John Lewis credit card - is a temporary credit limit possible?

The_Librarian

Thank you. Yes, I have the amount available in the bank, just begrudge not getting any cashback/bonus/something for paying it as it is such a large amount to wave goodbye to!

It sounds like I should not try to annoy New Day with a positive balance (the chap on the phone would not say anything except "it is not advisable as it means you're not covered by protection" on loop whenever I asked him about fees/terms/etc so I gave up trying to get any answers and came here).. I did explain to him it was for a specific one-off purpose. I will try paying half and paying the card back and see if it goes through quickly enough to pay the  second half of the bill before resorting to the debit card.

flaneurs_lobster

I've done this with an Amex Nectar card, £3k credit limit, £5k bill paid in 2 tranches of 2.5k a week apart, took 4 working days for the first credit to clear down the £2.5k balance.

Re John Lewis/New Day, spotted that this card offered reward on purchase of currency at JL Bureau de Change - while standing in queue to buy currency at JL Bureau de Change.

Took time-out and checked details with JL Finance desk staff, yes I could apply online to get instant acceptance with immediate access to card'n'credit via Google Pay. Took about 30 minutes to get acceptance, virtual card and £6k credit limit.

Bought 800,000,000,000 Vietnamese Dong (about £500), card refused. Invited to call help desk, couldn't be arsed, paid with debit card.

lr1277

I don't know if you have started this process yet, but I wouldn't make the payment onto the card till it is showing as a cleared transaction on their system. Then I would make the payment and wait till that is showed as cleared. Finally I would make the 2nd half of the payment.

The reason I say this is that one of my suppliers takes 2-3 days before any transaction is shown as confirmed. This is happened over a few years and over 2 different cards, so the problem is not specific card. In fact one of the cards was the old John Lewis card. If you make a payment before the transaction shows as confirmed that would be the same as paying the money to the card before making a transaction.

So your plan partly depends on the supplier and how quickly they post the transaction and how quickly it shows up as a confirmed transaction in online banking.

WillPS

TheSpectator said:

The_Librarian said:

What about if I paid half on the card, then paid the card balance off in full (rather than waiting for the direct debit to come out at the end of the month), then put the other half on it the next day? Could that work? 

Possibly, but who is going to accept half a payment? And the payment may take longer than a day to increase your available spending.

I know this isn't relevant to the OPs case, but a possible workaround (with a bit of risk) in this scenario is gift cards.