Requesting an increase to credit limit on a new credit card

OtterConfusion

Hi all,

please can I ask the likelihood of a credit limit being increased just after approval?

I am 26 and I have never had a credit card or any loans before. However, I am looking to pay for a holiday to celebrate me and my partners engagement. 

Thanks in advance!

Mark_d

The company has just assessed your credit rating.  You have no chance of getting it increased any further for at least 6 months.
If you have the cash already then maybe your credit card company will allow you to hold a credit balance temporarily - Basically you pay the money in to your credit card account before making the card payment your holiday company.

MattMattMattUK

OtterConfusion said:

Hi all,

please can I ask the likelihood of a credit limit being increased just after approval?

I am 26 and I have never had a credit card or any loans before. However, I am looking to pay for a holiday to celebrate me and my partners engagement. 

Thanks in advance!

Are you looking for an increased credit limit just so you have the added security of having paid on credit card, or because you plan on not paying the balance off in full and carrying debt?

CliveOfIndia

Highly unlikely for the reasons given above - they've assessed your application and have given you what they consider to be a manageable limit.

Be wary of putting the card into credit by making a payment to it before spending on it - this is against the T&Cs of pretty much every card.  Theoretically it can result in the account being closed, more likely is that the payment will either be refused or else immediately returned.

If you're booking the holiday by card in order to benefit from S75 cover then you only need to put a small amount on the card, as long as the holiday is between £100 and £30,000.  Though of course, S75 is no substitute for a proper insurance policy.

Without wishing to sound as if I'm preaching, don't go putting the holiday on a card if you can't afford to pay it off in full when the statement arrives.  Carrying a balance from month to month will cost you an awful lot of interest (unless you've got a 0% promotional offer).  And especially if you've never had any credit products before, you'll be wanting to build up a decent history - carrying a balance does just the opposite.

Nasqueron

Keep in mind as well with S75 cover, depending on how you book, it may or may not be covered as there are some third party agents which break the debtor supplier link

Echo the above - putting the entire bill on a CC and then paying interest because you can't clear it is just asking to ruin your credit rating before you even started 

OtterConfusion

MattMattMattUK said:

OtterConfusion said:

Hi all,

please can I ask the likelihood of a credit limit being increased just after approval?

I am 26 and I have never had a credit card or any loans before. However, I am looking to pay for a holiday to celebrate me and my partners engagement. 

Thanks in advance!

Are you looking for an increased credit limit just so you have the added security of having paid on credit card, or because you plan on not paying the balance off in full and carrying debt?

Hi - I am looking to pay the card off. I have 22 months interest free and it isn’t that I cannot afford to pay for then holiday. It is just I cannot afford to pay for it all up front and wanted to avoid interest by paying monthly with the holiday company. 

OtterConfusion

Nasqueron said:

Keep in mind as well with S75 cover, depending on how you book, it may or may not be covered as there are some third party agents which break the debtor supplier link

Echo the above - putting the entire bill on a CC and then paying interest because you can't clear it is just asking to ruin your credit rating before you even started 

Sorry I probably wasn’t very clear! My credit card is 0% interest for 22 months. I can afford to make more than the minimum monthly payment a month. I just could not afford pay for the holiday outright. 

Olinda99

You could ask the holiday company if they will take two payments so you pay the first payment and then pays off the card and then pay the second payment

CliveOfIndia

Olinda99 said:

You could ask the holiday company if they will take two payments so you pay the first payment and then pays off the card and then pay the second payment

I'm not sure that helps much in terms of taking advantage of the 0% offer on the card?

OtterConfusion said:

Sorry I probably wasn’t very clear! My credit card is 0% interest for 22 months. I can afford to make more than the minimum monthly payment a month. I just could not afford pay for the holiday outright. 

In that case all you can really do is put as much on the card as you're able and pay the balance by bank transfer or whatever.

I guess you could potentially look at applying for another 0% card and splitting the cost between the two cards.  Bear in mind that doing this would leave a second hard search on your file - not a massive issue in itself, but it does mean you really don't then want to be applying for any other credit for a good few months.

And of course, in assessing your application, any other lender would take into account the fact that you've got available credit already in the form of your existing card.  But there's no harm in doing a couple of eligibility checks I guess, see what the indications are.

Olinda99

"I'm not sure that helps much in terms of taking advantage of the 0% offer on the card?"

I think the op wants to pay more than the cc limit so this was a way to do.it

eg if holiday is 2000 and credit limit is 1500 then pay 500 on cc, pay it off then pay the remaining 1500

Chrysalis

I remember it working on my Barclaycard when I got it (this was before they came risk averse and en masse trashed credit limits), got the card, remember feeling the limit was a bit disappointing, applied, and was auto approved instantly.  Never tried it on any other cards.