Ebe_Scrooge

Perksy5 said:

If you have a mortgage and a high enough income and equity, you could look to remortgage over an extended term to give you breathing space.

That's certainly one option - but you must make sure you fully understand the implications.  If you default on an unsecured debt such as a credit card, that's your credit history trashed - a bit of a pain, but not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things.  Default on your mortgage payments and you could soon find yourself sleeping in a cardboard box by the side of the canal.

martinbainbridge1975

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Perksy5 said:

If you have a mortgage and a high enough income and equity, you could look to remortgage over an extended term to give you breathing space.

That's certainly one option - but you must make sure you fully understand the implications.  If you default on an unsecured debt such as a credit card, that's your credit history trashed - a bit of a pain, but not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things.  Default on your mortgage payments and you could soon find yourself sleeping in a cardboard box by the side of the canal.

100% correct, remortgage should be the last resort

martinbainbridge1975

have a look in your MBNA and Lloyds card accounts, you may have offers available

given those accounts are nowhere near their limits it may allow you to obtain further 12 months or so 0% either on balance transfer or money transfer and clear some of the other cards