this is on the up isnt it?

vintagegirl

my credit rating has been awful for years but i have been working for the last 2 years to improve it.
I got a Vanquis credit card last august with a credit limit of £250. Got a letter last week saying it will be increased to £500 from April. Only use it for petrol and pay it off

I thought i would see if i would be accepted for an Aqua card with a lower interest rate to see if my rating had improved any and i was just accepted with a £350 limit.
I cant believe it really.
How much longer before i could apply for a mainstream card?

Tixy

Depends what you have on your credit file - if you still have anything like CCJs or defaults showing then you are unlikely to be accepted until these have dropped off your file. If the negative bits have all dropped off your file then it might be worth trying to get a mainstream card in 6months or so.

Dabooka

Do you have any defaults / CCJs?

vintagegirl

hiya thanks for the reply. yeah i have 3 defaults.
two drop off next year and one of them the year after, but that one im slowly paying off.

i applied to aqua before i applied to vanquis and was declined but this time, with it being accepted, i think my credit file must have improved slightly.
I have a mobile contract for the last 4 years and an overdraft with halifax, No ccjs

Atom

Yeah until those defaults are gone you have pretty much no hope in getting main stream - keep those cards going good until your credit report is clean and then you will most likely get one.

vintagegirl

but does it mean that my file is slightly better now with this approval?

Atom

it could well have improved slightly - are those defaults satisfied ? and are they large amounts ? my OH had a default now satisfied from 2006 and got an egg card with a 1700 limit about 5 months ago.

vintagegirl

no, not satisfied, one is for 02 for £216, nothing paid as i disputed it yrs ago, the other is h3g, the one im paying off is £517
had one on from 2009 which is partially settled

Atom

Ok well i do know that satisfied defaults are much preferred to unpaid defaults - i had one default and only started getting any credit some years back when i settled it - i would try aim to settle them, don't go mad on the aqua as this also has a high interest rate since you have a big balance with vanquis ( re on another thread ) get that settled first !!

vintagegirl

ah yeah thats what i thought but am paying the full balance off vanquis with payday in 2 days and then just using it for petrol.
i could alternate using one of the other for petrol each week.
have you got any cards?
i wouldnt muck this up, im so sensible now, i messed up badly when i was 18 and regret it so much

Atom

Alot of people messed up when they where younger not thinking of the consequences - so your not alone, as for me, i have vanq*iss/aqua and cap1 progress, will throw the vanq*iss away in a few months when i have my default drop off and apply for a decent main stream card - i had to start from square one just over 3 yrs ago due to a single default so as i said in a few months time i will be in a good position for main stream.