Credit card rate tart? Take heart...

Q Could you tell me if my credit rating will be affected if I move the balance on my credit card balance to card providers which charge no interest for the first six months? As a recent graduate I would like to take full advantage of these offers but I seem to recall somebody telling me it would negatively affect my credit rating if I continued to move a balance from one credit card to another.



PG

Q I was recently cold-called by a company called Carrington Carr, offering to save me a fortune on my mortgage. It also said it could get me one interest rate for all of my loans and credit card. During the conversation I mentioned that I had previously switched my credit card balance to other companies to take advantage of better rates. The operator said that this was a risky business because if you do it more than four times it has an adverse effect on your credit rating - but I read Jobs and Money every week and have never come across this in your publication.

MW

A Sorry to lump your letters together, but you are essentially asking the same question to which the same answer applies.

Whenever you make an application for credit - whether for a credit card, personal loan, mortgage or hire purchase arrangement - the lender will generally run a check on your credit file. When it does this, it can see previous recent searches made on your file by other lenders.

Previously, lenders took a dim view of finding several searches on someone's file as it could suggest that a borrower was taking out cards and loans he/she couldn't afford and then applying for new ones once the line of credit had been exhausted. But this isn't the case any more.

"Experience of how the market has changed and how competitive it now is has led lenders to change their view," says Neil Munroe of credit reference agency Equifax. "If there are a few months between applications for credit cards, for example, I can't see lenders penalising anyone for taking advantage of the market like that - especially if there is a steady record of payments during the months between applications."

So don't feel you have to forego the benefit of balance transfer deals on credit cards just to preserve your credit record.