It is unlikely that I will ever work again given my medical issues and ageism, I am 63, is being much alive and well in Scotland as I found out 6 years ago. But I was thinking that I have had the credit card for more years than I care to remember, the debt was wiped by the much maligned PPI some years ago and I rarely use it these days so balance is very low. But ever looking to save a few pence I have looked at swapping the card to something that offers of one sort or the other but have found that even though I have a great credit score, if that matters, the fact that I do not work seems to bar me from changing cards, or is there a way round this? Not a major issue but as I am a financial imbecile and have no idea what stuff means as in: From my credit report. Your largest credit card limit is relatively high, 8 grand Your total credit card % utilisation is relatively low, and that is around 3% It seems lowering your credit limit can detrimentally affect the credit score and credit card utilisation sounds painful. I am inundated with credit card offers and these days ignore them as I found that I was invariably turned down which did not come as a great surprise given my circumstances. As I say just wondered if it is possible to change and is it worth it in my case?
Moneysavingexpert has a useful eligibility calculator https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/eligibility/credit-cards/ which can show you your chance of getting various credit cards but without actually hurting your credit score (normally applying and getting turned down hurts your credit score but this doesn't). In some cases you can be 100% guaranteed to be accepted which is good. Questions about your situation: What do you use / want to use the credit card for? Purchases, balance transfers, spending abroad? Do you clear the balance in full each month?
Thanks for the eligibility calculator, will have a look at that. What do you use / want to use the credit card for? For the bigger spends where the extra security of paying for an item is very welcome. Do you clear the balance in full each month? I rarely use it in fact before today where I have bought a phone, my last purchase was a GTX 1080 GPU some months ago. As for clearing the balance? I don't, I tend to pay around 3/4 times the minimum.
Fair enough - paying for expensive items on a credit card is definitely a good idea. If you did clear the balance each month then a cashback credit card would be a good idea as you are given back a small percentage of what you spend however the interest rates tend to be quite high and so not paying the balance in full would probably cancel out any cashback 'earnings'. As you don't clear the balance in full and tend to use it for spending then you could save money by getting a 0% spending credit card - the best deals at the minute are for around 30 months - or a lower interest rate credit card - for example 4.9% for 60 months. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-0-credit-cards Once the original deal length is up however you would be best to switch again as the interest rates tend to jump quite sharply.
Decreasing your credit card limit can have a slight effect on your credit score, as it means your utilisation increases (utilisation is the amount of spending on the card as a % of the credit limit - so your 3% utilisation means that you're only spending about £240 on the card) What has a bigger effect is the ability to manage the credit effectively - having a low balance, paying off more than the minimum payment each month, not missing payments or going over your limit and so on. When applying for a credit card (or any other credit scored application such as a loan), any organisation will look at your credit score as part of the bigger picture - which includes your ability to repay the lending (because credit cards are, after all, just another form of lending). Because you're retired, your income is limited - and some forms of income, such as benefits, cannot be counted in the figure - which, in the eyes of any lender, will reduce your ability to pay. What that means is that you're unlikely to get the £8k limit again, but may be able to get a lower limit - £500 or £1k perhaps. Most of the offers on credit cards are skewed towards balance transfers, with the sweetener of a couple of months interest-free purchases thrown in for good measure - and since you don't use the card much, and I'm guessing that you don't have any other cards either, then what's the incentive to switch? Other cards may have a lower (non-offer) interest rate, but since you don't use your current card much, I doubt that will have much of an effect either. Remember, though, that each time you apply for a new card (and get turned down) it will leave a footprint on your credit history which will have an overall effect on future credit decisions as well.
silly question maybe, but isn't a 8000 pound limit rather high? I have my limit on ~2500€ only because car-hire companies are silly enough to block a good part of that when renting a car I never found I needed a higher limit (we do travel with two cards though)
I have no doubt it is but credit card companies do so love to increase your credit limit in the hope we take on more debt and thereby pay increased interest charges. I think the most I ever owed was £4000 and the insurance company paid that off after I was diagnosed with cancer some years ago.
