Vanquis....interest free period

dazzaofdagenham

Hi
I have a 4K limit on vanquis....but balance of less than 50 pounds on most months.
I don’t mind paying them a few quid interest.

I need to make a large purchase of about 3k and as this card has my highest limit ...
But the sum I won’t be able to pay back until the new year.

Can I encourage vanquis to offer me a interest free period or do they not entertain tha5 sort of thing

binaryuniverse

I'd be applying for a new 0% card, in that position. Tesco are know for being easier to get, if your history is not all that great, and offer generous limits too.

You may be able to get an offer from Vanquis. But I can't imagine it being more than a few months.

Guerillatoker

I think the only way you will be able to do this is opening a new credit card account, not just with your current provider - Vanquis may be inclined to offer you one if you inquire about closing your account for this reason.

dazzaofdagenham

My credit history isn!!!8217;t that great......I!!!8217;ve had this vanquis since 2012 and slowly build up to a limit of 4K with them.....reckon I!!!8217;ve paid about 150 pounds in interest in all this time...

So if I phoned them up and asked for a 0% promotion for say 8 months....would they not do it or do the6 not have facility do to it....even if I offered to cancel the account.

I have other forms of credit, but limits are quite low....
I see Tesco have a offer at the moment but I don!!!8217;t want to apply for credit when there is a high chance of being declined...

I kinda feel loyal to vanquis.....they offered me a line of credit in 2012 when others would not and I!!!8217;d like to continue to use them to be honest

[Deleted User]

I doubt it - it's usually an offer that's given to new customers.

You can ask - but they may question it

Guerillatoker

I completely understand your loyalty, I have had much the same situation with Aqua, but remember they don't do it all for free!

I suppose it couldn't hurt to try, but I'm not sure why Vanquis would accommodate a 0% period when they've already got you as a customer - even less so if they think you're suddenly going to start paying them the interest on £4000!

My course of action here would be to ring them up with the pretence like "I've been doing a bit of reading lately and learnt that there are lots of 0% credit cards out there, I've spoke to a few providers already but wanted to see if Vanquis could offer me one?"

If they are dismissive, start asking questions about how you close your account with them. That should hopefully get them into "customer retention" mode.

dazzaofdagenham

Ok just phoned them up...
Went along lines of 0% with other cards, and asked if vanquis would do the same

Asked various questions about why.....gave truthful answers...and after !!!8220;speaking to her manager!!!8221; she offered me 3 months 0% on new purchases ,,,,this was a good will offer

I asked to close my account and they said I should pay off my balance and wait until the next statement has been produced and then contact them to facilitate the closure.

T-G-C

dazzaofdagenham wrote: »

Ok just phoned them up...
Went along lines of 0% with other cards, and asked if vanquis would do the same

Asked various questions about why.....gave truthful answers...and after !!!8220;speaking to her manager!!!8221; she offered me 3 months 0% on new purchases ,,,,this was a good will offer

I asked to close my account and they said I should pay off my balance and wait until the next statement has been produced and then contact them to facilitate the closure.

Vanquis are for people looking to build their credit file, not for mainstream 0% lending. Similar to companies like Wonga, Vanquis are a credit card solution for short-term and high-cost borrowing, unless the statement is cleared in full monthly. It would be unpractical to offer long-term promotions to people who are ineligible for mainstream cards, which range from credit file issues to unemployment.

You were extravagantly fortunate to be offered 0% at all, as not even new customers receive it. Provident Finance are not generous with discounted interest, for the reason explained above. You should have taken the 0% offer and used a small percentage that can be repaid before the 3 months are over, not the whole £4000 obviously.

You can throw a tantrum and close the account, but the impact on your credit file will lose you more than them losing you as a customer. There is no positive to you closing an account with a £4,000 limit, a low utilization and clearly aged as well. Closing will at best lower your total average age of accounts and credit availability.

Guerillatoker

T-G-C wrote: »

You can throw a tantrum and close the account, but the impact on your credit file will lose you more than them losing you as a customer. There is no positive to you closing an account with a £4,000 limit, a low utilization and clearly aged as well. Closing will at best lower your total average age of accounts and credit availability.

Would like to make clear that the OP has done this on my advice, not "thrown a tantrum" and I don't actually think he should close the account, just test the waters to see if they would take evasive action!

T-G-C

Guerillatoker wrote: »

Would like to make clear that the OP has done this on my advice, not "thrown a tantrum" and I don't actually think he should close the account, just test the waters to see if they would take evasive action!

I do not read other posts, however I am implying that closing the account for the sole purpose of not receiving an interest promotion on-demand is throwing a tantrum - on advice of you or not - whether he does or not.

It is not testing the waters, Vanquis are not desperate for his custom, he has been open about using peanut dust of his £4000 limit. Unless he was in debt to them with a nice little earner of interest each month, I doubt pre-closure appeasements would be on their agenda.

It seems he has already asked to close once, with a response that he has to wait until the next statement period. He can attempt to "test the water" but they won't budge on it. Even the fact that the original offer had to be proposed through a member of leadership demonstrates how difficult it is for a representative to generate an appeasement. 3 months is generous for them and I am surprised at that already.

dazzaofdagenham

Thanks all

I have no intention of closing the account, was just testing the water to see what I could get from them.

And it appears not a lot could be got from them..

Lesson learnt