Mainstream Credit Cards

UsetheFORCE

matttye wrote: »

The older an account is, the better it looks to lenders. They're going to be wondering why you need more credit when you've just got two credit cards only six months ago. It can make you look credit hungry.

true but with a mere £500 limits, £100 card is a bit of a joke...

My Barclaycard is my newest account, December.

I want to shut the Catalogues but am waiting til I have credit cards with decent limits....however long that is going to take :-)

CherlokHomes

UsetheFORCE wrote: »

true but with a mere £500 limits, £100 card is a bit of a joke...

My Barclaycard is my newest account, December.

I want to shut the Catalogues but am waiting til I have credit cards with decent limits....however long that is going to take :-)

I really wouldn't worry about how much of the banks money you have to your Disposal I:e credit card limits.

I would rather have 5k of my own money saved up then have 40k of available credit.

UsetheFORCE

Indeed, a very valid point...

It is just good to have the options open to you....


Debt isn't a good thing unless for a House or Car.... but our financial system is based upon people being in debt ;-)

[Deleted User]

Mate, do yourself a favour and get rid of that Vanquis - 79.6% is taking the !!!!! Also, with a £100 limit how can you possibly avoid not using almost all of it? This is going to make your credit utilisation ratio very high.

I know you pay in full each month and therefore don't pay interest on it but, seriously, I would cancel that card on principle. Tell Vanquis to poke it.

matttye

Lazyloki wrote: »

Also, with a £100 limit how can you possibly avoid not using almost all of it?

By spending only £10 on it!

How 'frowned upon' is it to almost max out a card if paying it back every month anyway? The reason I ask is because there's a financial incentive to use credit rather than own funds (to gain interest on own funds) and it seems discriminatory that they would equate using credit to being in financial trouble! There's also the S75 protection for CC purchases.

[Deleted User]

matttye wrote: »

By spending only £10 on it!

How 'frowned upon' is it to almost max out a card if paying it back every month anyway? The reason I ask is because there's a financial incentive to use credit rather than own funds (to gain interest on own funds) and it seems discriminatory that they would equate using credit to being in financial trouble! There's also the S75 protection for CC purchases.

I hear what you're saying but the OP implied that he maxed out the Vanquis before using a different card each month.

You're right, it shouldn't matter that you use up your limit each month as long as you are paying back in full. It probably wouldn't matter at all if credit products were reviewed by human being who can look at data subjectively. However, in reality most decisions are make by computers that have set instructions that are pretty much black or white - if X = Z then this means Y. These computers have to have a 'one size fits all' approach and I guess the decision was made that if someone is using all of their limit then they must be struggling.

UsetheFORCE

Lazyloki wrote: »

Mate, do yourself a favour and get rid of that Vanquis - 79.6% is taking the !!!!! Also, with a £100 limit how can you possibly avoid not using almost all of it? This is going to make your credit utilisation ratio very high.

I know you pay in full each month and therefore don't pay interest on it but, seriously, I would cancel that card on principle. Tell Vanquis to poke it.

I would do but I got Vanquis because they increase limits quickly...PMSL!!!

Apparently, once they increase my limit to £500, it becomes a regular Vanquis card and the interest rate comes down..... mind you, even if it halves, it is still too expensive...

geekonthepc

Yeah don't cancel the card now - its life is too short (you want credit accounts to age to a certain level, short credit accounts raise eyebrows to creditors). Let them increase the limit and hopefully water down that interest rate. I thought 40% was bad, but 80% is just plain robbery!

iAMaLONDONER

UsetheFORCE wrote: »

My mistake, 79.6% APR....
http://www.vanquis.co.uk/alpha-summary

I'm sure it was 89.9...obviously not but bad enough!

My oldest credit account is nearly 2 years old.... all my accounts are 000000000

Both my Vanquis and Capital are used to the limit and paid off in FULL, my Barclaycard has a 6.9% BT on it...

Wow - surely this Vanquis card could be more expensive than a PDL in some circumstances!!

Davie2909

You need to get shot of that Vanquis card TBH!