As many as one in four people in the UK suffer with what is known as an adverse or poor credit rating and this can prove to be a stumbling block when it comes to being accepted for a credit card.
There are numerous ways by which you can end up saddled with a poor credit rating. This includes county court judgments (CCJs), defaults, mortgage rent arrears, bankruptcy, individual voluntary agreements (IVAs), previous repossession or late / missed payments on credit cards or loans.
UK Unsecured (Bad Credit History) Credit Cards
These Visa or Mastercard credit cards are only issued after the credit card issuer has done a check on your credit history by viewing your credit report. i.e. they are 'status' cards. We have put together what is probably the most comprehensive FREE list of unsecured credit cards (that we know about) in the UK that are available to those with some form of bad credit history.
If you have some form of bad credit history and it is quite old, say at least 18 months, then you could consider applying to these credit card issuers for an unsecured credit card. If you are accepted for one of these unsecured credit cards your credit limit will normally be low and the interest rate high, as the credit card issuer is taking a greater risk than usual. However, these unsecured credit cards will help you to build or rebuild your poor or empty credit history.
Of course, we cannot guarantee success with these poor credit history unsecured credit cards as the only people who can offer you credit are the credit card companies themselves. No recommendation service can guarantee you an unsecured UK credit card whether you have good or bad credit. This is why this unsecured credit card information is free.
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- You may not have heard of the Vanquis credit card. The parent company is the International financial group, Provident Financial. Their Visa credit cards are specifically designed for those who may have been turned down for credit elsewhere (i.e. have some form of bad credit).
You can contact them at: Vanquis Bank Limited, Colonnade, Sunbridge Road, Bradford, BD1 2LQ, West Yorks. Their customer service address is: Vanquis Card, Customer Service, P.O. Box 399, Chatham ME4 4WQ. Tel: 0870 850 7755
The APRs for the Vanquis Visa credit cards go up to 39.9%.
They stated on their promo leaflet that 'The best way to pay less interest is to pay off your monthly balance in full whenever you can'. With interest rates approaching 40%, this is certainly good advice. One of the best cards to apply for if you have had credit problems in the past. If you need to know which credit reference agencies Vanquis use you can call them on 0870 850 7755. The Vanquis credit card you need is the Vanquis Visa card.
- Capital One are the biggest providers of unsecured credit cards in the UK for those with poor or bad credit and/or those who wish to build or rebuild their credit history. Credit limits for these credit cards start at £200 but provided you use your card regularly and keep within your limit then this can be increased.
What's important, though, is that they report your, hopefully, good credit history to the credit reference agencies (both Experian and Equifax) on a monthly basis. We definitely know of one client who has used this credit card to build an empty (though clean) credit history from scratch.
- Cards are available in values of £300.
Allows you to spend your Provident Loan anywhere you see the Visa sign.
- This is an unsecured Mastercard credit card you may never have heard of. It is designed for those with some form of adverse credit. The company offering this credit card is called Sav Credit Limited. The card issuer is the Halifax.
This unsecured Mastercard credit card may be worth applying for if you have a UK bank account, are in full-time employment, have a landline telephone number, are on the Electoral Register, have no new adverse credit in the last 12 months and are not an undischarged bankrupt or do not have an IVA. The typical APR is 35.9%.
Monument (formerly Providian) Visa Credit Card
- Monument used to be called Providian. They were owned by Barclays but the sub-prime part of the business was sold to CompuCredit in 2007.
No website at present. Write to them at Monument, PO Box 6476, Northampton NN4 1ZN (Customer Services) and ask for an application form/pack. From recent information we received it looks as though you may now need to be invited to apply for this card.
The last time we obtained information about their Premium Visa poor credit history credit card it no longer had an annual fee but still had an APR of up to 35.3% and is definitely designed for those with some adverse credit history.
They reported your good or bad credit card account history to Experian. A client of ours who applied for a Visa credit card with this company did have to wait almost 2 months to receive their card, though!
Beneficial Mastercard (HFC Bank (part of HSBC group) - Mastercard Credit Card
- According to the last information pack we obtained, this Mastercard from HFC Bank is 'designed for those who do not fit the usual customer profile of a typical mainstream credit card issuer'. i.e. they will accept some bad credit. The high typical APR of 25.9% reflects the greater risk the lender is taking with this credit card.
- Although not specifically for those with bad credit, this very well known company seem to specialise in credit cards for people with little clean positive credit history.
Having just looked at their APRs, they do go as high as 27.9% (27.9% for cash advances) which indicates that they are prepared to take on customers with some form of poor (or little) credit. They tend to be overlooked by many people but are one of the easiest credit cards to obtain! We know of one client who although was employed, wasn't even on the electoral register and had no credit history at all (no good or bad credit) but still managed to obtain both Mastercard & Visa credit cards from them, both with relatively high credit limits.
The credit card you need to apply for at this present time is their Barclaycard Initial. It takes about 3 weeks to receive a credit card if successful. They report your good or bad credit card account history to Experian.
- This card is interesting. Available as a credit card in it's own name, this massive American company also provide the credit cards for Alliance & Leicester and Abbey National customers plus many of the affinity credit cards that you now see.
Like the Barclaycard above, although not specifically a credit card for those with a poor credit history, we have reports of people obtaining these credit cards with high limits with very little positive credit history. There have also been reports of people obtaining these credit cards on a purely spurious basis, even if their credit card application was unsuitable (poor credit / low credit score)
From our research it also appears that MBNA will allow you to carry as many of their credit cards as you are prepared to apply for, irrespective of the total credit available on these credit cards in relation to your income. They report your good or bad credit card account history to Experian.