Aqua Reward Credit Card - 3% cashback up to £100/year

BugsyBrowne

targaid wrote: »

I got a card with a £250 limit from them. Very poor despite my having an excellent credit rating. I was told I could apply to increase it in 6 months and though I have tried to get them to do it sooner, they have been strict on the 6 months. I was even given a date. Today I was told that they were refusing to increase it as they 'don't like the way you've been managing the card'.
Since this is paying it off in full, sometimes more than once a month, I guess they don't want responsible savers at all. There have been times it was rejected because their rubbish 'only pay using Worldpay' method can take ages to clear with no notification that it hasn't cleared when you expected it to, so I guess they could be counting those against me. I wouldn't mind, but I've had my Bank of Scotland Credit card (who actually provide the card) for 15 years and they're always trying to get me to up the limit.

Which lender gave you an excellent credit rating?

Gromitt

targaid wrote: »

There have been times it was rejected because their rubbish 'only pay using Worldpay' method can take ages to clear with no notification that it hasn't cleared when you expected it to, so I guess they could be counting those against me.

What is this "only pay using Worldpay?". I pay off my Aqua card the exact same way as every other credit card I've got/had - by making a payment from my current account. My credit limit is then updated within 2 hours and I can commence further spending the same day.

Uplink

targaid wrote: »

their rubbish 'only pay using Worldpay' method

What in the world are you on about? Use FasterPayments. Add Aqua to your bank account's list of payees (account details on their website), and it clears in 2 or so hours most of the time.

targaid wrote: »

Today I was told that they were refusing to increase it as they 'don't like the way you've been managing the card'.

I think the above may indeed have something to do with it. I never used their "pay using your debit card" link. I always do FP for early payments.

Nessie23

Uplink wrote: »

What in the world are you on about? Use FasterPayments. Add Aqua to your bank account's list of payees (account details on their website), and it clears in 2 or so hours most of the time.



I think the above may indeed have something to do with it. I never used their "pay using your debit card" link. I always do FP for early payments.

Like Uplink I have been using faster payments to settle the Aqua bill in advance and once setup it is much easier than the Worldpay method, worth a try . Normally the payment will reach the account within 2 hours.

I had an initial credit limit of £500, but managed to get it up to £650 after 6 months.

Hope this helps,

Nessie

aleph_0

Targaid: So you've had transactions declined because they would push you over your credit limit (ok, you might have made a debit card payment, but they take a few days to process, this isn't an excuse, you should wait, or use one of the other payment options that are well documented: http://www.aquacard.co.uk/customers/make-payment ).

You've also asked for an increase despite having the card less than 6 months, and their documentation which states you have ti wait 6 months, thus appearing desperate for credit.

It doesn't sound terribly surprising that they've decided not to increase your limit.

catwoman73

I suspect it may just be a generic message although I don't have any experience with Aqua so can't be sure. The fact that you got instant acceptance with a high credit limit means you are very credit worthy.£1,600 is high for a starting limit with Aqua, most people would be lucky to get even £500.

I have what is probably a close to perfect credit history (above average but not stupidly high salary, mortgage balance 1.5x salary, in job 20+ years, lived in same house for 7 years, but I do have 3 other CCs in my name - one has a couple of £K stoozed money on it that is being paid back at slightly above the minimum to avoid the minimum payment marker and then I have a Halifax clarity for the £5 per month and cheap overseas spending and an ex Egg barclaycard for the 1% cashback, but I think I'm going to ditch this when the anniversary comes round and I get this year's payout, everything is paid on time by DD, total credit limits equivalent to about 20-25% of salary, but less than half this amount used). I guess the downside is that they don't make any money from me as I never pay any interest and exploit all the cashback schemes and loopholes that I can.

I've just applied for an aquacard for the cashback and was a little disappointed that I only got a £500 limit, which was the same as OH, who is self employed and only earns about £10k per year. Neither of us got instant acceptance, but received a credit agreement a couple of weeks later to sign and return.

So we now have 2x aquacards and a halifax clarity, which will yield around £200 pa cashback - well worth the small amount of effort IMHO.

I would like to see the limits increase mainly so that we can get the max annual cashback without having to worry about exceeding the credit limit or having to make payments part way through the month - even £1000 each would probably be sufficient. Thanks to those who have provided info over the last few weeks about their limit increasing process - I'll make a note to chase it up with them if they haven't offered to increase the limits when the accounts have been opened for over six months.

A final added bonus - I've set up the full balance DD for my card with my Halifax Reward Account, so I only have to add one more DD to comply with their 'main current account' requirements to keep getting the other £5 pm from Halifax, who basically pay me £120 pa for having a couple of accounts with them (The real main current account is with First Direct, who genuinely are in another league when it comes to customer service). :T

lisyloo

or having to make payments part way through the month

Ok, it would make life easier, but is it really that hard to make a BACS payment one or twice a month?

If they wanted to make it real easy then they could stand on a street corner and hand out £50 notes :-)

catwoman73

Ok, it would make life easier, but is it really that hard to make a BACS payment one or twice a month?

No, its not hard, but its a little extra hassle, that you need to remember to do and we all know the implications of making small mistakes and exceeding credit limits, they cause quite a hit on your credit file.

Also I have to pay and claim for work expenses sometimes and using a credit card usually means that I am reimbursed the money before I need to pay it to the credit card, which is used as a tool for managing cashflow.

Therefore, I would prefer that the credit limit is comfortably above my expected spend, so that accidentally exceeding the credit limit, is one less thing to worry about.

SammenForLivet2

ElkyElky wrote: »

I suspect it may just be a generic message although I don't have any experience with Aqua so can't be sure. The fact that you got instant acceptance with a high credit limit means you are very credit worthy.£1,600 is high for a starting limit with Aqua, most people would be lucky to get even £500.

Yes - got my application pack and agreement - no ID requested.
--
I got my application pack - and even though the website says that it would tell me how much my limit it would be - there was nothing in the pack, saying what it is.
I called them up -to double confirm my limit, and the guy said apparently (because it is run by Halifax - all calls and processing are done by Halifax on behalf of Progressive Credit Ltd.), if you look at the bottom line of the application form (which you have to sign) -where it says for Bank Use only - it has the limit- can anyone confirm if this correct?

On my bottom line is says:
1600 The Application Ref Number AQ and my surname.

Any advice/guidance is welcome

grumbler

This is correct.