where has the credit gone?

[winterblues25]

I’ve usually never had a problem being accepted for credit but just tried to increase my credit limit on my card recently and was refused, new balance transfer card and loan applications refused, credit score good, even the balance transfer offers on my credit card which I’ve had for years have been withdrawn??

I read that it's much better not to pay it off in full but just have a very small mortgage.

I don't think op is counting the money to his older kids this could be anything from a few hundred to a thousand so would up her husband's actual income.

They are extending the credit to you to make money themselves, so of course they prefer you to be paying them a much higher interest rate.
Probably the offers you are receiving are a result of a subtle change in the metrics that they use to decide what kind of customer you are. Sometimes paying off too much debt can do this, as your value to make them money diminishes. Or they may realise your other options have run out and they can make more money out of you because you have to stick around. It's not a public service so aside from complying with the law they aren't considering the impact on you and they don't have to.
Could you add the debt to your mortgage and avoid carrying a balance on your card in future?
Perhaps you will sometimes have to stay up to 1am to do that extra load of washing or drive to the supermarket after the kids are in bed to buy gloves. This might be more cost-effective than having a lot of spares.

Op you say you spend approximately( sorry can't find post) 90 percent of your£3900.
So 3510 does this include groceries? Petrol? As if not that is a really high essential bills amount. You should definitely do a SOA on here or mse if you want kinder response but people can see things you possibly wouldn't.

There are always going to be financial crises of one sort or another though. In the 70s, it was high inflation, in the early 80s, it was a recession leading to a big rise in unemployment, in the late 80s/early 90s it was massive rises in interest rates that led to huge number of mortgage repossessions.

I've often said that once businesses work out who they don't want as customers then a lot of UK consumers are going to be living in a very different reality from the assumptions they've held for years.

Balance transfer offers are bait to attract new customers; once the lender has you, they offer you more credit. Unfortunately, they can see that you have run out of road. They simply don't want an unexploded bomb like you as a customer, and you're stuck with the unaffordable terms to which you agreed, on the assumption you'd just be able to transfer out of them once they became inconvenient.

About 13-14 years ago I went to the bank in person to ask for a consolidation loan. Is this an option still?

I was paying much more than the minimum monthly card payment but also spending everything on the credit card and not paying it in full each month, so the debt did increase over time. It helped that I had my bank's credit card, explained about transferring the balance into a loan. They made the payment, so they knew I wasn't increasing my overall credit and reduced my credit card limit to £1K.

That loan has been repaid and only last year I increased my card limit to only £2K, to which I go nowhere near.

I imagine machine learning will be making a lot of this calculation easier than it was a few years ago

Sorry, my experience is old, not recent, but my credit card debt was much higher than yours! I don't need to apply for credit any more, but £8K or so doesn't seem that much these days, so it sounds as though they are cutting down on access to credit.

If you are constantly doing balance transfers it's probably showing up somewhere. Banks rely on people getting stuck and locked into the higher rate.

Op can I suggest you post on moneysavingexpert as it seems you have got used to moving the debt around onto low interest cards and if that isn’t available as an option now you really need a new plan, as a 24% interest rate is going to knacker you completely.

Im wondering about a consolidation loan with a lower interest rate on even a bank loan to pay all the creditors off.

Agree but the reason circumstances are so dire now is multifactorial but also because the Tories allowed Quantitive Easing post the 2008/9 crash
Rather than take responsibility they just printed cash and flooded the market with cheap credit.
People were led by the nose into " you can have it all" mentality also promoted by the rise of SM, Insta and the Influencer lifestyle.
Sadly its now caught up with people and interest rates have risen.
Add increased interest rates on student loans, rocketing house prices and tightening up on lending, plus CoL and here we are .

Missed the photo.

The problem with 2025/26 is all those things are happening at once. High cost of living, high inflation, increasing interest rates, increasing unemployment, recession around the corner and now a squeeze on credit. Another crash incoming.

@winterblues25 Please, please do not do this!

You should never turn unsecured debt into secured debt.

To possibly answer what you are getting at OP - why have the low rate balance transfer deals disappeared?

• they can see from your credit history that you've moved this balance a few times, and while it might have reduced, you're still needing to hold a big balance and move it. There's going to be a limit as to how many times providers will let you do that - its like a hot potato. Your debt is going on for years and years, no lender wants to be the one still holding your hot potato debt when other providers start to say no to you. Sounds like you are hitting that point now. Even though you've reduced it, you've done slowly, so they are starting to class you as higher risk of defaulting.
• they want to make money! They do not make money from people who transfer a big balance on a 0% deal then move on when it ends. They want to catch you when you aren't moving and get you paying that high interest rate & profit off you. Welcome to capitalism!
• There's probably a bit of general market sentiment. The economy isn't great, so banks & lenders will start worrying, and their higher risk borrowers will be the first to get cut off.

I honestly would get a bit of proper advice in RL - its a worrying sign if you are having applications rejected in a few different places eg credit cards, loans etc. You could easily get stuck with debt on a high rate that will cripple you fast and tip you from "just managing/under control" to "fucked".

OP I have been in your position.

You think it’s possible to just juggle debt on low rate cards for years and years - basically just living above your means and assume it can just stay there “floating” forever.

But it can’t any more, and the level of debt will be what’s causing it.

I would speak to your bank. They may be able to help you with some sort of debt consolidation into a lower rate loan or even into your mortgage.

Then you have to be very disciplined in future and not build ip the debt again. And pay off the debt you have of course. But at least this will then have a clear monthly payment.

You literally have to think “if the money isn’t there, I don’t have this/ do this”. It’s hard to get back into that way of thinking when your whole life has been built on the idea of just juggling debt.

I’m not sure that’s right. If she can pay it that way, and pay lower interest, then it’s one way to get back on an even keel.

The only reason she shouldn’t do it is if she can’t make the payments.

The OP is using credit for day to day spending, it may not take much for her debt to become unserviceable. If you add it to your mortgage you risk your home and your security.
Turning an unsecured debt into a secured one is the worst thing you can do.

There are ways to get rid of the debt - risking your house is not one of those ways.

I agree it’s not a good idea if she keeps doing it.

I cannot contemplate thinking I had the luxury of working part time when I had FIVE children to support.

Hope you're ok @winterblues25 - I think you've received many replies that were not expected and you probably didn't want!

But I agree with PPs who are saying (either gently or not-so -gently) that it sounds like you are at risk of developing problem debt, if you're not already there.

Your combined income is not that big, especially for 5 children and 2 adults. You keep saying that you'll spend the way you do because you need a minimum standard for your kids, and you won't move from that position.

But if your overall debt does increase as seems likely (with your APRs increasing and continued spending), will you be able to make all necessary payments? Do you have any priority bills/debts that you're struggling with - such as mortgage, Council Tax? What will happen if the boiler goes or your roof starts to leak and you can't access any more credit?

If debt does start to become a real problem, that could have a big impact on your family's life and lifestyle (probably more than a bit of belt-tightening now would do, anyway).

As PPs have suggested, talking to a free and regulated debt charity like StepChange could be a very good idea to ensure you're not at risk of your debt becoming unmanageable. They are experts.

If you only pay minimums (or close to minimums) on credit cards, you really should have a play with this calculator from Barclays:

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/customer/repayment-calculator

It's eye-opening .

You literally have to think “if the money isn’t there, I don’t have this/ do this”. It’s hard to get back into that way of thinking when your whole life has been built on the idea of just juggling debt.

This, really. What you are doing isn't sustainable and it seems to be catching up on you. You'll need to work on paying off the debt fast or the new interest will really bite and escalate your existing debt.

Something to think about - will you be in the same position in 8 years if/when your DC start uni? How will you fund potentially all 3?

I think they have tightened up or at least changed the way they assess credit ratings. Mine has always been excellent but I do keep a few grand balance on a 0% credit card (because why not - I keep the money in savings and earn interest). Recently my credit rating suddenly fell and the reason was that I was using a high proportion of available credit. This has never mattered before and I tend to move balances from one 0% to another. I paid some of my credit card balance off and my rating did go back up - although not quite to where it was before. So I do think they're being stricter about credit utilisation.

I always remember after I inherited money so my financial situation was very healthy indeed (and no mortgage already). I've never been offered so many loans, credit or appointments to talk about investments.

The investment appointments fair enough but honestly why offer loans/credit to someone who clearly does not need it. I can only assume their system was marking me as 'very safe' and so they wanted me to take out their products and they were guaranteed to get the money/interest back.

When I was bumbling along, doing ok, working and paying bills but not flush nobody offered me any money until I asked and sometimes the answer was yes and sometimes no

However it may be a sign of what is going on in the economy just now - unemployment is rising, interest rates are higher, growth is poor. The banks may just be forecasting if the OP loses her job she will be in trouble and so they are limiting their exposure.