Guidance For Obtaining A Credit Card For All Types Of Credit Status

If, like a lot of people in the UK (including me) you are having or have had credit problems, you'll know how hard it can be to get a credit card.

But, don't dispair, help is at hand........

Before you can get a good credit card with a good interest rate, you will need to establish some kind of a fair credt report.

To start with you will need to check your credit file and rating. You can do this by contacting 1 or all of the three main credit reference agencies.

The reference agencies are as follows:

1) Experian (https://www.experian.co.uk) - This seems to be the most used agency. You can get a standart report by sending them a £2.00 cheque or postal order. Or you can sign up to the monthly online plan (called CreditExpert) and that will give you unlimited reports online. There is a 30 day trial and you can cancel within the 30 days and pay absolutely nothing, but please bare in mind that you will need VISA or MASTERCARD to take advantage of CreditExpert. If you do not cancel within 30 days the full price for 12 months (£49.99) will be debited from you card.

2) Equifax (https://www.econsumer.equifax.co.uk) - This seems to be the second most commonly used agency. You can get a standard report by sending them a £2.00 cheque or postal order. You can also get a one-off credit report AND credit score online for £6.50 (using the promotional code MYRATING). Or you can sign up to the monthly online plan (called Credit Watch Gold) and that will give you unlimited reports online. There is a 30 day trial and you can cancel within the 30 days and pay absolutely nothing. You can use a number of credit and debit cards for this service. If you do not cancel within 30 days the full price for 12 months (£59.99) will be debited from you card. There is also an option to pay monthly (£6.50 a month) with no 30 day trial.

3) MycallCredit (https://www.mycallcredit.com) - This, at the moment is the least used agency of the three but it is a newcomer so that could all change soon. You can get a credit report online for £7.50 with a credit score for £4.99 but as this is a relatively new agency, it is not reccommended that you opt for this service until they have established themselves a little further.

If you can afford it, try to get a least 1 report from all three of the agencies above (3 in total), as some financial organisations report to experian, some report to equifax and a few only report to MycallCredit. If you have all three, it will give you a bigger picture of what is REALLY on your credit file.

Now you have a copy of your credit report and maybe your credit score, take a look to see if you have any adverse credit.

If you don't have any obvious adverse credit, try apply for a Credit Card of your choice (but restrict it to just one) if you get accepted, great! If you get declined, call the credit card company to find out why? They will usually be able to tell you why they declined you and this will give you a bit of an idea how other card companies will react to your application (remember that just because one compay declines you, it does not mean thay all will, as different companies have different criteria).

If you are declined by your first company, try applying to a more understanding credit card company, such as Sainsbury's, Goldfish, Marbles, Accucard or Barclaycard. These companies will give people a card (usually with a credit limit of UPTO about £1000) who might not be able to get a card elswhere.

REMEMBER DO NOT APPLY FOR ANY MORE THAN 2 CARDS AT THIS POINT AS BANKS AND CREDIT CARD COMPANIES ARE LIKELY TO DECLINE YOU IF THEY SEE LOTS OF CREDIT SEARCHES ON YOUR FILE.

If you are declined for your second card, it is time to apply for a high interest rate card.

Your first choice should be Capital One, this company will guarantee you a credit card if you are not an UN-DISCHARGED BANKRUPT, They will also decline you if you are registered on the CIFAS (fraud) register (Although I know at least 3 people that have obtained a card from Capital One that are registered on the CIFAS register).

You can apply online at https://www.capitalone.co.uk, you will get a decision within 1 minute. Although they are guaranteed to accept you if you meet their criteria (listed on their site) you may need to supply a security deposit of between £49 and £200, they will let you know if they require one. You will be given a credit limit starting at £200 and cold get anything upto £2000+ depending on your credit status.

Your final option should be applying for the Vanquis Credit Card, there is no website for the Vanquis Card but you can apply by calling 0870 8507755 (or 01634 793500). The Vanquis card has VERY HIGH interest rates (as high as 69.9%) but this doesn't have to be a problem for you (read the next paragraph). Vanquis is owned and operated by a company called PROVIDENT who are renowned for lending money to people with extremely bad credit.

If you find yourself having to apply for a Capital One (whether secured or not) or Vanquis card you should avoid paying their ineterst rates as this could be very costly to you.

What you should do is use either card (or both like me) to pay for about £20-£100 of products a month (or whatever you can afford to repay each month) and repay the bill(s) IN FULL every month (I use mine for petrol), Capital One offer (54 days for purchases if you pay your balance in full and on time). By doing this you will avoid paying ANY interest rates at all and by using your card every month and paying back in full every month, you will be be building yourself a good credit record and within about 6-12 months you will be in a position to apply for and probably receive a credit card with a much more competitive interest rate.

REMEMBER IF YOU MISS JUST ONE PAYMENT IT WILL SET YOU BACK A LONG WAY, ALWAYS TRY TO MAKE AT LEAST THE MINIMUM PAYMENT ON YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS AND PAY IN FULL EVERY MONTH IF YOU CAN.

I hope this helps some of you.

If anyone wants to add anything that I may have missed or wants to correct me on anything, please do

If anyone needs any help or advice on what I have written, please either reply to this post or PM me, I'll be glad to help as much as I can