www.iva.co.uk

I completed my IVA in 2014 and recieved my certificute a while later. To check if my credit was back in Dec 2015 I applied online for a Barclay card. It arrived saying I had a £1.200 limit. I decided to use it for around £20 a month then pay it off - to build up my credit rating after advice from a non - expert..Was this good advice I wonder? Anyway when I checked one month it seems they only put the credit to £800 limit?? not a problem as I plan to de-activate the card anyway...It was a exercise in improving my credit rating. If I want something I save up and buy it now.

It seems that once you have been in an IVA - companies tread a little carefully with you?

Barclaycard in the past have reduced credit limits or close accounts for people who pay off their credit balance monthly - Barclaycard do NOT make their money on customers that pay the balance off monthly, in fact it cost them to manage the accounts

I wonder if it would be better for me to leave a small amount over to the following month? just for the sake of getting my credit status improved?

Must admit that we have not had a problem with them. Barclaycard is in husbands name and, although we now have a balance on there, even when we paid it off monthly they actually upped our limit.

Paying off the credit either monthly or leaving a small balance is personal choice. I prefer to pay off the CC monthly and us it as my debit card (ie food shopping /petrol etc etc) - the CC offers the added protection that comes with a Credit card. Only time i every use the debit card is ATM withrawals

I thought, other than the obvious interest, the credit card companies levied a charge on the retailers for use of the facility -- at least that is why I assumed some retailers pass on a surcharge for CC usage --- so make money that way too.

My dentist makes a charge if you use either a debit or credit card.

Some but not all retailers pass the charge on. The worse ones tend to be airlines etc. I think is was around 2014 Barclaycard has massive clear out of customers - mostly ones who paid the credit cards off evey month. Whether they make enough money through transactions charges to cover the running cost of credit cards account were they dont get interest from, i suppose will never be disclosed as it seen as sensitive industry information

Between 2014 and 2015 we paid off the balance in full each month (we did use the card a fair amount) but we were never charged by airlines at all.