Building a better credit score

[Switch]

I have had a cap one credit card for 14 months. I pay the balance off EVERY MONTH without fail. I have never had a credit increase

 

 

I too have a had a Cap One card for about 14 months maybe a little longer. I have on purpose run the card up to its limit every month and the card has been paid off in full every month the day the statement is shown on the internet, which means the balance has as a rule cleared back down to zero before my paper statement arrives in the post, but I have never been offered or given an uplift either.

[jo5ephedward5]

i request an increase and they said no chance even tho you're a good customer we cant offer you one - they said i cant appeal against it as they are not offering me the chance to increase it!

 

still a higher limit with their interest could be dangerous! - after 12month with Capital One tho i have been able to get a Nationwide Credit Card with a 2600limit and 0% for 9 months - i also have 4 unpaid Defaults so i think its the Capital One payments that have shown my credit worthiness again!

[watercooled]

It is possible to get cash back without purchasing anything and on credit card.

 

I have done it a few times at bars and supermarkets.. Now this only happen about 30% of the time, But as mentioned above if you know the person behind the til. Or a little bit of flirting and maybe playing the helpless victim with no clue also helps now and then. My sister plays this one a treat!!

[purplefile]

I built my credit score up from v. bad to excellent in two years. I started with a Cap One card £200. which I used regularly and paid off in full monthly. Vodapone contract and Argos store card. I let all of these run smoothly for about six months and then got MBNA Homebase card £2000 limit 0% for 12 months.

The last credit card I applied for had £8000 limit and v. happy with A&L premier current account.

If it cost a few pounds to get here I think it was money well spent.

 

And no Cap one still has not raised the £200 limit!!

[angeljen]

I built my credit score up from v. bad to excellent in two years. I started with a Cap One card £200. which I used regularly and paid off in full monthly. Vodapone contract and Argos store card. I let all of these run smoothly for about six months and then got MBNA Homebase card £2000 limit 0% for 12 months.

The last credit card I applied for had £8000 limit and v. happy with A&L premier current account.

If it cost a few pounds to get here I think it was money well spent.

 

And no Cap one still has not raised the £200 limit!!

 

How did you manage to get a Credit Card if your score was VERY BAD? I can't even get a Debit Card!!!

[M_A_A_B]

How did you manage to get a Credit Card if your score was VERY BAD? I can't even get a Debit Card!!!

 

Exactly what I was thinking....

[Dougster]

My local certainly allows it.

[purplefile]

Anglejen

 

I applied to cap one & was declined so I wrote to them with martial break up explanation for bad credit and explained that I just wanted to improve my credit status and would they even consider letting me pay in advance (just like the secured card they have now) to get some zeros on my file.I offered bank statements etc. They phoned me and said no to the pre pay bit but I could have card £200 limit.They never asked to see the statements.

That was a break through day for me & I was delighted.

Regardless of high rate and low limit I felt like a regular person for the first time in years.

It took a decline followed by a letter for the MBNA card who also called me and confirmed details before issuing card.

 

Words & Stamps are wonderfull things

[nathal]

another way of increasing credit score is to apply for an opt out of premarketing

[Switch]

another way of increasing credit score is to apply for an opt out of premarketing

 

Can you elaborate please, anything to help increase your credit score has to be a good thing.

[nathal]

write to cra's asked to be opted out of premarketing offers.

 

its basically removing yourself from a list of people that are elible to receive offers of credit

[sutee50]

write to cra's asked to be opted out of premarketing offers.

 

its basically removing yourself from a list of people that are elible to receive offers of credit

 

Please would you explain what CRAs are? I'm not into acronyms and jargon!

 

Also, how do you go about it?

[nathal]

cra is the credit reference agencies, mainly, experian, equifax and callcredit.

 

you can obtain a copy of your credit report for a fee of £2.

[Pen]

My OH has a capital One card with a limit of 200. and its been like that for the last 2 yrs, most monthes he is in credit on the card as we use it to pay for items via internet or train tickets, the do ofter complain to him for keeping the card in credit but he has asked them to increase the credit and they say no only the computor can do it. so How can he get the card company to increase his credit we do however have a couple of CCJs could that be the reason other then the card always being in credit. Also my son who is a student is 23 ys old he has no credit history other the his student overdraft he is unable to get a credit card is this because of our CCJs

Pen

[ellielou]

This is an interesting one.

 

I have had a Cap 1 classic credit card for 12 months now. Due to a few problems with my credit rating I had to pay them a £200 deposit and they in return gave me a card with a £200 limit which would (supposedly) help me repair my credit rating.

 

My card has never been over it's limit in the 12 months I've had it, every debt I have ever had is settled & my Vodafone contract has been running without problems for well over 5 years & still I can't open a bank account that offers a cheque book - never mind get another credit card.

 

I think the only way to improve your credit rating is to wait 6 years till the bad stuff is wiped off - I feel I've done everything I can & it doesn't seem to have worked.

[kells36]

Repairing your credit limit takes years - not just a few months of keeping a credit card within its limit.

 

On your credit file's, it shows every financial commitment that you have had or still have - for instance - You get a Littlewoods Catalouge and have a £1000 limit, in the year 2000. In the year 2003, you pay off everything you owe on this catalouge and throw it away. When companies look at your file, it will still assume that you can *have* this £1000 credit - so will take this into account when making a desicion as to whether or not they will give you credit - So my adivce would be to close any existing accounts you have but dont use with catalouges, credit cards, store cards etc - If your balance is a big fat £0 and you no longer use it then telephone the company and close the account.

 

Obvioulsy these companies do make desicions based on your previous 6 years credit history as well - so there is no time like the present in making sure you are careful with cash, cards and anything else you have to pay

 

One last thing - as a Store Manager for a well known brand, I cant see why any store would put through a transaction for something they havent sold when infact they are giving you for example £40 cashback - This would mean that the store would have to explain its +£40 stock varience on whatever they rang through the till - because the item/s would still be on the shelves and in theory, could be sold a second time! If this was done even 10 times a day over a period of 7 days, the stores stock variance on certain products would be completely unaccountable and no good store would operate in this way.

[Thailand]

And the CC company would charge the retailer around 2% for the privilage.

[LondonPam]

Credit references agencies hold both your available balance and your outstanding balance. They can therefore see that you actually owe nothing at all but have xxxx available to use of you want. The fact that you owe nothing will be good. Your xxxx available amount has never been taken into account on any of the credit scoring systems I've worked on, as this would show people who had paid off their card entirely each month as being bad just because they had an available balance. Hope that makes sense!

[Pen]

I would still like to know about OP and getting a better credit score, sorry for being rude i just don't have a credit card.

Pen

[nickjonesuk]

Cash back is available on DEBIT cards because merchants (shops) are charged a fee (usually 15-25p) PER transaction, so retailers are HAPPY to give cashback because its less CASH to uplift to the bank (therefore less business banking fee's, many banks charge xx per £100 paid in, not to mention less cash to transport and cash up) So £1 or £1000 will cost the retailer 25p or whatsoever. Supermarkets LOVE debit cards. Cash costs too much money

 

Merchants are charged a % when paid by CREDIT CARD. So they do not offer cashback as they will loose out because THEY will be paying xx% of the cashback figure in fee's!

So £1 will cost the retailer, say 1.5p (1.5%) and £1000 will cost the retailer £15.00

 

I work for a supermarket and I hope I cleared this up, if anybody has been given cashback on a credit card, the retailer who gave it you are stupid. I have given an example below.

 

Chewing Gum = 40p

Cashback = £50

Total = £50.40

Change = £50.00

 

The retailer has swapped £50 CASH (they gave to you) for EFT (You gave to them)(Electronic money basically, which will be paid straight into their account)

[Ecossewarrior]

I have a question. I am paying off a debt tomorrow of £260 which has went into default.. After the 40days it takes to clear should that make a big difference to my credit rating?

[monopoly23]

With regards to people not having their cap1 credit limit increased - I think they offer to increse your limit when you've been running the account BADLY. That way they know you won't be paying it off in full each month and will make more in interest and default charges etc.

 

My OH had a card with them for ages and only usually paid the minimum and sometimes missed payments altogether. I think his limit was £1000 when he closed the account.

[wycombemariner]

depends on the shop =- but you can do cashback on a credit card - i've doen it a few times

[installspark]

In the 2.5 years I've had a Cap 1 card, the limit has only been increased once from £200 to £400, and that was 6 month in. Been up to the limit (but never over) many times, made a fair few minimum payments only and cleared the card often, but still no increase, all Cap 1 say is that the account is reviewed on a regular basis. Still they now have given me their cheques (won't use them though) and will be getting my £99.00 security deposit back next month.

 

In the meantime I've got HP - car (£11500), Kays account (£2325 limit), Vanquis Visa card (£1500 limit), Next Store Card (£2000 limit), and Aqua Mastercard (£950 limit), so having a card does help improve your credit rating. Prior to getting the Cap 1 secured card I could get jack all in the way of credit.