Total Credit Card Confusion

confusedcreditcard

Hello!

It turns out I am a complete novice with credit cards and all things money. I have had several in the past and paid them all off. I currently have a Nationwide CC at £0.00 and a Virgin Money CC at £0.00. They have both run out of 0% and I want to book expensive flights so ideally want to open a new one. 

1) would I have to cancel these before I can apply for another? Nationwide told me that once I cancel I won't be able to apply for another card with them for 12 months? Feels a bit like being punished for having paid off my CC?

2) I am trying to access my credit score on Experian. I have only been in my new flat for 4 months and have just registered for the electoral roll (pending). Before that I lived with a friend for 11 months (not registered) and before that another flat for 2 years (registered there). Experian are having trouble finding me and they need the details of a card that's registered to my address. None of my bank accounts are registered to my new address. they are all registered to my parents address - I have lived in 5 different flats in the last 8 years due to circumstances and living in London and rent etc, so it never made sense for me to register them to my current addresses when they change so much. 

Please help I am so confused. I always pay back on time and thought this would be easy. I also really want to check my credit score but am unsure what to do as I cannot get through the Experian system! Would it be the 11 months living with my friend screwing it up? I wanted to be honest on the form though and didn't want to miss that part out?

any help appreciated! 

Grumpy_chap

confusedcreditcard said:

Hello!

It turns out I am a complete novice with credit cards and all things money. I have had several in the past and paid them all off. I currently have a Nationwide CC at £0.00 and a Virgin Money CC at £0.00. They have both run out of 0% and I want to book expensive flights so ideally want to open a new one. 

1) would I have to cancel these before I can apply for another? Nationwide told me that once I cancel I won't be able to apply for another card with them for 12 months? Feels a bit like being punished for having paid off my CC?

2) I am trying to access my credit score on Experian. I have only been in my new flat for 4 months and have just registered for the electoral roll (pending). Before that I lived with a friend for 11 months (not registered) and before that another flat for 2 years (registered there). Experian are having trouble finding me and they need the details of a card that's registered to my address. None of my bank accounts are registered to my new address. they are all registered to my parents address - I have lived in 5 different flats in the last 8 years due to circumstances and living in London and rent etc, so it never made sense for me to register them to my current addresses when they change so much. 

Please help I am so confused. I always pay back on time and thought this would be easy. I also really want to check my credit score but am unsure what to do as I cannot get through the Experian system! Would it be the 11 months living with my friend screwing it up? I wanted to be honest on the form though and didn't want to miss that part out?

any help appreciated! 

1)  Zero percent interest is often available as a new customer offer only.  The comment from Nationwide would seem to be in the context of eligibility for the new customer offer.  It would be bending the rules if you had a zero percent interest and then closed the card only to straight away open another for the offer to repeat.  It is really like any other marketing offer - less income for the business in the first period in the hope that you become an established and profitable customer after that period expires.  Other credit card providers are available and may have zero percent interest introductory periods.

2)  Your credit score on Experian (or any CRA) is of limited consequence.  What is important is your credit history.  While the rationale behind keeping bank accounts at your parent's home is logical during a dynamic phase of your life, the CRAs will not be able to see your credit history at one address (parents) while you are living and on the ER at another address (where you are living).  There is no way for the credit companies to connect "Eric Wimp of 29 Acacia Road" with "Eric Wimp of 221B Baker Street".  

If you are needing the CC for paying for flights, why not pay on the current card and then clear in full when the monthly statement arrives?  That is the more MSE thing to do.  If you are not able to do that, are cheaper flights an option?

WillPS

If you want a fresh 0% purchase period, your safest option would be to get a new one. MSE, Compare the Market and a few others have eligibility checkers which will give you a very rough idea of which you might be accepted for. Couple these with the eligibility checkers on the providers own website, and don't forget to check Topcashback or Quidco to see if an incentive is available for signing up.

Once you have that, you might wish to close your existing card(s) if they are superfluous to your requirements. I'd advocate keeping the longest held one and just putting a small amount on it each month, which you pay off in full by direct debit (Netflix or similar is perfect for this).

prettyandfluffy

Virgin are quite good at offering 0% balance transfers.  Have a look in the app* to see if you're eligible, and if you are you could pay for the flights on Nationwide and then transfer it to Virgin.  There is usually a fee applicable to do this, around 3 - 4% of the amount you transfer.  
*Scroll to the bottom of the home page,