Ignored credit card... No longer

agnes

agnes

agnes

Soldato
Joined
1 Dec 2006
Posts
16,900
Location
Amsterdam, NL
Right, Capital One are god awful, I have not heard anything from them, never do actually. So I call up today and as usual, I need to pay some stuff. I never use the card yet somehow always have something to pay that I always miss paying off??? No idea how, anyway.

I am going to pay the £145 odd quid that will bring the credit back to £0. Now, my credit rating isn't the best but it is something that I have been tackling like a trooper over the last 6 months (see previous threads about money management).

Do people use the CC's to buy the monthly food shopping on? Mine is around £100-£150. I am thinking that once I pay off the owed money, I will setup a DD to pay off any money spent.

Will this help increase my credit rating? I feel it would be a lot easier, sticking all the food shopping, including mid month shops on this lonely CC and then just have a DD pay that off at the end of the month. Will there be many charges? Will it be worth it? Or should I just pay the £145 and get rid of the thing?

Like I said, I never use the card.

ags
 
What benefits does the card give you? Personally - I have a couple of cards that I put absolutely everything on - pay them off in full each month and then get significant cashback at the end of the year.
 
Basher said:
What benefits does the card give you? Personally - I have a couple of cards that I put absolutely everything on - pay them off in full each month and then get significant cashback at the end of the year.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't know, never thought about it at the time of signing up, only wanted it to boost credit rating... Some few years ago lol.

Wyrdo said:
There won't be any charges if you pay the full balance every month.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will keep hold of it then and simply use it for shopping :)

ags
 
Get a spike, put ALL your receipts on it, and store them in a 'paid' folder once you've transfered the money to the card to cover it
 
Basher said:
Or just pay the balance off in full each month?
Click to expand...

This, just set up a DD to pay the full balance every month. Nothing to worry about then.

Unless you go on a mad spending spree and can't afford to pay the full balance at the end of the month :p
 
Just setup DD, even late payments reflect badly on your credit rating (as well as incurring charges and interest). You'd be surprised how quickly your credit rating improves if you have a few lines of credit and make sure they are paid. I went from average to almost excellent in the space of a year by making a little bit of effort.

(Was average due to not having any lines of credit)
 
Its rare I use my credit card these days, however I have made a few purchases in the last month or so, balance at the moment is £445 as I bought a few bits including the HP micro server deal with £100 cash back from HP.

If I do use it, I dont tend to rack up any more than £150ish unless I really need to.

End of this month ill chuck £150 on the card, then when I receive the cash back from HP put that back on card straight away, then end of next month just whack £180 on to near enough clear the card.

I used to be pretty dangerous with cards, and overdrafts :(
 
Experian and Equifax both offer 30 day trials. I signed up via Topcashback, got all the info I needed, cancelled and received abut £20 for the privilege. :)

On topic, all my fuel, food etc goes on my Tesco CC which is paid off via DD every month. I'm doing nicely via free points. :)
 
agnes said:
Do people use the CC's to buy the monthly food shopping on? Mine is around £100-£150. I am thinking that once I pay off the owed money, I will setup a DD to pay off any money spent.

Will this help increase my credit rating? I feel it would be a lot easier, sticking all the food shopping, including mid month shops on this lonely CC and then just have a DD pay that off at the end of the month. Will there be many charges? Will it be worth it? Or should I just pay the £145 and get rid of the thing?

Like I said, I never use the card.

ags
Click to expand...
Keeping a limit you can easily afford and paying it off in full every month is the best thing to do. It will help your credit rating.

checjb said:
On topic, all my fuel, food etc goes on my Tesco CC which is paid off via DD every month. I'm doing nicely via free points. :)
Click to expand...
Not exactly free points are they :p?
 
platypus said:
Keeping a limit you can easily afford and paying it off in full every month is the best thing to do. It will help your credit rating.
Click to expand...

Well they tried to give me some ridiculous bump up in the limit to something like £750 about a year ago, kept it at £200... Never had an overdraft for almost the same reason.

Not to spend money that isn't mine.

But, as living proof I have still managed to mess up due to pure ignorance. Luckily I rang just to check what the status of the card is! Sneaky buggers.

ags
 
agnes said:
Well they tried to give me some ridiculous bump up in the limit to something like £750 about a year ago, kept it at £200... Never had an overdraft for almost the same reason.

Not to spend money that isn't mine.

But, as living proof I have still managed to mess up due to pure ignorance. Luckily I rang just to check what the status of the card is! Sneaky buggers.

ags
Click to expand...
I still have a capital one credit card that I got as a student to start building my credit. And every 6 months I have to send a letter to them asking them to reduce my credit limit to £250 which is all I'll put on it. It's the same letter template though and I just change the dates. Easy to do, job done :).
 
Basher said:
Or just pay the balance off in full each month?
Click to expand...

Meh,

Works for me

I put the odd large purchace on there, for instance my car insurance. This is spread over 6 months, so I pay x per month for that, and then I pay whatever is on my spike :D
 
agnes said:
Right, Capital One are god awful, I have not heard anything from them, never do actually. So I call up today and as usual, I need to pay some stuff. I never use the card yet somehow always have something to pay that I always miss paying off??? No idea how, anyway.

I am going to pay the £145 odd quid that will bring the credit back to £0. Now, my credit rating isn't the best but it is something that I have been tackling like a trooper over the last 6 months (see previous threads about money management).

Do people use the CC's to buy the monthly food shopping on? Mine is around £100-£150. I am thinking that once I pay off the owed money, I will setup a DD to pay off any money spent.

Will this help increase my credit rating? I feel it would be a lot easier, sticking all the food shopping, including mid month shops on this lonely CC and then just have a DD pay that off at the end of the month. Will there be many charges? Will it be worth it? Or should I just pay the £145 and get rid of the thing?

Like I said, I never use the card.

ags
Click to expand...

If I were in your position, i'd be querying why Capital One are charging £145 for a card you "never use"?
 
I've just got myself a Capital One Progress thingy as my rating got shot to **** thanks to graduating into this recession marlarky and not finding work for quite some time.

I've had it over a month so far, and I've already used it quite a bit. The rule I'm sticking to is only use the CC if I've already got the money available. For example, I'll use the CC - like I did last night for a few online purchases - if I've already got the balance elsewhere. As soon as the CC is charged, I immediately transfer money across from my current account to cover it. No hassle, no fines.

Pretty easy way of doing things really. Also, Capital One are online. Why don't you use internet banking instead? Funds take a few days to clear, but it's easier and you can check your balance easily. Alternatively, just pay through your current bank account online.
 
Basher said:
What benefits does the card give you? Personally - I have a couple of cards that I put absolutely everything on - pay them off in full each month and then get significant cashback at the end of the year.
Click to expand...
Significant cashback?
How?
 
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