Vanquis Credit Card

----UPDATE----- 9th Feb 2012

I thought I would provide an update as my account with Vanquis Bank comes to a natural end this month (Feb 2012). I have held a Vanquis Bank, Visa Card account since August 2009. I had reservations about them from the beginning having read unfavorable reviews. I would like to share my experience with them and maybe shed some positive light.

Vanquis accepted my application with an credit expert score of 653 (poor/fair) as of today 9th Feb 2012 my score has improved on the credit expert scale to 823 (fair/good) which has since allowed me to move back into the mainstream credit sector, and say fair well to sub-prime hopefully for good. I have maintained my account well within the credit limits, and always paid my account on receipt of the monthly bill, well in time of the due date. So, true to their word they have assisted me getting back on track and improving my credit rating significantly.

I received regular credit amount increases approximately every 4 months or so starting at 250.00, moving to 500.00 then 750.00 to 1250.00 to 2000.00 (at which point they issue me with a gold card) finally ending up with 2500.00. My starting rate APR was 34.080% which never decreased over the term of the agreement (a disappointment) which was increased to 39.95% in December 2010 (a further disappointment) a coincident maybe this was the only time a carried a balance over a 4 month period when I made a large purchased? A good time for them to make some interest? Indeed!

Note the gold card – Don’t fail over yourselves to get one. All it seems to offer is a free phone 0800 contact number and a dedicated call centre team, no APR decreases! That said the people on the end of the phone have never been anything other than friendly and professional and knowledgeable about the product they service.

Vanquis reports monthly to all the main UK credit reporting agencies. My update to credit expert normally fell on the 30th of the month, my statements without fail on the 12th of the month and received at home around the 15th/16th of the month. Payments to Vanquis are swift (a positive) whether paying over the phone or via the website account logging, from the day I made a payment, it would be credited to my account in little more than 48hrs…very swift when compaired to MBNA.

About 6 months into holding the card Vanquis, they launched the website account log on My Vanquis. I applied to run my account online and drop paper statements, although you can opt to have both for 49p a month. The online account facility is generally very good. Easy to navigate and uncluttered screen appearance. I only wished that they would generate the monthly statements on PDF format so they will print off like Capital Ones do in a nice format.

Account security – This was a surprise; account monitoring systems do actually work. I was a victim of internet fraud in June 2011, and had four transactions applied to a pay-pal account totaling 1800.00 GBP which was well within my credit limit. Vanquis automatically blocked my card as the transactions were out of the ordinary and a call centre advisor called my mobile phone within 10 minutes to confirm my identity and review my recent transactions. The matter was professionally resolved with a new card and visa number issued and received within 7 working days…A major positive.

Personally I don’t really have any major negatives to raise. Vanquis issued me with a visa card when no one else would. I only wish they were more forthcoming with APR decreases as opposed to credit limit increases… If they rewarded people who run there account well with a reasonable APR I’m sure customer loyalty would start to kick in.

Because of the APR I regret to say I would never recommend this product to friends or family. It suited me as a tool to re-build my credit rating, and apart from 4 months when I carried over a balance from one month to the next, I never had an outstanding balance so incurred no interest.

If you’re in a financial bind please don’t think Vanquis would be a suitable answer, you’ll pay through the nose if you need this card to survive from one month to the next. I stand by my original comment you’ll be better of signing up to a local credit union.

On the whole Vanquis has been a positive for me, only real negative APR makes me wince at the thought of having an outstanding balance over a long period. I hope this review will be of use.

----Oringinal Review----

I’m embarrassed to admit that in 2005, my credit file was well and truly dragged through the mud following the break-up of my long term relationship and a sale of our home. Added to this, from Nov 05’ through to Aug 09’ I was working outside of the UK for a Bahrain based airline.

Upon my return the UK this summer, I needed a credit account to rebuild my credit rating, and as with most people, pay for goods and services online etc (the world seems increasingly difficult to survive in without a amex/visa or mastercard)

I was declined my UK current account provider Natwest to my astonishment, considering I’ve maintained a full service current account with them since 2004, without ever incurring charges. And then declined by Capital One.

I found an advert for Vanquis Bank on money supermarket.com, and read some really awful reviews about them, and gut wrenching APR’s, but stuck in a rut I took the plunge eye’s wide open. I applied on line at www.vanquis.co.uk and filled out the online application with took about 4/5mins. The website as of Aug 09’ was advertising typical APR of 39.9%

3 days later I received a phone call from a polite call centre operator stating that they needed to confirm a few more details, she confirmed that my application has been accepted. Great! Only she was unable to confirm my APR over the phone or my credit limit, very funny I thought! “this would be confirmed by post“. Then strangely, she offered a cash bank transfer from my Vanquis Card to my bank account in the meantime. I declined this offer and advised it would be silly when you cannot confirm my credit limit. I also declined there offer off the payment protection plan as I intended to pay the balance of every month.

One week after my initial application I received a copy of the credit agreement and a welcome leaflet. I had been offered a credit limit of £250 at a purchase APR of 34.080% cash advance of APR of 41.200%. At this point I felt very glad I had NOT requested a cash advance!

3 days afterward I received the pin number for the card, yet I had to wait another 7 days for the card itself to arrive. I bit slow, however it came after chasing them up on the phone.

The Vanquis Card is essentially the same as any other credit card other than its sub-prime, and the contract T&C’s look like they’ve been written by Ebenezer Scrooge himself. I’ve now had the card for 4 months, long enough to have formed my first impressions.

There monthly statements are clear and concise, so far I’ve only spent a nominal amount every month and have always paid back the full amount so now I have the full 56 days interest free credit. I choose the repay the balance over the phone using there automated system which is surprisingly efficient considering the time it took to receive the card. It takes 2/3 working days for the payment to be allocated to my account using this method, and shows up on my current account as Vanquis Bank (London) the following day.

My advice, umm (sighs) if your like me and applied for this card with the sole purpose of putting some good payment history track on your credit report file its fine as long as you pay in FULL.

If you need this card to survive steer well clear! A more suitable alternative would be to look at your local county council website, and look up in there A-Z index Credit Union. A far better way of obtaining small loans, which wouldn’t normally be considered by the major high street institutions.

Finally be warned!! I’ve paid my statements of in full each month, however if I had chosen to repay the minimum repayment on my last balance of £190.79, the minimum repayment would have been £8.00, however the estimated interest charge would have been £8!!! You do the maths, you would never repay any of the capital borrowed.