0% balance transfer credit card on Mat leave!

Pikachu101

Hi MSE community! 
I'm new here and looking for some recommendations, please
I'm on maternity leave and going to get the government pay from February. 
To ease off the interests on my credit card, I would like to transfer the money I owe to a 0% balance transfer credit card. 
When applying, it does ask about my income and here's the question: am I still a full time employee earning X yearly or am I homemaker and therefore estimate what my income will be the year/months I have off with lower income? 
I have an excellent credit score so shouldn't be an issue for credit cards brokers? 
Thank you

Nasqueron

You have to be honest about your current income but also given you know your income will presumably drop shortly, you have to put that in, it's not like you are applying now and then fall pregnant. Some card terms do say you have to contact them if your income falls, you don't really want a CIFAS fraud marker for pretending you will be earning X when you know in will be X/2 for the next 6 / 12 / 24 months 

Unfortunately the credit score is a gimmick, no lenders ever see it so what Experian et al score you is irrelevant, a card issuer will do a credit check based on the data (not score) on your record and fit the data into their own, internal, scoring system that you will never see and if your history (plus declared salary) fit their criteria, you get the card and the limit the system thinks you are worth risking on (which is likely to be less than if you were earning 100% salary). 

To cheer you up though, I rate you 5 chocolate hobnobs out of 6 - as useful as Experian's score but more tasty

CliveOfIndia

First off, your credit score doesn't enter into it - it's purely a marketing gimmick invented by the CRAs, and is not seen by any lender.

More importantly, what does the application form actually ask?  If it asks what your income is, you can legitimately put your monthly salary - at the moment.

But on many application forms, there is a question to the effect of "Do you expect your income to change significantly in the near future".  If it does ask this, then you need to answer honestly.  If it doesn't, then by the strict letter of the law you are OK.

However, in either scenario you absolutely must make sure you'll be able to maintain at least the minimum payment each month.  Miss a payment and you'll find the promotional rate is immediately revoked, as well as being clobbered by a late payment fee.

You must also put plans in place to clear the whole balance by the time the promotional rate expires - otherwise, any remaining balance will start to accrue interest at the card's standard APR, with no guarantee that you'll be able to shift any remaining balance to another 0% card.