Vanquis
Whilst the Vanquis credit card issued by Vanquis Bank is comparatively new to the UK scene, launching in 2002, it’s been extremely successful with currently over 500,000 card holders.
For those on lower incomes, vital access to the best deals on shopping, insurances and utilities is often online. In today’s internet driven society, lack of access to a credit card makes it hard to fully participate in modern life and access these deals. The Vanquis credit card is designed for people with a non-existent or poor credit history. Although the card is aimed at consumers with substandard financial histories, it should in no way be considered to be substandard product. Customer surveys continually show a high level of client product satisfaction.
The Vanquis card gives people who’ve had problems with credit in the past (and who have now recovered) or who don’t have a credit history at all, access to the flexibility of a credit card and at the same time it helps them to build their credit history. Due to the target market for the card, interest rates are higher than many mainstream card issuers.
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Vanquis Visa Credit Card | Poor credit credit card, helps rebuild your credit history | N/A | 39.9% APR |
Dynamic card for those with bad credit Easy to manage initial credit limits Limit review every 4 months Choice of funky colours
High interest ratesVanquis Bank is part of the well-established and respected Provident Financial Group. Although Vanquis as a brand is relatively new to the market, Provident Financial has built its business lending money to non-standard customers since 1880.
Vanquis prides itself on providing credit card facilities to consumers who would struggle to obtain a mainstream credit card elsewhere. Because it understands how to manage lending to non-standard customers (the Provident Financial business has been built on the back of decades of successful home credit loans) Vanquis is comfortable lending to consumers whose financial background wouldn’t stand up to the usual scrutiny of many mainstream banks and card issuers.
Vanquis is really the only UK credit card issuer who openly markets it card to consumers with modest or unpredictable incomes.
The key to its successful management of its customer base is regular personal contact. Vanquis card customers could typically expect to be contacted by their card issuer 4 times as often as with most mainstream credit cards. It’s this high degree of personal contact, and their philosophy of really getting to know and understand the customer’s circumstances that makes Vanquis comfortable lending to consumers who’ve often got unstable incomes.
Although you can apply online today for a Vanquis card and get a provisional acceptance decision, Vanquis likes to speak to all new customers before making a final decision. Whereas most mainstream credit card issuers rely on computerised assessments of an applicant’s credit history and current credit score, Vanquis has developed its own bespoke underwriting system. They like to carry out a kind of telephone ‘interview’ to try and get to grips with any new applicant’s true situation.
This results in them frequently offering a credit card to applicants who wouldn’t be considered by other issuers, but sometimes with very small initial credit limits. But Vanquis takes a long term view and they then review the consumer’s credit limit every 4 months. If the customer has operated the card within the Terms and Conditions, and consistently managed payments on time, credit limits will sometimes be gradually increased if desired.
However, Vanquis does have a strong ethos of responsible lending and is selective. It won’t just lend to anyone. Although research indicates that the market for the Vanquis card in the UK is probably around 10 million consumers, it’s thought that only around 50% of those would pass the current underwriting criteria. In 2010, only 18% of applicants for the Vanquis credit card were in fact accepted. If you’ve been turned down for a Vanquis credit card, you should consider prepaid cards.
