worried about new vanquis card

samsonprince

hi its my first month of my new 500 pounds limit vanquis card, havent had a statement yet but my spending on it has reached £455...what i need to know is if i stop spending now am i ok with that figure allowing for monthly charges?

tinkerbell28

You won't have charges if you're clearing it, so that's ok. You ARE clearing it aren't you?

Vanquis are heavy on the apr.

geekonthepc

You want to be very careful. If you're making a full payment by direct debit then you're OK, but if you're planning to make low or minimum payments I'd recommend slowing down to avoid getting close to your limit.

If you make the minimum payment each month, your card provider will charge you the interest accumulated and a very small amount of the balance, I believe it is about 1%. If you're not planning to spend any more on the card, you're OK.

If you exceed your limit, you'll probably be charged and it'll make the card provider a bit worried about your stability.

Besides everything else, Vanquis APR is terrible - you DO NOT want to be paying a minimum payment every month.

samsonprince

if lets say i pay 300 off would i be okay as far as charges go?

DunPin

samsonprince wrote: »

if lets say i pay 300 off would i be okay as far as charges go?

£300 of a £445 balance? you'll still have to pay interest on the remaining balance although not as much compared to if you paid the minimum.

samsonprince

but i would be okay as far as going over my limit with charges is concerned? apologies for my niaevity but im new to credit cards

geekonthepc

samsonprince wrote: »

if lets say i pay 300 off would i be okay as far as charges go?

That will be OK. You'll still get charged interest on the remaining balance (which will be painful at 35% or whatever it is) but you won't get any other charges.

I'd just strongly suggest paying off as much as you can and aiming to pay off the full balance whenever you can. The key is to budget what you use your card for - don't fall into the habit of using a credit card to subsidise or "boost" your income.

Make sure payments are on time and you'll be OK. Have you set up a direct debit or are you planning to pay manually after each statement comes?

geekonthepc

samsonprince wrote: »

but i would be okay as far as going over my limit with charges is concerned? apologies for my niaevity but im new to credit cards

As long as you never exceed the £500 limit at any point, you'll never be charged with a fee.

samsonprince

no dd yet but i will be in the future..just set up my current account

geekonthepc

samsonprince wrote: »

no dd yet but i will be in the future..just set up my current account

Ok get a minimum payment direct debit set up as quickly as possible - that way you won't ever be fined for missing a payment which would also not do any favours for your credit rating.

You can also set up direct debits for the full amount if you like - and some providers will let you pay a fixed amount by direct debit.

Simon7685

As has been suggested, unless you are in a position of being able to repay in full when your statement is due, then you really need to reign your spending in with this card.

There are an awful lot of pitfalls with a Vanquis card relating to their interest charges. At a balance of £455 you will just about get away with it assuming you cant repay in full and interest is added but there will not be much room left on the card.

The problem is you need to look on the card as a loan not extra spending power in your pocket and try not to carry a balance on it. You will see that when your statement comes that the minimum payment might not even cover the interest being charged. That is how it all starts going wrong for people. In other words after you have paid the minimum payment you will owe more than you started with. If it is less, it will mean that you will only be paying a few pennies off the amount you owe.

Take a look at http://www.whatsthecost.com/creditCard.aspx It is really easy to use but it will probably give you a shock when you see how long it can take to pay back what you owe.

As you have just got your current account and first credit card, it is so tempting to think, well I've got that to spend so just spend it...........

Please please be careful it is so easy to end up screwing yourself up for years, just for the sake of spending a few quid on a credit card. I am not trying to tell you what to do but as someone who has been down this road, I know how easy it is in your position to end up in a mess very quickly.

If you can't pay it all off next month, pay as much as you can and don't use the card until you have cleared the balance. Then use it each month and repay in full, you will build your credit history and not be giving Vanquis your hard earned money every month for nothing.