First Direct - What credit limit to request

mrsm

We're currently remortgaging with FD and want to apply for their gold credit card that has 0% on purchases for 12 months (plan o put all our spending on it, put the monthly amount we spend in the savings account to offset the mortgage then pay it all off again before the 0% ends)

It has a minimum credit limit of £3000 but when we apply we can select our own limit (obviously for offsetting we'd like as much as possible;))

Husband earns 21k pa, I get 7.5k pa in child benefit and tax credits.
Mortgage will be 73k against a house valued at 210k, we plan to pay £750 a month (repayment amount is about £515)
At the moment we have one loan outstanding of 6k (£150 a month) that will be cleared when the remortgage is done.

So what;s a reasonable credit limit to request, high enough to make offsetting worthwhile but not so high we might be declined (and should we wait until the mortgage comes through and the loan repaid)

YorkshireBoy

They'll only give you what they think you can afford to repay anyway, so you may as well ask for £20K or more.

You do know you'll have to make a (min) £100 BT to the card (and pay a fee and interest on it at 4.9% APR) within 2 months to activate the 0% on purchases 12 month intro offer?

mrsm

thanks, I'd not read it properly and thought it was either o% purchases or 4.9% transfer. (that's what comes of surfing with 3 children hanging off your legs)

My brain is mush these days, can you help me?

If I transfer 100 (2.50 fee) then use the card for all our purchases (approx £600 a month and use to offset the mortgage,5.15%, is it worth doing? Obviously the minimum payment would be DD (and FD say that it can be paid the day payment is due, even tho it takes 4 days to clear, leavng the funds in our account a little longer.

YorkshireBoy

mrsm wrote: »

If I transfer 100 (2.50 fee) then use the card for all our purchases (approx £600 a month and use to offset the mortgage,5.15%, is it worth doing?

Yes.

There is a 'slow-stooz' calculator here:

http://www.stoozing.com/slowcalc.htm

...which will give you an indication of your likely return (don't forget to select 'offset' in the tax rate field).

mrsm

thanks, one more question sorry

Am I right in thinking for the 100 BT I'm best to use my Egg money card, then transfer the money back to my FD account?

YorkshireBoy

mrsm wrote: »

Am I right in thinking for the 100 BT I'm best to use my Egg money card, then transfer the money back to my FD account?

Sounds good to me.

mrsm

thanks for all your help. I think I'll wait until the mortgage is finalised and i can pay the loan off, then hopefully we might get a higher credit limit (If we do I can put the boiler on it too and hang on to the extra borrowing for 12 months)