Will this work?

Kavanne

My bank is Halifax. I've had a CC with them since Feb 07. Never missed a payment or incurred any charges. I phoned up to see if I could increase my credit limit, they say no chance. However on my current account they are offering me a guaranteed overdraft limit of £4800 which is currently set at £2250. Do you think I can use this in order to get them to increase my credit card limit?! They are clearly prepared to offer me more credit.

Do you think if I kick up enough stink they will increase my CC limit?

thatboydean

with the halifax u'll have to have yr account for 6 months before u can apply for a credit increase

CLAPTON

what is your credit limit?

Kavanne

Er I've had it over a year!

PS I understand overdraft + CC are different types of credit but surely it must be worth a go?

On the CC it's £2800 and has been since I got the card.

NickX

Sounds like a reasonable argument to me.

You'll just have to try and push them on it - if one Customer Services rep says no, then phone back and try another.

They will probably say, "oh the card services and the bank account are run by separate companies so we can't do that", but if you push them I think they may agree to it.

Good Luck.

CLAPTON

why do you need a credit limit of more than 2,800?

Kavanne

CLAPTON wrote: »

why do you need a credit limit of more than 2,800?

Completing on my house on 6th May. Got a lot of stuff I need to buy. Would rather put on CC to put off paying for 56 days (and get the interest on my savings instead) but if the limit is only £2800 and I need to buy £5000 of stuff it won't work

Have tried applying for new CCs but rejected or puny credit limit

YorkshireBoy

Kavanne wrote: »

Would rather put on CC to put off paying for 56 days (and get the interest on my savings instead)...

...which will net you around £2 a week (on the additional £2,200) - so at an average of 6 weeks interest free, £12.

I realise £12 is £12, but at the end of the day it's hardly worth damaging your credit rating further (remember you're changing address soon) by risking further credit searches?

NickX

Another point to note here is that you have your Bank Account and Credit Card with Halifax.

I know this doesn't sound like a problem, but there have been reports on here where people have defaulted their Credit Card, and because their Bank Account is effectively with the same organisation, the Credit Card company have recovered their funds by just taking the funds from the Bank Account (usually without even giving any prior warning). So, if funds are tight, it is adviseable to keep Credit Card debt with a separate organisation to your day to day Bank Account so they cannot do this "cash grab" tactic.

I am not suggesting that you would default, but just pointing out what could happen.

Kavanne

Funds aren't tight I would just rather make the most of my interest.... But I suppose it might not be worth it.

YorkshireBoy

NickX wrote: »

I know this doesn't sound like a problem, but there have been reports on here where people have defaulted their Credit Card, and because their Bank Account is effectively with the same organisation, the Credit Card company have recovered their funds by just taking the funds from the Bank Account (usually without even giving any prior warning). So, if funds are tight, it is adviseable to keep Credit Card debt with a separate organisation to your day to day Bank Account so they cannot do this "cash grab" tactic.

This is the reason banks are more relaxed about extending overdraft facilities, because a) you (normally) repay a large part of it once per month when your salary hits, and b) overdrafts are repayable on demand...so they could 'snatch' your entire wage one month if they were so inclined/provoked.

Credit cards, on the other hand, offer a revolving credit facility and can remain maxed out (bar the 2% minimum payment), and the lender doesn't have as much 'control'.