Best credit card for 18 yr old

kitten

Hi, my son is 18 and has never had a credit card. He could do with one now as he needs to pay £1800 for car insurance. He COULD pay the insurer by instalments (at a cost), but to avoid paying interest he would prefer a 0% credit card which he would clear during the course of the interest-free period. He has a current account with Barclays (always in credit), and a mobile phone contract (no defaults or late payments) and he is on the electoral register. Would you consider it worth him applying for one, and if so which would you recommend, or is he so unlikely to get one that it isn't worth risking the credit check?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

TheEffect

He wont get a credit card with £1800 limit at 18. I got one at 18 (I'm 19 now) and was given £100 credit limit and 40% APR with CapitalOne. I'm 19 now and have £500 credit limit and 29.9% APR.

You must build a credit history before you start getting a decent amount of credit at an acceptable rate.

bigstevex

Best to go to his own bank i guess! £1800 is pushing it for a first card, my first one in 2003 was an £1100 limit and i was earning ~£25k at the time! Times have changed since then though!

TFD_2

bigstevex wrote: »

Best to go to his own bank i guess! £1800 is pushing it for a first card, my first one in 2003 was an £1100 limit and i was earning ~£25k at the time! Times have changed since then though!

Times have changed indeed. In 1997 I got my first card. NatWest (didn't bank with them) with £1500 limit when earning £10K a year.

To the OP - no chance - either of a 0% deal or of that sort of limit. It would be worth him applying to Vanquis / Cap One etc to start improving his credit history for the future. But as for now, either you get a card and let him put the insurance on that, or he'll just have to pay the interest.