I requested this review to be added a few months ago as I thought it might be helpful to tell you all about the new latest kid on the block.
About 3 months ago, we recieved a mailshot through the post and we opened it. At first we thought it was some sort of junk mail and was about to throw it in the bin.
Yet another credit card was appearing on the market, but this one had me fuming and then in stitches at the cheekiness of it.
I wondered would I be better off in changing my existing credit card which is low in interest to a new one and not pay charges.
The Credit Card is issued Vanquis Bank Limited. Sounds very posh does'nt it. The leaflet told you very little about the credit card except that it told you it had an excellent customer contact centre. I was quite intrigued by the leaflet and decided to find out a bit more.
The Vanquis Credit Card is a Visa Card so at first
I thought so far so good. The more I read the leaflet the more I got the feeling that there was something wrong. Then all of a sudden it clicked. There was no telephone number on any of the paperwork to contact the plush Contact Centre.
There was an application form to apply and make sure we get the application form in by February 16th but not a lot more, so I decided to go hunting on the internet to see if I could find more. At the very least, there must be a website, after all, there is a website for most things these days.
What I started to find out about this credit card it was quite disturbing and I thought of people who could not really afford a credit card getting deeper and deeper into the debt cycle. I could not find hardly any sites that had a good word to say about it.
What I did find out about it was that some of the APRS were 49.5% which is a lot. I dug deeper and deeper to find out who was behind this credit card and low and behold, it was my old friend Provident. Vanquis Bank Limited is a subsidary company of Provident. However if they offer you a hundred pound credit limit they can charge you 58.5% with a £10 a year charge, whilst the Classic and the elctron card can be between £10 and £19 a year charge.
For those who do not know who are Provident are, here is the low down. They give people vouchers for stores and you pay them weekly by a collector coming to your house each week to an agent. Once you show you are a good payer you can apply for a loan. A typical loan repayment is £830 paid back for a £500 over a year.
Not everyone will pay the 49.5%, some will pay other rates depending on your rating. Some will pay around 26.9% but this is still a lot to be forking out.
This is aimed at the 8 Million people in the UK who cannot get the standard credit from the banks.
They say it helps you rebuild your credit if you have had credit problems in the past and offer credit limits from up to £2,000 but starting as little as £100.
Whilst it is very handy to have a credit card, is it handy to be paying this sort of money back to a company?
Now if you do not qualify for their Credit Card, they offer you their alternative which is the Vanquis Electron Card. At first I could not see the point of this and decided to find out how it works.
Well what is happening is that Vanquis was given the license in February to start there latest little acquistion and it is currently on trial and was on trial in the Manchester Area and it is now spreading. When one has applied for a loan at Provident, you are normally given the money by the agent who has to pop round to your house with the cash. Now what they plan to do is put the money onto an Electron Card so you can withdraw it from that. Thus saving the agent carrying round large sums of money on his person. (Info provided by a Provident Worker)
It is a really very high interest rate and for those on low incomes who can see the appeal of having a credit card for emergencies, I can see it been handy, but if you have poor credit, then there are a lot more reputable companies offering lower APRS for customers like this.
So I then returned back to my paperwork and they did stipulate the high APR, but in search of more details. I found right at the bottom on the back of the paper was Providents Head Office in Bradford, no number and the same on the headed paper.
It is not really for me to say that you should not apply for it as everyones circumstances are different but I would not recommend it.
I feel rather annoyed that I was led to belive this was by a "normal high street bank" when in the small print it is a subsiduary of Provident. No telephone numbers, so how can you ask questions, no websites to find out more information. In fact all around a poor show.
In fact Vanquis, you can keep your mutton dressed as lamb and I will keep my egg!
It finally found its way into the bin and whilst another credit card is handy. No thanks, been there, got the t-shirt, Get the message?
Karen :0)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Its easy to be cynical when you have options. Try finding a credit card when you have a poor credit history.
WangKhar 03.11.2005 15:35
Just got one of these through the post this morning - with the low low rate of 58.6%Apr.
Shocker. Had no idea my credit rating was so low.... and in central suburbiton no less.
Tamara99 28.11.2004 07:12
I disagree with Yorkshire Gary - there is no sensible way to use a credit card with an APR like that. All it's going to do is hurt the very people it purports to help. If people had the discipline to use credit responsibly, they wouldnt have poor credit......and so it puts them in a perpetual cycle of paying over and over and over for an item they may not even OWN anymore.
Advantages: Lower interest than parent company Provident Disadvantages: High Interest compared to other lenders, no online banking or online account management.
MICHAELGILL 10.03.2009 (10.03.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Vanquis Credit Card
Advantages: No problems if you have a bad credit history, friendly staff. Disadvantages: Pounce on you if you go a penny over your limit, high interest rate.
kinetix63 29.03.2007 ·
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