New to Credit Cards - Vanquis

APerkins

Hi,

I've just recently opened up a Vanquis account and I really don't know what I'm doing... This is all probably quite straight forward but I've never had a credit card before so I'm a bit clueless.

I opened the account last month (July) and started spending. I checked my statements online and it said next statement due: 1st Aug. Then on the 1st August I went to pay off my balance and it said:

Next statement date: 01 Aug 2015
Next payment due date: 01 Aug 2015
Minimum Payment Due: £0.00

So I just paid off what I had spent anyway and it said it would take 3 days to show up on my statement.

I haven't reached my credit limit so it still showd that I have money available to spend. I was a little confused as to how it works now... do I wait until my balance is back to 0 before spending? Will I be charged for these few days before the money reaches my account?

Say if I spent some money in the month and just paid the minimum when my statement was due and then later on in the month I cleared my balance, would that just mean that I would be charged for the days my balance isn't paid off and then after it is at 0 it would go back to 0% interest until my next statement date?

Sorry if this is a bit of a jumble - I just have no idea how any of this works - I thought I did before I received my statement but now I'm just a little worried.

Thank you for any advice you can give!

Annie

sxcizme3010

Hi, Firstly Vanquis is a terrible credit card to have an awfully expensive. You get a payment date eg

You must pay £20 by 28 Aug
Next Statement 1 Sep - Pay it off in full if you can otherwise Vanquis will start adding on all sorts of charges and before you know it you owe more and more. I had a £3000 limit with vanquis and kept getting into debt with it (my fault) but in May - I cancelled it and applied for a barclaycard - much better at 0% for 36 months :-)

grumbler

APerkins wrote: »

Hi,

I've just recently opened up a Vanquis account and I really don't know what I'm doing... This is all probably quite straight forward but I've never had a credit card before so I'm a bit clueless.

I opened the account last month (July) and started spending. I checked my statements online and it said next statement due: 1st Aug. Then on the 1st August I went to pay off my balance and it said:

Next statement date: 01 Aug 2015

I guess the statement had to be generated at the end of the day.

Minimum Payment Due: £0.00

This is for the previous (non-existent) statement. The nest would be not £0 if you waited for a statement. And the due date will be ~26th.

So I just paid off what I had spent anyway and it said it would take 3 days to show up on my statement.

Don't do this if you want to build your credit history. Wait for a statement.

I haven't reached my credit limit so it still showd that I have money available to spend. I was a little confused as to how it works now... do I wait until my balance is back to 0 before spending?

No, just don't exceed the credit limit at any point.

Will I be charged for these few days before the money reaches my account?

Charged (for) what? Only if you don't pay the statement balance before the due date the interest get added. And never withdraw cash.

Sorry if this is a bit of a jumble - I just have no idea how any of this works - I thought I did before I received my statement but now I'm just a little worried.

Never exceed the limit and pay the statement balance in full (preferably by a DD) before the due date. In this case you will pay neither interest nor any fees.

APerkins

Thank you for your reply. So basically I won't have to pay anything until the end of the month? It just confused me because the minimum payment due was £0.00 but if I'm right in understanding then it was because that's for the month before I started using the card? So I can continue using the card until the next statement and then pay it before 1st September?

boo_star

APerkins wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. So basically I won't have to pay anything until the end of the month? It just confused me because the minimum payment due was £0.00 but if I'm right in understanding then it was because that's for the month before I started using the card? So I can continue using the card until the next statement and then pay it before 1st September?

Yes, you've paid it off in full so even if you paid it off before the statement is generated you have nothing to pay.

I wouldn't pay your next statement before Sep 1st (assuming that is the next statement date) if I were you though. You run the risk of paying it off before the statement is generated and as far as what's reported to the credit reference agencies goes, it'll look like the card was unused which doesn't help you in terms of credit building. Wait until the statement is generated and THEN pay it off. Make sure it's paid off before the DUE date rather that the STATEMENT date.

In case you're a little confused as it currently shows the same date for the due and statement dates, I assume that is a one off due to it being a new card, they should be about two weeks apart going forward.

APerkins

Okay, I think I've got it now! I just didn't want to get charged interest for going past the due date so I panicked and paid! Thanks for the advice on credit building.

patanne

A direct debit set up to pay your credit card bill IN FULL is the way to go with this. Provided you keep a record of your spend & when the DD is due out, so that you have sufficient money in your account you will be fine.

tomxlisa

When you say pay it off in full by the due date say if I owe £100 and it has to be paid by the 1st of September, can I pay anything towards that balance just as long as it is cleared in full before the 1st, or does it have to be paid in one payment (is that what in full means) does it affect your credit rating either way or does it not matter if you pay £5 one day, £10 the next and so on just as long as it's all cleared by the due date (to avoid interest)?.

owlet

You can pay in several amounts of you wish as long as it's paid between the STATEMENT date & the DUE date. Always make sure you have paid two or three days before the DUE date because sometimes payments can take a couple of days to register on the credit card account.

If you want to make several payments, your best bet would be to set up a direct debit for the minimum then you can pay the rest as you wish.

This means it won't get forgotten, which is always a risk with manual payments.

owlet

Your credit history will be fine as long as the minimum is paid by the DUE date. Paying it over several payments will not affect your credit history in a negative way. The credit card companies just report that everything is ok or not ok. The number of payments is neither here nor there.