V A N Q U I S

ASL

Received my fourth statement yesterday, and today have had my credit limit doubled. I did receive a letter last month saying after my next statement that my credit limit would increase. :-)

Solstice_Twilight

I've just qualified for a Vanquis card (my first credit card ever!) and my shiny blue card came through the post on Saturday :T

I'm intending to use my new credit limit (£500) to pay for my diesel each month (around £250) and pay it off immediately, but I've since been advised that I need to spend more on it and bring my monthly balance up near to my limit, then clear this every month (i.e. also do my grocery shop on it, which will bring it up to around £400 - £450). Apparently if I only use 50% or so of my limit it doesn't look as good on my credit usage??

I only want the card to repair my credit rating, and having spent most of my adult life digging myself out of debt, I don't want to ever forget that credit isn't the same as "available money". The diesel and grocery bills are the only things we have real flexibility with after DDs/SOs so I'm a bit scared of pushing it too far and finding that I'm actually not paying the full balance off every month.

BARCLAYS

I have been declined by Vanquis too, I just turned 18 when I applied. Maybe this was the reason behind their decision..

ASL

Solstice_Twilight wrote: »

I've just qualified for a Vanquis card (my first credit card ever!) and my shiny blue card came through the post on Saturday :T

I'm intending to use my new credit limit (£500) to pay for my diesel each month (around £250) and pay it off immediately, but I've since been advised that I need to spend more on it and bring my monthly balance up near to my limit, then clear this every month (i.e. also do my grocery shop on it, which will bring it up to around £400 - £450). Apparently if I only use 50% or so of my limit it doesn't look as good on my credit usage??

I only want the card to repair my credit rating, and having spent most of my adult life digging myself out of debt, I don't want to ever forget that credit isn't the same as "available money". The diesel and grocery bills are the only things we have real flexibility with after DDs/SOs so I'm a bit scared of pushing it too far and finding that I'm actually not paying the full balance off every month.

I bring my vanquis limit within pennies of my limit a couple of times a month. I make more than one payment though. I'm getting loads of greens on my CRA report. Izools is the best one to ask on this. I wouldn't worry though myself, providing you pay in full each month. Use your card. Its not like your running a 50% balance on a £10k limit is it. My new limit is also the same as yours. Your CRA's are obviously improving. Vanquis don't just look at how you run your account when increasing limits, they look at outside factors such things like how you run other accounts. No bad stuff will be coming up on reports. Use the card the way you want to. Don't worry about it. Just pay in full. I am sure Izools will make a comment to this also. Congrats on your new limit. :T

izools

Vanquis may prefer you to max your card but generally and in terms of your credit files, it is better to keep credit utilization low.

Your plan to use the card for fuel alone and pay the bill in full by the due date is the best way forward; I'd carry on with that.

A higher limit with Vanquis won't increase your credit worthiness elsewhere, and is largely pointless anyway given the outrages interest rates they charge you wouldn't want to spread the cost of anything on that card anyway

NekoZombie

Solstice_Twilight wrote: »

I've just qualified for a Vanquis card (my first credit card ever!) and my shiny blue card came through the post on Saturday :T

I'm intending to use my new credit limit (£500) to pay for my diesel each month (around £250) and pay it off immediately, but I've since been advised that I need to spend more on it and bring my monthly balance up near to my limit, then clear this every month (i.e. also do my grocery shop on it, which will bring it up to around £400 - £450). Apparently if I only use 50% or so of my limit it doesn't look as good on my credit usage??

I only want the card to repair my credit rating, and having spent most of my adult life digging myself out of debt, I don't want to ever forget that credit isn't the same as "available money". The diesel and grocery bills are the only things we have real flexibility with after DDs/SOs so I'm a bit scared of pushing it too far and finding that I'm actually not paying the full balance off every month.

I was very anal about making sure that my end of month bill was never over 50% of my available credit limit. I also always paid off in full every month. I got credit increases like clockwork and am now at £2,500.

simax

izools wrote: »

Just remember new accounts hurt your credit worthiness until they've been open a while.

How long is "a while"?

Reason being, I just managed to get 4 Sygma cards within 6 weeks LOL

izools

simax wrote: »

How long is "a while"?

Reason being, I just managed to get 4 Sygma cards within 6 weeks LOL

That's because the first one likely didn't appear on your credit file when you did the 4th application.

Once an account appears on your credit file it takes 6-18 months of clean payment history for the creditor to believe that you can handle the account responsibly and aren't deparate for credit or applying for the sake of it.

Speaking to an MBNA underwriter they consider any accounts under 18 months old to be "new" and speaking to a Zopa underwriter they won't lend to those who have opened accounts in the last six months.

The longer you have accounts open, the more stable you look.

Having lots of accounts opened only a short while, settled within a year or two of being opened, or only having been open a few months when applying elsewhere, comes across as unstable to underwriters and credit scoring systems.

simax

izools wrote: »

That's because the first one likely didn't appear on your credit file when you did the 4th application.

Once an account appears on your credit file it takes 6-18 months of clean payment history for the creditor to believe that you can handle the account responsibly and aren't deparate for credit or applying for the sake of it.

Speaking to an MBNA underwriter they consider any accounts under 18 months old to be "new" and speaking to a Zopa underwriter they won't lend to those who have opened accounts in the last six months.

The longer you have accounts open, the more stable you look.

Having lots of accounts opened only a short while, settled within a year or two of being opened, or only having been open a few months when applying elsewhere, comes across as unstable to underwriters and credit scoring systems.

Ahhh cool. The first card was on my credit file before I'd even got it!

Now the intention is to use them alternatively for groceries/diesel etc so they all get a little spent on them each month, then clear it in full.

That, in 2 years time will look good, no?

ASL

simax wrote: »

Ahhh cool. The first card was on my credit file before I'd even got it!

Now the intention is to use them alternatively for groceries/diesel etc so they all get a little spent on them each month, then clear it in full.

That, in 2 years time will look good, no?

Why use them alternatively.

Just a thought.

You could use one for groceries/diesel

use one for internet transactions ONLY and over the phone transactions.

use another maybe for holidays

the fourth ???????????

So go and buy some small stickers, write, shopping, on one, internet on another, and so on.