Could someone explain credit score to me please

kingpuck

Hi,

I am in the process of sorting out my finances and need a bit of adivce.

I have just finished univeristy and have a few thousand on credit cards, I had been making use of the 0% rates but I have now decided to move them to a fix rate and start paying them off at a constant rate. I applied for a card from texaco which I got but they only gave me a limit of £1000, (my current limits are £10,000 and £6000 on the two cards I am using) which now leaves me with another £3000 to shift to low interest.

I was going to apply for a loan of £6000 which would pay off the rest of the cards balance and let me buy a car, but I recently read that if you make more than one application consecutively and a credit check is run then the banks will see that as abusing the system and you will be declined. Is this true? My bank is currently offering a typical interest rate of 5.9%, I was hoping that since they just raised my credit limit on their visa card I would have a decent enough credit score to get this deal.

Any help would be much appreciated.

DrStep

The Credit rating game is a sham to get people into major debts. When will people learn to SAVE rather than borrow?

I would rather be lent a small amount for at a high rate - and pay it off quicker. Rather than a big amount at a low rate and letting the loan linger.

If I went to the bank for a loan of £2000 over two years - they dont and offer it and would rather lend 10K over 5 years. Madness.

In response to your question, I doubt you get declined.

delboypass

How much in debt are you? i couldnt work it out from your original post.

Why dont you keep switching about on 0% cards and paying it off? That means there is no interest building up!

kingpuck

Thanks for replying,

What I owe is quite complicated!!

I owe £4000 on credit cards that I need to get rid of asap so I am either going to get a loan or another credit card with a low rate for the life of the balance transfer. £1000 of this £4000 has already been moved to Texaco.

I owe my parents about £10,000, this debt is next on the list after the credit cards.

And last but not least, the students loans company. I owe them around £12000 I think. This however will sort itself out and doesn't require my attention just yet.

I also intend on borrowing £2000 to get a car which I need to get me to my new job and will also allow me to then get a second job in the evenings.

My new job is starting at 17k a year, I know this isn't a lot but I think it will work out about £1100 a month in my hand which will easily cover the payments for the credit cards and the loan for the car. I intend on having these all paid within 2 years.

I hope this makes a bit more sense. It's hard trying to explain this sort of stuff.

Thanks again

Nicky_3

There are many variables to a credit scoring system. Its true that everytime you apply for credit this is registered on your credit file, but if you failed to get accepted for credit, this could be for a number of reasons. The scoring system wouldnt fail you on just one thing I wouldn't think. Each creditor has their own scoring system anyway. The best thing to do is decide which creditor you want to apply to and stick to that, you can find out the information you need before making an application.

Your other option is to stick with what you already have and make offers to your creditors to repay each month at the amount you can afford.