Need new 0% card but circumstances totally changed

KittyBoo_2

Morning all.
I'm a bit stuck on what to do at the moment regarding my credit cards.
Not long ago I was made redundant and so started working self employed as a cleaner.
Obviously my wages are alot less than when I was a project manager and this is what worries me.
I need to transfer balances off of 2 different credit cards as they are at the end of the 0% period.
One is Capital One with an outstanding £6000 balance and an £8700 credit limit but interest rate will be 9.4% from next month.
Second one is Halifax One with a outstanding balance of £3205 and a credit limit of £7950 and interest rate to be 9.4% from next month.
I have an Alliance and Leicester card with an outstanding balance of £3730 nad a credit limit of £3800 at 4.9% until December.
I've looked at the Credit Card shuffle but I have nowhere to shuffle the money to.
I am worried about applying for another credit card at 0* as my circumstances are totally different.
I had worked for the Local Authority for 15 years and had regular income but now I am self employed and on much lower income.
Have you any suggestions as to what my options might be.
Thanks

CannyJock

Tricky one. I'm assuming that you got the £8,700 and £ 7,950 credit limits when you were working as a Project Manager.

One thing about being self-employed is that you can make a reasonable estimate of your income. If you've got a job, you've got a contract of employment, P60's, annual interest statements so your income for credit applications is pretty much black and white.

Being self-employed things are a bit more grey - remember to include every form of income you can, from interest on savings, selling stuff on ebay etc etc etc. I'm not suggesting to invent numbers you can't substantiate, but I'm definitely saying make sure that you don't miss out any potential income in your calculations.

You've got £ 12,935 of credit with £ 20,450 of available credit. Depending how the available credit looks as a % of your income will give you a starting point on your chances of getting more credit (assuming no defaults or other black marks on your credit file). Up to 50% of income isn't unusual.

If I was you I'd start with an application for the Virgin Money card. Hope for a decent credit limit and do a full balance transfer to Halifax. You can BT up to 95% of your credit limit on the Virgin card - any remaining credit available, transfer this to your Cap One card.

I'd also be tempted to try an application for another 0% card, either Egg Card or Barclaycard OnePluse card. Plan here would be to use this to pay off your Cap One card and extend the 0% period for another 12 months.

As soon as you get a nil balance statement from the cards you're clearing, call up to cancel them to free up available credit for when your "new" 0% deals run out.

Halifax you won't get a repeat offer on so no point holding onto it - Cap One I'm not sure about but hopefully someone can add an update - if you won't get a repeat 0% deal, no point holding onto the cards.

NickX

CannyJock wrote: »

Cap One I'm not sure about but hopefully someone can add an update - if you won't get a repeat 0% deal, no point holding onto the cards.

Capital One are not good for repeats, however you can apply for a new card as a brand new customer only days after closing your existing account.

I also managed to get 2 Capital One cards at the same time (one with a £17k limit), but I have heard of others who have been rejected because they already hold a Capital One card.

KittyBoo_2

Thanks for your suggestions.
I have had an Egg card and paid it off before the 0% period ended. I asked for any other offers but they said no so I closed it.
I've never missed a payment on any credit cards or mortgage etc and have an overdraft facility on my Halifax current account of 2k which is in credit at the moment.
I will aim to pay off the Cap. 1 first and apply for the Virgin card.
I'll let you know how I get on.
Thanks again.

jimmo

Hi. Hope this helps but I am also keen to learn if I’ve got things wrong.
My change of circumstances was that I retired and my pension is roughly half of my final salary.
I have 3 cards, Halifax One, Virgin and CSMA.
CSMA is Civil Service Motoring Association and is a current nightmare but that is not important to your question.
Anyway those 3 cards provide me with a combined credit limit of approximately 2 ½ times my annual gross income.
So I fear that any new application for any sort of card is going to be rejected and even if I cancelled one of them I would still be over the top and still get rejected.
My Virgin 0% deal is getting close to its expiry date (July) and I have recently received a life of balance offer from Halifax at 5.94%.
I also recall that someone else posted a question about a Halifax offer in the 3 to 4 % region recently, but I didn’t get that.
That’s not particularly a good deal for lots of people but I think it is good for me.
I have cleared my Halifax card so that I can transfer the balances from Virgin and CSMA onto the 5.94% deal in the expectation that Virgin will give me a repeat offer of zero % for 9 months in about 3 or 4 months time.
I really think that works for me, but I would sooner be shot down here by those who know better.
My ploy is to maintain my current credit limits but, more by luck than judgement, I have 2 cards that seem to have a history of repeat offers which I feel I can work with.
I really feel you are in a similar situation and applying for new cards now could do you more harm than good because your overall credit limit will plummet. .
.