Credit Card Tips

kriss_boy

Hi,
For 3 years Ive bought and sold guitars using my credit card. So whilst being a poor student with no job Im somehow earnt a credit limit of £9,500. Not bad for a 22 year old whose never had a real job!

Anyway! how can I use this to my advantage? Is there a way of getting this 9 grand out my card every month and sticking it in an account to earn interest before paying it off on time?

Or should I move the 9 grand over to another card which offers 0% on BT for however many months?

Trouble is I applied for some lloyds credit card and got turned down. I was quite surprised though as Ive had around £150,000 go through my credit card in the past couple of years, all of which was paid on time. Will I struggle to get a credit card because Im unemployed?

Reaper

No, there is not much you can do with a credit limit unless it is on a card which offers 0% APR.

A card which pays cashback would be much more use to you. For example even if it only paid 0.5% you would have made £750 on the £150,000 you have put on your card.

Look in the blue box above and click on the links to read about the best casback and rewards on credit cards.

As for getting new cards - you will find it extremely difficult to get another card if you are not working, and the large amounts passing through your existing card won't make any difference as that is not recorded. Your good repayment history is the only thing in your favour. Maybe one of the cards for people with poor credit ratings will accept you but they won't be of any use to you as they offer neither rewards nor 0%.

However do you make a profit out of your guitar buying and selling? If so work out how much you make p.a. and then you can put that down as self employed income. That will make getting another card much easier.

kriss_boy

Well Ive declared I made 4 grand each year on my guitars.

I have a another really simple question! Are you allowed to pay off one visa bill with another visa card! It just dawned on my this morning that I could just pay off my visa bill with my mums card! I could do this repeatedly right, and never have to pay the bill? Surely thats not allowed?

Rafter

kriss,

No you can't pay off one card with another unfortunately - although you can do a balance transfer.

The only thing you could do is use your parents better credit limit to get a 0% card and then do some stoozing to earn interest on the money during the interest free period. Easier said than done though and the returns are now lower as a result of BT fees being introduced to stop this activity.

R.

kriss_boy

Damit.

See Ive basically been doing stoozing for the past two years. Theres always been money in my bank account, but its the from the sales of my guitars. So I use the card, sell the guitars, and then have about 3 weeks of having around 7 grand in my bank account!

Trouble is I was in hospital with pneumonia and everything got knocked outa sync. Luckily I have 2 grand on my card and I can pay most of it. One buyer of a guitar pulled out though and hence why I need a crafty plan to avoid not paying.

At the time I phoned up and told my credit card company "the bank of scotland classic visa" about bein in hospital and asked if I could get out of paying the money I owed for a month or 2 weeks. They said no. Surely looking back on it they should have given me a holiday payment or something?

Joe_Bloggs

This may be a misreading of the situation but have you considered the Prince's Trust here.
J_B.

kriss_boy

Lots of people have suggested stuff like this for me but to be honest I have 9 grand buying power on my card, 6 grand on my mums, so really I dont need loans or things like that because I sell my stock within the month and meet the payments on my card in full.

Like I say Ive declared 4 grand of earnings in the previous two years. Last month though I made 2 grand on a single guitar. Bought it for £1400 then sold it for £3700!!

Anyway, I have 2 weeks to pay off £2200. I have a couple of guitars I cany prolly flog in time so I should be ok.

I thnik Ill just go crazy and apply for a few credit cards, I mean if theres no annual fees or anything then having them at least gives me options right?

kriss_boy

Ive kinda given up buying and selling though, I need a real job. But I keep my eye on ebay and the other shops. Last night I came out of retirement of trading and bought one I should make 500 quid on.

jonesMUFCforever

So have you declared yourself as self employed to the Inland Revenue?
Have you paid any tax and NI on your earnings?
With the amount of money going through your bank and credit card account be careful that someone does not drop you in it!
Eric

Thefunkygibbons

Don't go crazy applying for cards as each one shows up on your credit file and too many sets off warning bells

It is unlikely that you will get one approved and ready to use in 2 weeks anyway, if that is your time frame

kriss_boy

ejones999 wrote:

So have you declared yourself as self employed to the Inland Revenue?
Have you paid any tax and NI on your earnings?
With the amount of money going through your bank and credit card account be careful that someone does not drop you in it!
Eric

Someone did drop me in it! No harm done though, I paid my NI and I have self assessment tax forms to fill in yearly!