(UPDATED: 4TH NOVEMBER 2010)
 
WARNING: Please ensure you follow the instructions exactly or you will probably receive nothing, especially if you’re claiming after 14 days, but within 30 days and I recommend you send all correspondence by recorded signed for delivery or even special delivery as otherwise they could deny receiving it!
 

To Cancel within 14 days:

(RECOMMENDED if you’ve signed up)

This is quoted from their terms and conditions (UPDATED AS LINK CHANGED: 4th Nov 2010): “You have the right to cancel this agreement under the Financial Services (Distance Marketing) Regulations 2004. This right to cancel ends on the expiry of fourteen calendar days beginning with the day after the agreement is concluded. You can cancel by sending or taking a WRITTEN notice of cancellation to, 2 Minton Place, Victoria Road, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX26 6QB United Kingdom. If you intend to cancel, you should not use any goods you have under the agreement and you should keep them safe (legal action may be taken against you if you do not take proper care of them).”
 

To Cancel After 14 Days But Before 30 Days:

If it’s been longer than 14 days, but within 30 days, please see the terms and conditions section 15 as you can still cancel and get most of your money back, but I cannot stress enough that you have to follow their terms and conditions EXACTLY or you will most probably receive absolutely nothing and by the time you realise your mistake it will be too late to reclaim! They appear to be doing to on purpose to confuse people so they have an excuse not to refund, even though this is in my opinion morally wrong, they are legally getting away with this and are most likely making a considerably larger profit by refusing refunds to these unfortunate people who haven’t quite followed their instructions perfectly.

If you have a bad credit history and you desperately still want a genuine credit card, then you’ll unfortunately have to go for a card with a much higher interest rate than competitive credit cards. The following cards are poor credit history friendly and also help improve your credit history over time as long of your account stays in good standing throughout the term:

Vanquis Card – Extremely high APR at typical 39.9% (but it can be even higher at up to an extortionately high 47.9% APR if you’re thought of as a higher credit risk) with a credit limit starting as low as £250, but from past experience it’s probably the easiest credit card to get with a poor credit history, they even consider people on benefits or low income.

The Provident Money Card (I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU AVOID THIS CARD!!!) – This is a debit card where you’re given access to a loan of up to £300 to spend by withdrawing cash at an ATM or shopping over the Internet, it’s not classed as a credit card at all and you can’t ever go over your limit. The payments are collected weekly by a doorstep collector. What’s absolutely scandalous is the APR at an incredibly ridiculous 272.2% APR, yes you have read it correctly at 272.2% APR, hence why I strongly urge people to avoid this card like the plague. In my opinion, Provident Personal Credit pray on desperate and sometimes vulnerable people, usually with low income who have a dire credit history as they usually can’t hope to get credit anywhere else, forcing them to pay ’stupid’ amounts of interest in return. Their massive interest rate charges are in fact many times that of competitive lending interest rates and are around 6-7 times the APR even of credit building credit cards. The people who end of paying these absolutely extortionate interest charges are usually the very people who can least afford to do so. Provident Personal Credit and similar companies that offer doorstep loans at extreme interest rates are the closest legal thing to a loan shark in my opinion and are in fact very controversial in the credit industry as many experts continue to campaign for new stricter regulations to restrict this type of doorstep lending and similar.

NOTE: If you have a really poor credit history and you manage to get approved for one of the credit cards above (the Provident money card doesn’t count as it’s not a credit card), you will probably start off with a very low minimum credit limit, but this can usually be increased over time if you keep your account in perfect order for a while, paying off at least the minimum payment on time every time without fail. If you keep a credit account such as this in perfect order for at least 6 months (but the longer the better obviously), it will substantially increase your credit worthiness, possibly allowing you to get a better credit card deal in future. Remember that future creditors want to see proof that you are responsible enough to manage your credit well enough to reliably pay creditors off within the terms of their credit agreement over a reasonable period of time.

What if I’m Refused Even Credit Building Credit Cards?

If you don’t even get accepted for any credit building credit cards as detailed in the paragraph above, you will need to build your credit history up in other ways first if you still want a credit card or other credit in future. In a brief summary, if you have outstanding debts, then making regular payments will obviously really help or even setting up an IVA and sticking to the payments is much better than not paying them off at all for your credit history. Not even attempting to pay off debts at all really destroys your credit worthiness for years to come (up to 6 years) and they can escalate to defaults or worse still CCJs (County Court Judgements), would you lend to someone who you know is refusing to pay back other people? Keeping any credit accounts what-so-ever against your name can help if they’re kept in good standing, even billing accounts like a home phone can help to some extent. Ensure you’re on the electoral role too if possible too as this also helps. Keeping a bank account in order also significantly helps and so does keeping a steady job if this is possible that pays regularly into this account. If you can’t get a full current account at this time, then keep a basic bank account in good standing instead with direct debits as anyone can get one of these accounts with from various high street banks, then later speak to the same bank about upgrading to a current account in the future. If you’ve got your foot in the door with a bank, you stand a better chance of obtaining other services with them, but I recommend asking in the branch if possible as staff face to face can sometimes pull strings. Once you have a current account, keep this in good order, then apply for a credit building credit card again around 6 months later.

Alternatively you could just decide to go for a prepaid credit card instead of a credit card altogether.

REFUNDS & COOLING OFF PERIOD FOR THE E-PLATINUM CARD:

ACT QUICKLY!

If you have already brought this card and require a full refund, you have a legal 14 day cooling off period and additionally a 30 day trial period but follow section 15 of their terms and conditions very carefully as it in my opinion is designed so many people will make a mistake, if you don’t follow it exactly you can almost guarantee that you won’t get your refund! Please note that section 15-B refers to your 14 day legal cooling off period and section 15-A is if you wish to cancel within the 30 day trial period after the 14 day cooling off period has expired.

For people on a low income, both budgeting loans and community care grants from the social fund are supposed to take 10 working days from receipt to get a decision, but in reality it can take much longer, especially for community care grants. Crisis loans (see below for more details) usually take a maximum of 2 days.

(My friend got a decision recently on his Budgeting Loan within a 10 working days, but got told he could wait 6 weeks for a community care grant, so they don’t always stick to these time scales!)

Emergency Crisis Loans:
Getting blood out of a stone can sometimes be easier!

If you desperately need money in a genuine emergency, you can apply for a crisis loan and a decision is sometimes made on the same day if you apply early enough. If you’re very lucky you might even be able to collect your crisis loan payment later on the day of application from your local Job Centre, although it shouldn’t normally take longer than 2 working days.

Anyone can apply for a crisis loan and they are even apparently available to people who aren’t technically claiming benefits, but I’ve never heard of anyone working actually getting one unless it’s of-course an unpaid voluntary position.

WARNING – Please don’t ever rely on getting a crisis loan as the benefits agency can use numerous excuses not to pay it and you could be shocked to be refused even if you really are in dire need, with this in mind, I strongly advise people to try and save money for emergencies even if it’s only a small amount! If for instance you’ve not long been paid and you’ve overspent, even if you haven’t got any food, the benefits agency will see this as your fault and usually won’t pay out. If you’ve had a previous crisis loan before within a certain time, it’s much harder to get another as specific crisis loan reasons are only paid once in a certain period of time. If you still owe money from a previous crisis loan, they rarely pay again, an exception is if you’ve been waiting weeks for your first benefit payment without anything to live on. If you’re expecting to get your next benefit payment within 4 days, they also rarely pay as they expect you to wait until then instead even if you have no food. I knew someone who was waiting for his first benefit payment and got refused a crisis loan because of the 4 day rule, but because of ongoing delays, he still wasn’t paid his first benefit payment within the 4 days as expected and when he then applied for a crisis loan again explaining the delays, he still got refused for the same reason as then he was still expecting his first payment within 4 days, so the decision makers can be very harsh. If you live in a hostel or similar where some meals are provided, they often refuse even if you’re only receiving 2 meals a day as they say this 2 meals a day is enough to survive. They will often try to advise you to borrow from family or friends instead of paying if you don’t insist there’s no way anyone else will help. To get a crisis loan, you often have to really argue your case and the decision maker will want to be satisfied that you really can’t survive without it. Please be aware that the number of applications for crisis loans increases near Christmas and the benefits agency are well aware that many are really just for Christmas presents instead of for a genuine crisis. Because of this they therefore refuse a higher percentage of applicants near Christmas, so applying this time of year is even harder.

Crisis loans are only for living essentials including basic food and warmth (gas or electric), or if you can prove that you or your family will be put at serious risk without it. You could be eligible if you are a victim of crime, E.g. if your benefits have been stolen, although you will need a crime number and please remember that falsely reporting crime could lead to criminal prosecution, the police aren’t stupid and neither are the benefits agency. A very good genuine reason for a crisis loan is having no money what-so-ever for food or heating while still waiting for a benefit decision. You might possibly get a crisis loan if you’re about to be evicted from your rented property due to arrears, but you will need proof and if the problem is your fault, you won’t normally be eligible. Even being on thrown out onto the street won’t necessarily make you eligible for a crisis loan. In short if you have food, warmth and aren’t in any immediate danger where money could resolve the issue, you’re not eligible for a crisis loan even if you haven’t got 1p to your name. The decision makers for crisis loans stick to the book, they have to be cold and harsh without feeling personally for any of the applicants. In my opinion, leaving people in desperate situations where they really have no food could force them to commit crime.

If you do get a crisis loan, don’t expect it to be for much as you only usually get only enough JUST to survive with cheap food until your next regular payment. Remember that you have to pay crisis loans back although there’s no interest charges, normally directly out of your benefits in instalments.

If you’re refused a crisis loan, you can appeal by writing to your Job Centre telling them within 28 days of the decision why you think the decision is wrong. If you’re still unhappy, you can ask for a review from by a Social Fund Inspector and this decision shouldn’t take more than 12 working days. The problem is, if you are genuinely in dire need of a crisis loan at the time of appeal, it doesn’t rectify your short term situation and often by the time you get a review decision, your crisis is over as you’d have received your next regular payment. Because of this, in my opinion the appeal process should be processed the same day.

The Incapacity Benefit Stinger – Excluded from Help!

Wrongfully in my opinion, people on Incapacity Benefit even though on very low income don’t qualify for either Community Care Grants or Budgeting Loans, this is because Incapacity Benefit isn’t income based (even wealthy people could claim), although these people could have absolutely nothing in the bank and still wouldn’t be considered no matter what their needs are. This can be terrible when such people can’t even get help furnishing an empty property that they’ve just moved into, not even for simple basics like a mattress, bed, fridge or cooker. They usually end up relying on charities having to get 2nd hand cheap and tatty furniture that no-one wants, but even charities usually charge something for their furniture and they still help people on Income Support Etc who usually claim their Community Care Grant too. In fact people on Incapacity Benefit fall into a negative loophole where they can be forced to pay for many things that people earning have to pay including some Council Tax and medical prescriptions, this often makes them much worse off than someone on Income Support or Employment Support Allowance. People on Incapacity Benefit do get slightly more money than people on Income Support, but they usually get slightly less Housing Benefit and this means they have to pay a rent contribution, this alone can take away the little extra money they claim. People are on Incapacity Benefit because they used to work, but often these people wish they didn’t as they’d be a lot better off. This problem will be resolved when everyone is transferred soon to the new Employment Support Allowance where most people should be transferred by the end of 2010. Employment Support Allowance can be non income based or income based depending on your savings and if you have little savings, everyone will be entitled to apply for grants and loans. Employment Support Allowance replaces Income Support and Incapacity Benefit and is designed to be more oriented to help support people back into work. Will the new benefit be fair? Well, that’s another debate, but I strongly suspect that many mistakes will be made causing an injustice to some people who are simply too ill to get back into work or where their disabilities haven’t been fully understood.