Credit card shuffling

HarriettPotter

I have a fair few credit cards with differing interest rates (0% through to 29.9%).

I have utilised low interest/life of balance space on my cards wherever I can but the limits are fairly small and unfortunately, my largest balances are on the cards with the highest interest!

So, I am stuck on two things:

1. Has anyone had any luck before with asking if they can increase their limit on the cheaper cards? Is it worth doing? If so, I may try that and see if I can distribute my expensive debt elsewhere.

2. I have an RBS card currently charging me 19%. I have spoken to Virgin, currently 29.9% for balance transfers, 0% for purchases (I have a massive limit with them but I pay off my balance each month if I have any) who have said they would let me balance transfer at 1.9% to august or 3.9% to november. After this it would revert to 29.9%! I was hoping to get rid of some cards but would it be worth holding onto the RBS if I did transfer the balance in case I can't find anywhere else to lose the Virgin one when it shoots up again?

I hope I am making sense. I am also in a bit of a quandary as my house is up for sale within the next few months and if it sells for what it is expected to I will be able to pay off all my debts - obviously I dont want to rely on this though as nothing is certain yet...

Be grateful for any help..

HP

immoral_angeluk

bumpety bump

Matthew_D_2

I'm in the same position, 4 cards with small-ish limits.

I tried to increase my best card to cover the others, but was declined. I believe this was for a simple reason, I'm a student.

If you have a full-time job and decent income they should increase your limit on your lower APR cards, but don't trust me on this.

As for me, I'm trying to hold onto my sanity until August when I start my job, then I'll consolidate my credit cards with a graduate loan (~8% APR compared to 20-30% on my cards)

loopylu36

hi there, i would hang on to the rbs card because when virgin hike the interest up you might want to consider shifting it back again. HOWEVER, you will of course be paying balance transfer fees, (but the low interest may offset these to make it worthwhile) BUT (and I have had this problem recently after shuffling) when you clear a balance, the cc company could reduce your limit! :mad: I guess this is to do with the crunch, and is either because a) they see that your available credit is massive and to stop you spending it all they reduce your limit or, they think they won't make any more money out of you. Either way you could get stuck with virgin charging you a fortune - just something to think about cos i had had the same problem.