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refused, credit score good, even the balance transfer offers on my credit card which I’ve had for years have been withdrawn??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’m not going to bring my children up without swimming lessons etc just because the government wants to tax us to the hilt and the banks want to rack up our interest rate, we’ll pay it off when we’re able to

£3900 - yes we do, that includes mortgage, insurances, transport, childcare, food, clothes, utilities, kids clubs, debt repayments etc

Can you not get a loan for the credit card balance at a lesser interest rate?

So why were you applying to increase your credit limit OP if your debt is going down? Surely that would leave you with capacity to spare, why did you need more?

Do you have a pattern of paying it down a bit then it going back up again as you spend on something because the credit is more available? As this won't look attractive to lenders if you are not consistently reducing the debt. It's no good reducing it one year only to run it back even higher the next year.

Its always a mistake to rely on cheap balance transfers you can only ever do that for so long before it catches up with you. Banks don't lend money for free

You say you have “paid off loads of debt” already
But half remains, which means “loads” still remain.

I’ve usually never had a problem being accepted for credit even when you were in very substantial debt?

How many children and how old?

Have you checked you've definitely closed them all?

Yes tried that and declined, whereas in the past had been able to get loans without any issue (which have since paid off) just didn’t know if it were a general thing happening as our circumstances, income etc have actually improved since then

Yes, they’re not showing up on banking apps

DH 2 children at uni and then we’ve got 3 ages 10.6 and 1 together

School trips for dc who are 10, 6 and 1 are a misdirection. Obviously the younger dc doesn’t have any school trips. The older 2 at those ages will be minimal (unless a private school?) Also at those ages buying shoes that will last them for any longer than 6 months (certainly not the 5yrs op originally stated!) is a waste of money considering how quickly they grow. Same for clothes. So what you are really saying op is that you want clothes and shoes that will last you 5 years and that isn’t an unreasonable want by any means, but it is an unaffordable one for you at the moment. Plus how often do you need to buy your shoes and clothes if they are lasting you years?
How much longer is your dsc at uni? Are they working?

I think, like lots of people these days, op wants to live and present a certain picture of how much money they have and the life they lead and all it is is smoke and mirrors and living on the never never.

Banks aren’t obliged to lend you any money. They can say no at any time. They can withdraw all credit at any time. Then what? You are left with no savings (assuming) and a ton of debt.

I would love to see a detailed list of your food shopping, days out/holidays and clothes shopping 😂 I bet it would be enlightening and not quite for the ‘essentials’ you claim

Wouldn’t consider 2 months of income substantial debt but no I never did have a problem being accepted for credit then, which contrary to the point trying to make did not get us into more debt we’ve halved it since. Having that access to credit just meant I was able to transfer to the cheapest interest rates

Bloody hell. So he’s also been paying maintenance.

So wonder money is tight

So you have 8K debt
Salary 4K

What are your essential basic outgoings?
Keep the swimming lessons but cut back elsewhere.
If you ask your CC company to freeze interest and could find £300 a month by cutting back you could gave it gone in 26 months .

You will end up in a debt spiral if you keep spending, rack up interest and eventually you are paying interest on the interest on the interest.
A job loss or illness and you are stuffed

Ok op, only you know the extent of your debt

A take home of almost £4k
and yet without credit you couldn’t buy good shoes

Surely this must be a wind up

in debt as won’t stop spending on nice things but pays out 95% of income on essentials (so spending almost 4K a month). Won’t make more money. Keeps blaming the credit card company for all this.

Have you ever heard the phrase “cut your cloth according to your means”?

sometimes we can’t afford things. That means we don’t spend on them. That’s life. It’s batshit to decide you’re owed a standard of living and just go into debt to have it!

Her 'D'H has been paying uni costs for his kids.
Which is lovely, except for the fact he has 3 kids and a wife who can't buy shoes.
As per usual, it's a husband problem!

Well I’ve had 25 years of adult life to work out what works best for me and now our family. We’ve obviously got different views on debt and maybe you would rather live in a cardboard box than get a mortgage but the things we’ve spend our money on over the last few years are all things which I’ve seen as an investment, whether it is the £400 school year 5 residential which my DD still talks about or the £80 work shoes that have lasted me 5 years or the full year maternity leave I took with our youngest. If it takes us an extra couple of years to pay off because the bank wants to choke the low interest credit so be it, my original post was just curious as to if any other people were experiencing the same thing.

He just doesn’t want them lose out because we’ve got children too, which is fair enough, I wouldn’t want them to feel as if they’re losing out either

Well op I hope we have answered your question…. No, we aren’t all seeing credit dry up! You are because of your circumstances

You have posted before about money issue, I recall this family set up

It doesn’t sound like many people who have answered have even recently applied for a loan or balance transfer?

Try MoneySupermarket. I found a good 0% balance transfer on there recently! Other thing to note is that you said you've recently paid off loads of debt - so in theory this is a good thing, but credit firms are super funny about this. There's some kind of invisible sweet spot where they want you to have a certain amount of debt, not zero, but not too much, and paid off at the right amount at the right intervals. So if you go too fast, these doesnt necessarily add positively to your credit rating. An example of this, in my case, I went a bit over my usual spending for a couple of months, and my provider literally upped my limit without me even asking and my credit rating improved. Kind of irresponsible of them IMO.