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refused, credit score good, even the balance transfer offers on my credit card which I’ve had for years have been withdrawn??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 do admire op in the fact she isn't moaning about giving each twin what looks like 500 each a month while they are at uni. We have seen so many moaning step parents on here. It is actually refreshing.

That’s news to me, I didn’t know 2 people could have the same username?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

How on earth can an extra school uniform cost £2200!

No. But it does illustrate that considerable belt-tightening is possible.

Petrol? I wasn't driving at 13, the launderette was a five minute walk away.

We saw your question and inferred that you are in financial crisis and started trying to suggest ways to get out of it.

I don't even think we have one in the local area. Not where a ten year old could easily walk to.
Probably be accused of negligence or safeguarding too allowing a ten year old at a launderette.
Just googled my nearest. It isn't in a nice area.

It would be easier to wash and stick the radiator on.

Your post is giberish, do you not understand the concept of an example and what are you going on about being ‘sleepier’? Can you go back to your post with some evidence instead of asserting what are purely your conclusions as facts. I am not going to disclose every detail of my family’s life including whether we have a disabled child or not. If I say as a mother or 3 children including a 1 year old that I’m fairly busy as it is and average not more then a few hours of broken sleep (on the good nights) and even getting the dishwasher unloaded can often be a challenge at the moment then you can take it or leave it

My question did not state let alone imply that

Clearly, the term "scrambling" passed you by. You are very concerned about how much interest you will be charged, as opposed to considering it a minor nuisance

That you have perpetual unsecured debt that you never clear is proof that you are struggling.

If my employer became insolvent on Monday, so I didn't get a final pay cheque and was waiting for a statutory claim to be processed, I could live for one month on savings and one month on credit. I don't regard my savings as good enough yet, yet I'm still in a more secure position than you are.

That you've not come unstuck yet is a matter of luck. If either of your employers became insolvent, you'd be screwed immediately. You'd be at the limit of your credit within a couple of weeks.

What is the point of staring that our debt is growing when it has not or that we are paying only the minimum payments when we are paying more than them??

Don't children grow? If my parents had bought a coat for me six months early, it would have been too small when I came to wear it.

So could we thank you, both in available credit, savings and assets we could quickly liquidate into available cash

Funniest comment of the thread 😂 one buys in the next size up to what they are, i.e. if your child is currently in 5-6 year clothes, you would buy a 6-7 year coat for next year

The thing is, property equity doesn't pay the monthly bills. Someone might have lots of assets but if they can't pay their bills as they fall due then they're insolvent. You've avoided this so far by chasing cheap credit, but if that is no longer an option then at 24% interest you're going to struggle to make the minimum payments, never mind make a dent in the balance.

I'll say again so that you fully understand: you are heading towards insolvency. We can all see it. The fact that you only wanted to know about other people's experience of the consumer credit card market (as irrelevant as it would be to your own personal circumstances) does not alter that.

That you are clearly in denial about it doesn't help either. You blame everyone else, lash out at people who've worked it out and are trying to help by pointing out the bleeding obvious, focus on one tiny issue even though it's just part of a much larger complex of inter-twined problems, maintain that you're absolutely fine (if only the assumptions you built this mess upon stayed the same), and have no intention of altering anything in your lifestyle to help address the problem. This actually reminds me of a functioning alcoholic, drunk, wondering why they're not getting served.

You are addicted to cheap credit. You need Stepchange, but you need to admit you have a problem first and none of us can help you with that - even if we're almost all trying.

I assume OP buys them in a size (or two sizes up).

She's unlikely to be able to do this with the 10 year old any more - by the time they are 11 or a bit older they are going to refuse to wear a coat, or at least the generic coat that their mum bought in the Asda sale, and they are likely to have changed shape dramatically either due to puberty or sudden growth spurts or stop growing entirely.

OP - I'd suggest reconsidering 2nd hand clothes; it sounds like you appreciate the value of good quality, and you can get good quality, hardly worn coats off Vinted for as cheap or cheaper than the Asda sale. My teens and pre-teens loved finding bargains and being able to access brands that I would not have bought for them new.

We didn't have radiators. No central heating.

If you read the few relevant replies to my original question it looks like a mixed picture, are you implying that every person who is not offered abundant cheap credit is in financial crisis?

We didn't grow so predictably, especially once puberty turned up.

The finance industry exists and thrives because by and large it can price risk. Cheap credit goes to good (low) risks. Expensive credit goes to bad (high) risks.

You are now a bad risk. It's so obvious, and it's heartbreaking that we can all see it but you can't.

This is at odds with what you've said about owing 17% of annual take-home.

Yeah mine didn’t either…my dd wore the same coat for about 2 1/2 years solid from the age of 3-5. It’s was a Boden coat so (back then) it was very good quality tbf. It’s still going as I gave it to a cousin. My dd is now 12. 🤣

Banks have criteria they apply. They are broad brush criteria as they cannot take into account every individual circumstance, nor do they ask for every financial detail of a person's circumstances.

So, people who are not offered abundant cheap credit, this is because they are not considered a "good deal" - this is either because they are seen as "on the limit" of what they can financially afford, or somewhat ironically, that they are very financially well off, so likely to pay off credit cards every month and not so lucrative for credit card companies.

Rightly or wrongly, it's likely that the lending criteria have thrown you up as a bad risk. Based on what you've said here I would surmise this is because recently the amount you have borrowed has gone up whilst your income has gone down (maternity leave) and that the debt is longstanding and gets swapped from card to card frequently. It looks like you are precariously balanced and that a small increase in balance or interest rates may tip you over the edge. They are not to know that you will have more disposable income when your DSC finish university, or consider you are good at making financial decisions.

The suggestions of savings are coming because people are concerned about you finding the increased interest payment and that you are overstretched, as, if you had an extra £2000 a year that is easily freed up, why weren't you paying this off the card in the past?

Okay.

But how close us OP’s laundrette? It’s 2026–most people in the UK do not have a laundrette within walking distance. Your plan for OP is not feasible in 2026.