Max out interest free cards?

thegentleway

Hi, I'm not being 100% approved for any decent interest free credit cards any more. I've already got 5 so many that's the limit? Or is it more about how much each card is used; they range from 88-94%. Is it worth keeping them below a certain percentage? Thanks!

Nasqueron

There isn't a limit per se on cards but your income + debt + existing credit is all looked at by lenders as to whether you should be able to borrow - so they may well consider you too much of a risk now to give more credit

thegentleway

Nasqueron said:

There isn't a limit per se on cards but your income + debt + existing credit is all looked at by lenders as to whether you should be able to borrow - so they may well consider you too much of a risk now to give more credit

So I need to reduce the total debt?

Nasqueron

thegentleway said:

Nasqueron said:

There isn't a limit per se on cards but your income + debt + existing credit is all looked at by lenders as to whether you should be able to borrow - so they may well consider you too much of a risk now to give more credit

So I need to reduce the total debt?

Or earn more

You have the debt which you have probably bounced along for a while so you need to use your plan to pay some of it down and maybe see if any of the cards have new offers

thegentleway

Nasqueron said:

thegentleway said:

Nasqueron said:

There isn't a limit per se on cards but your income + debt + existing credit is all looked at by lenders as to whether you should be able to borrow - so they may well consider you too much of a risk now to give more credit

So I need to reduce the total debt?

Or earn more

You have the debt which you have probably bounced along for a while so you need to use your plan to pay some of it down and maybe see if any of the cards have new offers

Earning more would be nice 

I can pay them all off today; the money is sitting in saving accounts earning interest. Just wondering if there was some optimising to do, i.e. keeping credit balances below 90% utilisation or whatever. If it's just the total debt and income then there isn't much I can do.

Nasqueron

thegentleway said:

Nasqueron said:

thegentleway said:

Nasqueron said:

There isn't a limit per se on cards but your income + debt + existing credit is all looked at by lenders as to whether you should be able to borrow - so they may well consider you too much of a risk now to give more credit

So I need to reduce the total debt?

Or earn more

You have the debt which you have probably bounced along for a while so you need to use your plan to pay some of it down and maybe see if any of the cards have new offers

Earning more would be nice 

I can pay them all off today; the money is sitting in saving accounts earning interest. Just wondering if there was some optimising to do, i.e. keeping credit balances below 90% utilisation or whatever. If it's just the total debt and income then there isn't much I can do.

Nobody really knows the utilisation effect, CRAs love to say it should be under 25/30/50 (delete as applicable) - having a lot of debt and high utilisation probably spooks some lenders. If you have any offers on the cards, might be worth paying down one, using the offer and freeing up some credit space

thegentleway

Nasqueron said:

thegentleway said:

Nasqueron said:

thegentleway said:

Nasqueron said:

There isn't a limit per se on cards but your income + debt + existing credit is all looked at by lenders as to whether you should be able to borrow - so they may well consider you too much of a risk now to give more credit

So I need to reduce the total debt?

Or earn more

You have the debt which you have probably bounced along for a while so you need to use your plan to pay some of it down and maybe see if any of the cards have new offers

Earning more would be nice 

I can pay them all off today; the money is sitting in saving accounts earning interest. Just wondering if there was some optimising to do, i.e. keeping credit balances below 90% utilisation or whatever. If it's just the total debt and income then there isn't much I can do.

Nobody really knows the utilisation effect, CRAs love to say it should be under 25/30/50 (delete as applicable) - having a lot of debt and high utilisation probably spooks some lenders. If you have any offers on the cards, might be worth paying down one, using the offer and freeing up some credit space

What offers do you mean? 

kempiejon

You said you're not 100% approved for decent offers are you say 30% approved. Do you mean you have actually declined from new cards and recent offers?

thegentleway

kempiejon said:

You said you're not 100% approved for decent offers are you say 30% approved. Do you mean you have actually declined from new cards and recent offers?

I mean when I use credit card eligibility calculator from MSE credit club my results are:

100% pre-approved for Zable 4 months interest free credit

80% chance of approval for M&S 24 months

70% chance of approval for HSBC 20 months

60% chance of approval for Virgin Money 13 months

kempiejon

thegentleway said:

kempiejon said:

You said you're not 100% approved for decent offers are you say 30% approved. Do you mean you have actually declined from new cards and recent offers?

I mean when I use credit card eligibility calculator from MSE credit club my results are:

100% pre-approved for Zable 4 months interest free credit

80% chance of approval for M&S 24 months

70% chance of approval for HSBC 20 months

60% chance of approval for Virgin Money 13 months

Right, I have a wallet full of credit cards, still getting some good offers. I don't use these percentage chance of approval, I just apply. Then I get a card or do not. With your 3 listed offers the lowest balance transfer fee per month of interest free would be my first mark regardless of scores. If you have say a 50% chance of approval you still either get a card or don't. Same outcome as 30% or 90% isn't it. As far as you are concerened it a card or not.
More applications or more debt might reduce limits or acceptances.

vacheron

A year ago I had 9 x 0% balance transfer cards open (and 11 credit cards in total), so nobody would lend me anything any more (and rightly so).

About 9 months ago I closed down 2 of the BT cards which were reaching the end of their 0% period. Total credit limit of the settled and closed cards, approximately £22K. 

8 months later and I was still being rejected for every decent 0% card going, even those with "high" (4-5%) balance transfer fees, then suddenly about a month or so, I check again and am approved for FIVE mainstream 0% cards, all with 0% balance transfer fees. 

I applied for 4 of the 5 cards and recieved them all, with a combined credit of £51K.

To summarise, All else being equal, I think it has very little to do with credit utilisation, existing limits, number of cards or any of those subtle things which are often bandied around as for me these factors barely changed.

Over the last 12-15 years I have continuously carried a significant 0% balance across multiple cards and have seen very little correlation between the factors above -vs- my success in qualifying for new ones.
 
I think instead that when the indusrty decides that they need to lend out some of their money pronto, if you happen to fit whatever risk profile they decided to target their cards at, you will find that the offers will suddenly start flowing in regardless!