Need to rebuild a bad credit history? New ‘last resort’ option.

Baron_Greenback_2

They report back to the credit reference agency after 3 successful payments and then monthly thereafter, on completion you can renew creditbuilder.

As they loan you the money to pay for the annual subscription you are effectively getting a free prepaid card that is one of the few on the market that is a mastercard as opposed to a maestro card. for this reason i subscribed to the cashplus card anyway (good for mobile phone companies who dont like electron when taking out a contract) and have been using it for about 4 months and am very happy with it although I would prefer to make top ups on-line via a debit card payment than either a post office or standing order.

I am still waikting for the creditbuilder to credited, i had an email confirming acceptance and that they would send a replacement card within a month (about 3 week ago)

all in all, i'd say this is a good product, the card looks nice, works well, has a reasonable on-line interface, is well branded with having a mastercard and as such is accepted pretty much anywhere... with the credit builder attatched this card is effectively free which I think would make it probably the best on the market.

Baron_Greenback_2

Although it is worth mentioning that any money you put in your cash plus account is NOT covered by the FSA compensation sceme so it they go belly up you lose your money. I basically use this card to help me budget fro the month by loading my monthly food allowance on.

The company seems fairly liquid but when they are lending all their customers £60 with no interest effectively cutting their monthly fee off you have to ask a few questions!

Either they are a very ethical company genuinely interested in their customers welfare or they are committing financial suicide!... I hope its the former!

ChrissieH_2

Does anybody know if you can use the cashplus card to hire a car abroad?

bec22

@ChrisseH: yes, from their leaflet -

"If you want to hire a car in the UK or abroad, we will need to switch this service on! Just call our Customer Services team and we will complete a car hire account review for you".

Foreign transactions are charged at 2.75% of amount withdrawn/spent so I assume this would apply if you were hiring a car abroad.

bec22

To add to my previous post, I thought it might be helpful to pass on the following:

I've just spoken to Cashplus customer services and the £4.95 is taken out roughly every 29 days, so the date will change every month - important to keep on your toes with it, I plan to leave enough to cover it in the account just in case.

Also, I asked to opt out of text updates - it sounds like these otherwise may happen automatically if you top-up at a post office, not sure what the text fee would be but don't fancy any hidden extras!

I found it quite easy to apply, and it looks like it will be simple to get creditbuilder on top once I've sent the form in. It might be a bit harder if you're not a UK citizen or, as a previous poster mentioned, if you don't have a driving licence or passport.

There are a few minor typos on their information (such as driving 'license' not 'licence') and the odd grammatical error, which tends to make me a little wary... However they do say 'we are one of the only prepaid companies to offer you the security and protection of section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This is the same level of protection offered by all major credit card brands, even though we don't offer a credit card.'

Anyone know any more about section 75 and the protection it offers?

HabitAddict

Section 75 of the CCA allows you to claim back money from the credit card provider in the case you bought some goods worth at least £200, you wanted a replacement/repair/refund, and the retailer who sold you the goods went out of business. This is the "protection" that the Cashplus leaflet refers to.

Archaeopteryx

Is there any advantage (in terms of credit rating etc) to having more than one Prepaid Card, with different providers?

I'm thinking about getting only one, but just wondered...

Thanks

Snooze

If you just want to build your "zeros" on your credit file then you don't need a prepaid card or in fact any card at all.

Just create a new account with SimplyBe (catalogue co.) or any of the JD Williams Group of companies and buy the cheapest item they have. I bought some decals for kids toys and including delivery it was under £6. Wait for the statement to arrive at the end of the month and then pay it back in full by paying cash over PO counter (you'll have to pay the couple of quid PO fee) and then SimplyBe will start reporting each month on your credit file with a nice "zero" (ie. you've paid on time) even if you never buy anything from them again.

Rob

magicgirl

a lot of ppl trying to rebuild credit cannot get catalogues. i am discharged bankrupt and want to start rebuilding my credit but too scared to apply until i have cleaned up my file as more refusals will only make my credit worse.

Archaeopteryx

Similarly, I cannot get catalogues, 'puter says 'no' apparently...


So, still wondering about whether to try for a couple of prepaid cards...