Min payments on credit card

Candyapple

dazzaofdagenham wrote: »

Hi
Got a letter from Halifax the other day saying they have noticed I have only been paying minimum payments on my card for a few months.
This is true, balance is about 250 pounds have have just left it after bringing balance down from about 2500 from about October last year.

Them sending me this letter, is that a problem for me or them ?

Also what would be the best day to make a extra payment ?
Statement date is normally the 8th and direct debit is normally the 1st of month.

Thanks

The real question here is are you on a 0% promo rate or were you just clearing the £2,500 which was incurring interest and making the min monthly repayments?

To balance this thread out, I am on a 0% promo with Halifax and have been since September 2015 – I did a balance transfer and set up min repayment by DD and it’s been that way ever since, haven’t made any other transactions. Last week Halifax wrote to me saying they were pleased with my account conduct and were raising my credit limit by another £2k. So there you have it.

In my experience, I have also found that this whole scaremongering tactic of ‘you must pay more than the minimum monthly repayment!’ is exactly that – scaremongering. I can’t say I’ve ever been declined for credit cards, current accounts/loans etc. and am always being offered credit limit increases on the cards I use for stoozing / 0% BT deals. I always set up the min repayment by DD on all cards which I am using for stoozing or balance transfers and when it comes near the end I either clear the balance completely or will move it onto the next card deal. You will find a lot of other people on this forum will report the same.

adindas

Candyapple wrote: »

The real question here is are you on a 0% promo rate or were you just clearing the £2,500 which was incurring interest and making the min monthly repayments?

To balance this thread out, I am on a 0% promo with Halifax and have been since September 2015 – I did a balance transfer and set up min repayment by DD and it’s been that way ever since, haven’t made any other transactions. Last week Halifax wrote to me saying they were pleased with my account conduct and were raising my credit limit by another £2k. So there you have it.

In my experience, I have also found that this whole scaremongering tactic of ‘you must pay more than the minimum monthly repayment!’ is exactly that – scaremongering. I can’t say I’ve ever been declined for credit cards, current accounts/loans etc. and am always being offered credit limit increases on the cards I use for stoozing / 0% BT deals. I always set up the min repayment by DD on all cards which I am using for stoozing or balance transfers and when it comes near the end I either clear the balance completely or will move it onto the next card deal. You will find a lot of other people on this forum will report the same.

Same here.I can not find an uncomplicated method to make a minimum payment + £1 (say) for 0% on BT card. People keep mentioning this untested theoretical method and noone has actually tried it and report it here.

Due to this I always do minimum payment. I have been opening and canceling my creditcard multiple times, so far I still get the best deal on Credit card with quite generous credit limit in the majority of application.

But I am also aware that this minimum payment is recorded in the credit file. So it will depend on the underwriter who is assessing the application. Keep in mind there is no way they will know that it is a 0% BT creditcard from your credit file unless they want to invest time to look / to search further information with the credit card in question.

Candyapple

adindas wrote: »

But I am also aware that this minimum payment is recorded in the credit file. So it will depend on the underwriter who is assessing the application. Keep in mind there is no way they will know that it is a 0% BT creditcard from your credit file unless they want to invest time to look / to search further information with the credit card in question.

I've only ever seen min payment markers with Clearscore/Equifax. Call Credit don't do it and not sure about Experian as haven't had a report from them in ages.

In my Call Credit (Noddle) report it shows whether you are on a promo rate. It's not shown on Clearscore/Equifax and again haven't checked with Experian.

You mention talk about underwriters, but unless your application for credit has been referred, a computer will check your credit history against the lender's criteria and if you score highly enough you will be accepted (usually instant or within a few secs for those lenders who offer live applications) and in those few seconds I doubt the computer's algorithm is going to be scouring your data if you paid more than the monthly minimum repayments. More likely it's gonna be credit to debt ratios, if you have ever been late with any payments, how old the account is etc. Not whether you made £1 payment over the minimum repayment.

lufc7

2 quick solutions:
1) set DD(some cards may not let you have a set figure) or a SO for a set amount which is at least £1 above min for the 1st month and it will continually be above the min until the card is clear. With the added bonus of clearing the card quicker over time because your payment will be the same though your min required payment will reduce.
2)Take control and make manual payments of min payment and at least £1 monthly via cheque, cash in bank or through my favourite method online banking (quick and simple)

dazzaofdagenham

Ben8282 wrote: »

But why are you only making minimum payments and paying interest on such a small balance? Surely your income is sufficient to repay the £250 in full and use the card for £250 interest free purchases every month?

Yes of course......however the card was used quite a lot ( close to credit limit last year ) for purchase of new furniture for house...the 0% deal came to a end on January......so paid a load of it off and this was the remaining balance..

dazzaofdagenham

Candyapple wrote: »

The real question here is are you on a 0% promo rate or were you just clearing the £2,500 which was incurring interest and making the min monthly repayments?

To balance this thread out, I am on a 0% promo with Halifax and have been since September 2015 – I did a balance transfer and set up min repayment by DD and it’s been that way ever since, haven’t made any other transactions. Last week Halifax wrote to me saying they were pleased with my account conduct and were raising my credit limit by another £2k. So there you have it.

In my experience, I have also found that this whole scaremongering tactic of ‘you must pay more than the minimum monthly repayment!’ is exactly that – scaremongering. I can’t say I’ve ever been declined for credit cards, current accounts/loans etc. and am always being offered credit limit increases on the cards I use for stoozing / 0% BT deals. I always set up the min repayment by DD on all cards which I am using for stoozing or balance transfers and when it comes near the end I either clear the balance completely or will move it onto the next card deal. You will find a lot of other people on this forum will report the same.

I was on a 0% promo rate that ended in January of this year.

My main focus of this thread was that I was surprised that they seem to record that I was a min payment maker..!!

I thought that setting up a min payment DD was a good sign to the credit card bank that I was a good risk. Then they send me this letter saying. Oh look your only paying the min amount each month...do you know this is costing you more !!!!

I also see what people are referring to when making that extra payment, both my credit card and current account are with Halifax and I can see that the direct debit normally gets taken around the 2nd of each month and statement generated about 7th.

So best time to make a extra payment would be about the 3rd or 4th

Thanks

Thrugelmir

Candyapple wrote: »

In my experience, I have also found that this whole scaremongering tactic of ‘you must pay more than the minimum monthly repayment!’ is exactly that – scaremongering.

The depth of data that is recorded and the improvement in technology that is used to analyse it . Is making it far easier for lenders to bench mark against internal policy criteria. Like the MMR. In time the credit card \ unsecured lending market will come under increasing regulatory scrutiny. Change is slow and subtle with lenders given plenty of advance warning of the direction of travel.

Candyapple

dazzaofdagenham wrote: »

Hi
Got a letter from Halifax the other day saying they have noticed I have only been paying minimum payments on my card for a few months.
This is true, balance is about 250 pounds have have just left it after bringing balance down from about 2500 from about October last year.

dazzaofdagenham wrote: »

I was on a 0% promo rate that ended in January of this year.

My main focus of this thread was that I was surprised that they seem to record that I was a min payment maker..!!

Therein lies your issue - you were no longer on a promotional deal and were making minimum monthly payments on your remaining balance.

Most banks are now obligated to send out these letters to customers making the min repayments when they are not on promo deals and incurring interest to let them know that it will take them longer to clear their balance by doing this and also if they can help in anyway if you are having repayment problems.