Credit card for work

Hi
I went BR mid 2014 due to business debts. Discharged in June 2015.

The CCJ and defaults are now gone from my record apart from one default in 2013. The BR obviously still shows.

I kept my EE phone contract and have never missed or been late with a payment. The mortgage has also been spotless as well

Managed to get my self back on my feet and had a job that came with a company credit card and a salary paying £100k a year. Company card was there for booking flights and hotels for travel.

The company is now looking to withdraw company cards from all employees and asking us to use personal cards and to be reimbursed each month (atrial with a few individuals apparently worked well doing scanned receipts)

I've looked at what's available to me according to creditclub, Clearscore, noodle, etc and it looks like I'm stuffed.

Tried Capital One and Vanquis eligibility checkers with no luck.

As expenses tend to be in the region of £4k a month this is going to be difficult to do using my debit card.

Any suggestions?
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Comments

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 35,242
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    If you're unable to get a card (and if Vanquis have rejected you then you probably can't) tell this to your employers so that they can make other arrangements, such as a float.
  • bazzyb
    bazzyb Posts: 1,584
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    Ask to be paid expenses on a weekly basis or to keep the card.
  • TheGardener
    TheGardener Posts: 3,303
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    edited 24 March 2018 at 11:41AM
    Quite surprised that Vanquis have turned you down - they are the usual go-to card for ex BR's. I got one no bother and they raised the credit limit to £1000 after 3 months of use. Did you try actually applying for one?

    Also - have you done a credit file clean up?

    I'd suggest that given the generous salary you are on, then set aside some cash and pay your expenses up front and ask work if they'll give you a couple of months to gear up to be able to do this. Perhaps they would consider a pre-paid card?
  • If you are earing £100K then you are a very valuable & needed asset to your employee. Do you have an employee engagement group that you can approach & explain the situation. Since you are so well paid couldn't the company make an exception ? Usually signed off by the FO ~ Finance Officer / MD as their risk ?


    Bit like adding the wife to your own card account......


    HTH


    FJ
  • Potbellypig
    Potbellypig Posts: 775
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    I think you'll find if you go and tell them the truth, they'll be more than willing to accomodate your situation.
  • I would tell them you do not use credit cards and ask them to find a different solution - nicely of course. Some people actually do not use credit.
  • My work pay me upfront over £1,000 every couple of weeks and I'm on less than 1/3 of that salary at the moment!

    I think if you explain it to them they should be fine as said above - but also I'm worried you can't get a card, you really need to look at credit file cleanup. I'm surprised Vanquis aren't jumping at you! What's your clearscore 'score' out of interest?

    Mine was '250 to 350' when I got my selection of cards (similar discharge date too). I'd expect yours to be the same or higher if you've sorted out your file. If it's lower there's something seriously wrong (lack of Electoral Roll etc)
  • JMSCV
    JMSCV Posts: 13
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    Thanks Somerset,
    Clearscore is 415. I'm on the electoral role with all closed accounts showing as satisfied. Only one default still on there that's from over 4 years ago. Up to date and no late payments for the mortgage and no late or missed payments with my EE phone contract.
    I'm not really sure what else I can do :-)
  • Ah that's very strange then! I assume your 'score' (although it doesn't, on it's own, mean much) is a fair bit higher than me because of your Homeowner status & salary.

    The default from 4 years ago should also be closed by now, maybe it's this that's the issue? Default date needs to be on/before BR date, and satisfied needs to be on/before your discharge date.

    Are the closed accounts all showing 0 balance too?

    Guess it's a glitch of automated scoring, if you have an open default they don't want to lend? Or if you've got an absolutely massive mortgage and they've assumed you've got no equity?

    I still rent and I've got Vanquis (their 'near-prime' Chrome @ 24.7% APR), Capital One (4k limit now) and Aqua all within 24/25 months of being discharged. Obviously the Capital One being first and conducted well helped to prove I was worthy to the second and so on.

    Throughout my time with Capital One & Aqua, I had GMAC Car Finance wrongly reporting I still owed them the best part of £5k.

    I'm genuinely amazed you can't get any card - probably worth an application to say Vanquis Chrome near-prime, get declined and then do an appeal and request manual consideration under the DPA - chuck a few payslips in and savings balances etc and I'd be astonished if they didn't overturn it!

    Maybe you're on too high a salary for them to think you actually need or will use the card (e.g. my mate on 60k is showing as 50% chance of getting Cap1 because they assume he won't use/need it), but then on a flip side you also can't qualify for prime because of the recent BR.

    Capital One search Equifax as their primary partner (although can do soft searches on Clearscore). Have you checked Noddle & MSE Credit Club (to ensure your Experian & Call Credit records are correct)?

    Maybe try an app with your main bank and then appeal that too! (2 searches won't make a difference, if you can't get anything at the moment anyway).

    Best of luck!
  • JMSCV
    JMSCV Posts: 13
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    Thanks Somerset.
    Default is the month before bankruptcy and showing zero balance now as per the date of discharge.
    Was given a better deal by our current mortgage provider recently and now have about 30% equity in the property so the mortgage repayments dropped by over half per month.
    All credit reference agencies show the same details and all say that I'm not eligible for a card. I've made no new applications for credit in years until recently. Bit flummoxed to be honest.
    Thanks for your advice though, much appreciated.
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