self employed - need advice on applying for credit cards

divalou

Hi there;
Im self employed so know this affects my credit score.
I have maxed my credit card out and need to change it to a 0% balance transfer. However, smart search conmes up with cards that are 0% interest free for like 52 days - not really long enought o pay off my card.
So do i risk applyuing for a better 0% card even though my credit score wont be amazing due to my self employed status?
Do you think the ones with the shortest 0% period and highest interest rate after would be more likely to accept me?

CannyJock

Being self-employed itself isn't an issue. I've been self-employed for 3 years and have a healthy deck of stoozed credit cards.

Is the issue that you're not earning enough to keep up with your outgoings and relying on your credit cards to get you from one month to another?

Have you looked at your credit report to see if you have any defaults showing on it?

I'd say apply for the best card and if you're refused then maybe look at some of the other cards. Virgin Money would be a recommendation, but remember it's not a long-term fix to a lack of income or an excess of spending - infact lots of recent posts about the interest rate rocketing up to 30%+ after the initial 0% period.

Remember that even if self-employed, you may still be eligible for Working or Child Tax Credits - I've a relative who's been self-employed for 15 years and missed out on WTC for 14 of them before I spoke to him and he got registered for them.

divalou

No its not that im not taking enough money home, I dont rely on my cards infact ive only used it twice for 2 big purchases, i just dont wanna be stuck with a high interest when i can reduce the balance much more quickly if i have it at 0% - im planning on paying at least £300 a month off it but the less i have to pay in interest the better.
I'll have a go with virgin money as lots of people have said about them.

Ive never balanced transferred before so can you tell me if the amount you transfer comes off the credit of the new card or do you have that added on i.e i transfer 1000 to a card with 3000 limit, do i now have only 2000 left or do i still have the 3000 but a balance of 1000??

Thanks for the tip on the tax credits i'll check it out

divalou

oh and the point i meant with being self employed is that the buisiness only opened 6 months ago

CannyJock

divalou wrote: »

Ive never balanced transferred before so can you tell me if the amount you transfer comes off the credit of the new card or do you have that added on i.e i transfer 1000 to a card with 3000 limit, do i now have only 2000 left or do i still have the 3000 but a balance of 1000??

If you had for example a Mint card with say £ 3,000 balance and you got a new Virgin money card.

When you phone to activate the Virgin card and set up your direct debit to repay the minimum, you ask them to do a balance transfer to your Mint of £ 3,000. They will ask you for the Mint card details and arrange the transfer - they'll warn you not to cancel any direct debits and to keep up repayments on the cards until the balance transfer is confirmed. This is just belt and braces in case there's any reason that the transfer doesn't happen in time and you end up with a "missed payment" flag and £ 12 charge for the trouble.

After the transfer has gone through, assuming a 2.98% fee, the balance on your Virgin Money card would be £ 3,089.40.

On the Virgin Money card you can transfer up to 95% of the credit limit they give you. Each card will have it's own "maximum", 95% is fairly normal. Only other thing I can think on off the top of my head is that you can't transfer between cards of the same family, e.g. MBNA are behind the Virgin Money card and a load of others.

divalou

ok, thats great thanks for clearing that up