How do I get an idea of what my credit limit would be?

[longestlurkerever]

I am looking to open a 0% credit card to make a large purchase, but I can't figure out how feasible this is. I haven't used credit cards much before and when I do I tend to pay them off in full each month so I have no idea what my credit limit would be, and when I spoke to the card provider they said the only way to tell me (or even give me a ballpark figure) would be to make the application - but if I do that the clock starts ticking on my 0% rate sooner than I want it to. My income is about £50k per annum and my dh's is about the same. Is it realistic to think we might be able to borrow £20k between us on credit cards or am I way off the mark? Is there any way to get an idea what the limit would be before making an application?

I think that's potentially realistic. They'll take your credit score into account too - do you know what your credit rating is like?

I earn similar and my limit on my most recent card I applied for is ?9000.

I don't think you'd get a 20k limit immediately on quite card. There's no way of knowing beforehand what they'll offer.

To give you an idea, our income is around half of yours, and my application for a 0% card this weekend offered a £1.5k limit. That's very good as I have a 5 year old default and 2, 5 year old CCJs. I've worked really hard at building a rating up!

On a card, not quite. Bloody phone.

Thank for your quick responses. I have never had any defaults or anything so I think my credit score is good but I haven't built up much history iyswim. I have a mortgage but don't know if that counts in the same way.

cant you get a loan

Yes, probably, but this would potentially be cheaper if it worked.

Money saving expert's credit card section will do a "soft search" for you which will give you an idea of what your chances of acceptance are

Toffee, yes thank you, I did that and it said I had a 95% chance of being accepted for my chosen card based on my income level, but it didn't give any indication of what the credit limit would be, and it was that card provider that said the only way to know would be to start the application, and the range was £500 to £500,000. Which is a big range!

Both my Bank of Scotland and MBNA cards have pretty high limits - one is ?7k and the other ?9k. They also keep offering to increase them if I want to! So I'd apply if I were you and go from there.

MBNA is the most generous in my experience. £11.5k limit for me on a salary similar to yours.

Thanks. It was mbna I was looking at so probably worth trying.