Vanquis 49.9% APR!

Storm49

It seems that the (try to) catch them young philosophy is being appied on a particularly unattractive offer for one card provider. My eighteen year old son today received a mailer from Vanquis offering their Classic card at 49.9% APR or the potential for their Gold card at 'only' 29.9%.

I've heard of such things being targetted at people with a poor credit history, but not at people who have barely had chance to build one in the first place.

Fat_Boy

Storm,

You are on to a loser here mate. this has been posted many times before (not least by me as a young MSE'r!).

Their rates are scandalous, but they have their defenders on here, not least because they offer people with poor/non-existant credit histories a chance to get a foot on the credit ladder. If I remember correctly theses cards have low credit limits and if used correctly cn be quite good at (re)building credit ratings.

jay78

Storm49 wrote:

I've heard of such things being targetted at people with a poor credit history, but not at people who have barely had chance to build one in the first place.

If you search the forum there are loads of threads about Vanquis. Until recently I only had no credit cards on my credit file, so I thought my only option was to apply for the Vanquis card, I did and got accepted- £250 limit 39.9% apr. However, I thought I'd just apply for an Egg card, thinking that they're easier to get. I got accepted £3,500 limit - 0% apr for 6 months. So the moral of this story is to apply for a mainstream card first, before Vanquis if you have no or little credit history.

s71hj

When I read the Vanquis card t&cs I thought the wording suggested that you get charged interest from date of purchase for the 1st 2 months, and only get an interest free period month 3 onwards if you've succesfully paid off in full the 1st 2 monthly payments. This sounds unusual, so can anybody tell me if I'm just misunderstanding (can't find the t&cs to actually quote the specific part unfortunately).

Money-Saving-Monk

s71hj wrote:

When I read the Vanquis card t&cs I thought the wording suggested that you get charged interest from date of purchase for the 1st 2 months, and only get an interest free period month 3 onwards if you've succesfully paid off in full the 1st 2 monthly payments. This sounds unusual, so can anybody tell me if I'm just misunderstanding (can't find the t&cs to actually quote the specific part unfortunately).

I think your just misunderstanding it mate. Sometimes wording on these things can be hard though!

I remember getting my first credit card a few years ago and it was with Barclaycard and I only used it to pay for my Newcastle United season ticket.

I had no problems getting the card so I don't see why a young person would want to go with the Vanquis card. I think that young starters can go with mainstream cards such as Egg, MBNA and Barclay. I think they would just be covered by lower credit limits.

looby75

s71hj wrote:

When I read the Vanquis card t&cs I thought the wording suggested that you get charged interest from date of purchase for the 1st 2 months, and only get an interest free period month 3 onwards if you've succesfully paid off in full the 1st 2 monthly payments. This sounds unusual, so can anybody tell me if I'm just misunderstanding (can't find the t&cs to actually quote the specific part unfortunately).

I don't know if you have misunderstood it or not but I've read the T&C for the vanquis card too (via a "guaranteed" acceptance letter I got) and I couldn't make head nor tail of them. It's no wonder people get sucked into debt using these kind of cards. Unless you have a degree in finance you can easily end up signing your life away.

Paul_Herring

Time for a Vanquis sticky on this board? :rolleyes:

jellycat40

OH has a vanquis card. £500 limit so far has paid no charges although 39.9% is the rate he has been quoted. Had the card for about 4 months. Went over the limit by mistake and they refunded the £20 charge.

How ever son in law has had probs with them, they suddenly wanted the card back and cancelled the account and they are hassling for full settlement. However, I don't know the full story.

Louise