Help!! Student/1st time credit card!!

emmariverj

Hello there!

I am in my second year at uni and have managed to stay afloat without a credit card but now my car insurance is due and I figured that if I paid that in full on a credit card it would save me money.

However I then realised I know very little about them so here I am asking your advice...

What features do I look for in a credit card?

Are there any that are good for students/first time credit carders?

When it comes to filling out the earnings bit on the form does my student loan/bursaries ect count?

Thanks for reading!

ormus

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/best-0-credit-cards

youre not studying IT are you?

emmariverj

No, why? Does it show?!

Thanks for the link I have read that, but still unsure whether student loans come under income.

munkiemunkie81

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=11

Post your thread here instead, you have entered the pit!

ameliarate

My advice would be do not get a credit card but see if you can find an insurer who will let you pay monthly.

Glad

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

emmariverj

er, yeah sorry for the misplaced post!

maybe i should have taken IT after all!!

The_One_Who

First stop will be the bank where you have your student account. I'm surprised they haven't tried to give you one yet. The limit will be low, something like £500, and the interest rates will be high. If you make sure you pay the entire balance at the end of the month (you can set up a direct debit to do this) then you'll not experience any problems and will only pay back what you borrow.

atypical

Do you not have an overdraft?

Lokolo

The_One_Who wrote: »

First stop will be the bank where you have your student account. I'm surprised they haven't tried to give you one yet. The limit will be low, something like £500, and the interest rates will be high. If you make sure you pay the entire balance at the end of the month (you can set up a direct debit to do this) then you'll not experience any problems and will only pay back what you borrow.

As above ^^ you won't get more than £500.

Halifax are quite generous. They've given me £1100 0% for 10 months. But I am amazing.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Will quite possibly be cheaper (and a whole lot less likely to get you into trouble) to get a policy with monthly direct debit payments. It's still a credit agreement, but you don't have the temptation permanently there then to just put a tenner on the card for petrol, oh, and I need a couple of beers for next week's party, oh, I'm a bit skint this week - I'd better get some food/pay the rent on my card, etc, etc....