Obtaining a Credit Card as a student

R.A.S · 20 April 2009 at 12:30PM

Hi there,

I currently have two student current accounts, and with these I received a student credit card. I also have another student credit card with Egg. Each card is £500. Now it seems that i'm just forever paying off interest with my minimum payments so I spoke to my dad about it and he suggested going for the Virgin credit card, transferring my balance to them and getting rid of the other 3. Giving me 16 months to clear the balance interest free.

So I applied for the card but I was rejected. I then opted to try the same with the Tesco Bonus credit card, and again, I was rejected. Both suggested I check out Experian, which I have (although i've yet to get a credit score) and nothing seems to untoward.

Now, what I think is going wrong is that as a student I don't, on paper, receive a big enough wage for them to accept me. I technically work 40 hours a month, I receive a bursary from SAAS and I work full time in the Summer. I earn enough to pay them back, just as I have been paying back my current 3 credit cards. So how am I suppose to convery this to them?

Any students out there managed to get a credit card with Virgin or Tesco. Does anyone suggest any other companies that are more lenient with similar balance transfer deals?

Thanks

normanmark · 20 April 2009 at 2:29PM

I'd say you would have problems getting another card. 3 already with a limit which is generous enough for a student (I remember getting a maximum of £1500 back in the days of when i was a student, not to long ago mind).

In the short term what you should do is to start to increase the payments onto the card. The minimum is never enough to clear a card in a reasonable time.

R.A.S · 20 April 2009 at 5:41PM

Thanks for taking the time to reply. To be honest I really don't want to get myself into any more debt. So £1500 is a perfect amount; allowing me to transfer all my balances and pay them off from one card.

I've rechecked my credit report and spoke to a rep and Abbey and it seems my problem is 2 missed payments from June last year. Having looked into it. I remember the incident as being my phone bill coming from my account early, removing the funds I had set aside for the card, taking me over my limit and rejected my request from my Egg card.

The rep suggested speaking to egg and trying to get the missed payments removed from my report, which I have done. How likely is this to happen?

normanmark · 20 April 2009 at 6:05PM

R.A.S wrote: »

The rep suggested speaking to egg and trying to get the missed payments removed from my report, which I have done. How likely is this to happen?

It depends, they have an obligation to report your credit report as truthful.

I understand your point about times/dates of funds being available or taking out, however you missed the payment. They would say its a poor management of your accounts & this is something which lenders look at when assessing you for credit.