Best Balance Transfers Discussion Area

andydgg

blitzboy wrote: »

It always amazes me that people borrow money without keeping track of that sort of thing anyway to be honest.

i know, to my cost! but when you've got kids, and a house, and etc etc

jabbathehub

I have an £8700 debt on one of those BA amex cards where you get suckered in with airmiles or now avios. In fact in the past they were quite useful but now times are tough it is difficult to pay off the balance. I put my details into one of the Barclaycard check lists and they only offered me a paltry 1200 credit and am not sure I am applying for the right thing...it said min 20k income so I put in 23k...my income is more but difficult to prove. bearing in mind I am paying abt £250 per month in interest alone, the required £340 per month on an interest only card will be a doddle...does anyone out there have any tips on how one should apply as once one puts in details I guess they are remembered so you can't change the numbers! Any suggestions greatly appreciated...I was applying for the newish Barclaycard 0% for 27 mths @ 340 per month for £8700...

sfax

jabbathehub wrote: »

I have an £8700 debt on one of those BA amex cards where you get suckered in with airmiles or now avios. In fact in the past they were quite useful but now times are tough it is difficult to pay off the balance. I put my details into one of the Barclaycard check lists and they only offered me a paltry 1200 credit and am not sure I am applying for the right thing...it said min 20k income so I put in 23k...my income is more but difficult to prove. bearing in mind I am paying abt £250 per month in interest alone, the required £340 per month on an interest only card will be a doddle...does anyone out there have any tips on how one should apply as once one puts in details I guess they are remembered so you can't change the numbers! Any suggestions greatly appreciated...I was applying for the newish Barclaycard 0% for 27 mths @ 340 per month for £8700...

You should be careful when entering income details when making applications. The data is logged and shared with other lenders and sudden changes in income trigger warnings - search nhunter

No-one will be able to give you a quickfire way to improve your chances but if you need a definitive answer then just make a full application. It only costs you one credit search and will tell you with certainty.

If it gets rejected, consider paying more than the minimum each month, always pay on time, and maybe get a second purchase credit card and use it. These things could all improve your rating but it could just be that the lender looks at how much you owe, and how much total available credit you would have including a new card from them, and decides it's too much given your income - hence the low credit limit offered. They have to assume you could max out the new card and pay nothing back.

andydgg

tbh I wonder what the use of a credit report is. You can check your statements, you can write and ask every bank you have dealings with to tell you how much you owe, the interest they are taking, andanything else you want to know, it's your money, take charge of it.
Beware of balance transfers, it's not easy to win this game. You have to check the fee against the interest your currently paying, so if you're paying £30 a month in interest and the fee is going to be £90 then that's 3 months interest, if it's 0% for 3 months then you're going to be screwed when the super high interest kicks in after 3 months, result you lose. I'm paying £30 a month on £11k, but it's risky, as each 0% ends I have to transfer and look for the lowest fee possible. Your playing this game against expert players, and they usually win!

gurinder

I have applied for Tesco 0% 12 Months BT + 12 Months Spend card. On this card I transferred £1000 from my existing card and planning to spend around £1000 in near future.

My question if I keep on paying the minimum do I have to be careful about anything (I've a plan to repay all at end of 12 months period).

Most talks from Martin suggest to don't spend on BT card. I wonder can someone please clarify this.

Thanks

sfax

andydgg wrote: »

tbh I wonder what the use of a credit report is. You can check your statements, you can write and ask every bank you have dealings with to tell you how much you owe, the interest they are taking, andanything else you want to know, it's your money, take charge of it.

I can think of a few advantages over just checking statements:

1. Statements wouldn't show you any historic late payments
2. Electoral roll information needs to be correct or you'll struggle to get credit. This isn't available on statements
3. You can check dates of credit searches and the number of searches in last 6 months - critical for new applications
4. Check that no-one else has searched or entered into a new credit agreement in your name
5. Credit reports provide an aggregation of all credit from one source
6. Credit reports contain the actual information that lenders see. They don't see your statements

Is that enough?

andydgg

1 I think I'd know of any late payments so don't need someone to tell me
2 phone electoral roll people and they'll tell you if you're on it
3 don't need to know this
4 would be interesting I suppose.
5 wow aggregation that's a great word, don't know what it means though
6 what does it matter what lenders see, who they lend to follows no path, it's a mystery known to nobody
imho just apply, if you get it you get it, if you don't you don't.

gurinder you'll probably be paying a high interest rate on purchases.

sfax

gurinder wrote: »

I have applied for Tesco 0% 12 Months BT + 12 Months Spend card. On this card I transferred £1000 from my existing card and planning to spend around £1000 in near future.

My question if I keep on paying the minimum do I have to be careful about anything (I've a plan to repay all at end of 12 months period).

Most talks from Martin suggest to don't spend on BT card. I wonder can someone please clarify this.

Thanks

Pay at least the minimum payment on time every month and clear the final balance before the 12 months promo period expires and you won't pay any interest on purchases * or your BTs.

* assuming what you mean by 12 months spend is 12 months purchases at 0%

sfax

andydgg wrote: »

1 I think I'd know of any late payments so don't need someone to tell me
2 phone electoral roll people and they'll tell you if you're on it
3 don't need to know this
4 would be interesting I suppose.
5 wow aggregation that's a great word, don't know what it means though
6 what does it matter what lenders see, who they lend to follows no path, it's a mystery known to nobody
imho just apply, if you get it you get it, if you don't you don't.

gurinder you'll probably be paying a high interest rate on purchases.

Interesting approach. Not one I'd advocate but each to their own. In response to your points:

1. No you wouldn't in the case of an error on the part of the lender, either in processing or reporting to the CRAs
2. Doesn't tell you if the CRAs have updated your reports yet
3. Yes you do if applying. Too many searches (usually more than 2) will hamper your applications as you'll be seen as desperate for credit and high risk
4. Yep, I'd be very interested if someone had stolen my identity and run up £1000s in debt and it meant my credit rating was in tatters
5. How about it puts all of the information together instead of aggregates it.
6. It may seem random if you don't understand it. I'm not saying that I do, only that it's beneficial to try to understand it

And no gurinder, you're not. Refer to my other post

andydgg

I think it should be more difficult to get credit, I don't want to know how to make getting it any easier. Let's face it the reason it's too easy is why we're all here, and have problems with debt, I admit I have a problem with it and therefore I can now fight this problem.