Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

bottle2top

No, it's not my first, but I haven't had one for about five years now, ever since my Lloyds TSB card was retracted through lack of use....
I'll use the 90% of £2k then pay off the cahoot debt at least.
This leaves me to finance the £6k or so for the home improvements. Another couple of cards perhaps?

what do you think?...
Cheers JohnBottletop

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by bottle2top
It's not my first [credit card], but I haven't had one for about five years now, ever since my Lloyds TSB card was retracted through lack of use.

It's the most recent 6 years of your credit history that counts. This is what potential lenders check when you apply for a credit card.

For tips to improve your credit limits, have a look at the *Credit Rating* articles on the main site, especially Martin's *Manage and improve your credit score* article to make sure no other factors, besides a lack of credit cards, are working against you.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by bottle2top
I'll use the 90% of £2k then pay off the Cahoot debt at least.

This leaves me to finance the £6k or so for the home improvements. Another couple of cards perhaps? What do you think?

It's not an exact science of course but, judging from the posts on this thread, you're more likely to get a generous credit limit with a card issued by MBNA (e.g. Alliance & Leicester, MBNA itself, Sony, Virgin), whereas Citi and the Royal Bank of Scotland stable (which includes Mint, NatWest, RBS itself, Tesco and Ulster Bank) are known for their 'responsible' credit limits. That's certainly been my experience as well.

Have you considered 0% balance transfer cards?
An introductory 0% for 15 months is available to new customers from Virgin at the mo. Also Halifax.

bottle2top

Virgin have given me a credit limit of £4.2k that's better MBNA are considering my on-line application. (sounds ominous)
I think I've done as much as I can at the moment,
Thanks for all your help and advice,
if you think of anything else that might help I'd appreciate it
thanks again
John aka Bottletop:beer:

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by bottle2top
Virgin have given me a credit limit of £4.2k. That's better.

Congratulations on a successful application with a decent credit limit, given the circumstances.
:beer:

I think I've done as much as I can at the moment.

Yes. Credit checks appear on your credit file more or less in realtime so, where possible, it's best to space them out through the year.

Keep us posted.
M

paris12

What is the best deal around to transfer a balance from my barclay card.

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by paris12
What is the best deal around to transfer a balance from my Barclaycard?

There's no perfect solution that suits everyone.

Do you want to transfer to a 0% balance transfer card or a life-of-balance card?

To help you further, we also need to know which credit cards, besides Barclaycard, you have at the mo.

kknight_2

Can I have some credit card advice please!

I currently am around £500 into my overdraft with HSBC in my current account.

I have a Lloyds TSB Credit card which I don't owe anything on, not sure of limit. I have a Liverpool Victoria Credit Card which I owe around £1500 on. I also have a HSBC gold credit card, which I owe nothing on. I took it out for BT offer, and paid it off.

I also owe around £200 on a Next store card.

What's my best bet for cheapest way to pay all this off? I don't have great credit for some reason, even though I don't really miss any payments. I'd like to have it all in one place so I know what I'm doing.

JamieLondon

Hey guys, been a reader of the site for a couple of years now, need some more personal advice now so decided to register :beer:

So, I'm a student and have £2400 outstanding on my Amazon Mastercard card
, will be able to pay it in about 2 months when I get wages and student loan. Only problem is the interest free period has expired so now I'm going to have to pay a ridiculous ammount of interest unless I can transfer the balance.

I read on here that Ulster and Capital One have 0% on balance transfers for 6 months with no fee, which would be ideal, only problem is Ulster only give their cards to students who hold student accounts with them (mine is with Natwest)
. And I don't really want to try Capital One as in the same article it says they're for people with immaculate credit history, mine is not and a rejection would mean an unnecessary mark.

I also have a Barclaycard with a low limit which I've now paid off and will be closing pretty soon.

Any ideas as to what I'm best doing in my current situation?

Moggles_2

Originally Posted by kknight
I currently am around £500 into my overdraft with HSBC in my current account.
I have a Lloyds TSB Credit card which I don't owe anything on, not sure of limit. I have a Liverpool Victoria Credit Card which I owe around £1500 on. I have a HSBC gold credit card, which I owe nothing on. I also owe around £200 on a Next store card. What's my best bet for cheapest way to pay all this off?

The easiest way - though not necessarily the cheapest - would be to ring up LloydsTSB and HSBC in turn. If either lender offers you a low-rate balance transfer deal, you can shift your £1500 credit card balance to them. The money saved should help to pay off your Next store card. Once paid off, you can tackle the overdraft.