friend's CapOne and Vanquis cards

planteria

she has not had credit cards until a few months ago, and is short of money at the moment, so wants to keep things simple.

she has a CapOne card with a £200 limit. she also has a Vanquis card with a limit that has been increased to £1000. she is near to her limit on Vanquis and has £150 on CapOne. she banks with Halifax.

i am thinking to advise her to scrap the CapOne card as soon as she can, and just focus on clearing the Vanquis card, and using that to build up her credit history by buying her groceries with that.

anyone any thoughts?

Tixy

Assume there isn't a massive difference in the APRs on the cards? How long does she think it might take her to clear the vanquis card?

Another option might be to pay off the capital one as soon as and then start using that each month for a couple of purchases and repaying in full (assuming she will be disciplined to do so). At the same time she can be working on clearing the vanquis card. Although I guess that is not as simple as just keeping the one card.

planteria

i'm not sure how long it will take her. she has a substantial windfall on the way, but very little income at the moment.

Tixy wrote: »

Another option might be to pay off the capital one as soon as and then start using that each month for a couple of purchases and repaying in full (assuming she will be disciplined to do so). At the same time she can be working on clearing the vanquis card. Although I guess that is not as simple as just keeping the one card.

good thinking. partial payments to the Vanquis card are going to leave her with interest charges being generated.. but at the same time i think simplicity would really help her.

she is trying to re-build, but at risk of setting herself back further, i think.

Enfieldian

As Tixy has pointed out, Vanquis is likely to have a higher APR than Cap One but if she is clearing the balance every month this will not really be an issue.

Cap One do not tend to be as regular with their limit increases as Vanquis but there is a chance she may get an increase if she holds on to it.

planteria

thank you. i will run this by her tonight.
i think she is 'pro Vanquis' on the basis that they are the provider that have given her an increase, so she feels she is making progress.

CKhalvashi

planteria wrote: »

thank you. i will run this by her tonight.
i think she is 'pro Vanquis' on the basis that they are the provider that have given her an increase, so she feels she is making progress.

However she seriously needs to ask herself if she's actually going to run herself into a mess with this approach.

CK