How long does it take to go from bad credit to a prime card?

blue.peter

Deleted_User said:

 So long as you don't pay interest then it's much of a muchness

Absolutely. The important thing is to pay off in full every month. Until a few minutes ago, I didn't even know what interest rates applied to my cards. Because I pay them in full, I don't pay interest, and so it doesn't matter to me.

This discussion got me curious enough to look at my statements to find out. Apparently they range from 17.93% (MBNA) to 24.30% (TSB) for purchases.

[Deleted User]

Never thought to look at that either to be honest. Halifax 19.3%, NatWest 19.9%, Sainsbury's 20% - least they're consistent! Barclaycard is a bit weird as they quote a simple and compound rate of 17.03% and 18.4% but it's a BT card so dunno

blue.peter

Deleted_User said:

Never thought to look at that either to be honest. Halifax 19.3%, NatWest 19.9%, Sainsbury's 20% - least they're consistent! Barclaycard is a bit weird as they quote a simple and compound rate of 17.03% and 18.4% but it's a BT card so dunno

Yes, that works mathematically. 17.93% / 12 = 1.4942%, so they charge that much each month. If a debt of £100 isn't repaid until the end of the year, the amount payable will be £100 x (1 + (1.492 / 100)) ^ 12 = £118.42, so the compound interest rate is 18.42%. Most of mine simply quote the annual compound rate, but AmEx also quote the monthly simple rate:

A simple monthly rate of 1.68% would be an annual simple rate of 20.16%.

ceremony

Thanks for all the replies!

I don't intend to pay interest unless there's a genuine emergency, I'd just really like to be able to get travel-related rewards if possible. When there isn't a pandemic on I travel for work, and it's a small company so it's a case of 'pay for stuff yourself and we'll reimburse you' (with a lot of freedom of choice as long as you don't take the mick).

As far as I can see the rewards are all on the really 'exclusive' cards so that'll be a while off.

My Aqua is 30.7%, which is painful but at the same time I've seen far worse advertised....

teachfast

30.7% is the same as 10.7% if you're paying it off every month. Exclusive cards are a vanity. Just keep doing what you're doing and ignore people who try and lord it over you.