New to Credit Cards, don't know where to start

Johnnii

I'm basically thinking of getting a credit card to pay for a Masters tuition fees. I read an article on here that they can be cheaper than loans if you borrow a small amount.

I applied for a Professional & Career Development loan with my own bank Barclays and got rejected. Although my credit score was perfect (999) and no overdue accounts/overdrafts etc i think it was because i have too much available credit i.e Next Directory giving me £3600 credit!

Therefore i wanted to ask how easy is it to get a credit card if you have a good credit profile but do not earn much annually? Do lenders give out cards to virtually anyone as i heard from some people.
I would need around £5500 for fees and accomodation but i don't think a credit card limit is usually that high so i might need to get more than 1 card. Whats the typical card limit for someone on less than £10,000 pr yr? Also do they actually want proof how much you earn as someone told me they put a higher salary then they actually earn when they apply;)

Anyone have any reccommendations for a card with a long interest period on purchases and reasonable APR rate that is not difficult to get.

stephane_2

Why on earth do you need £3600 with next...???? You need to ask next to bring that limit down to maybe a few hundred..
As for the credit card, it is very unlikely that you'll be able to get a card from a mainstream lender due to the fact that you're new to credit ( never had a credit card) so your best bet would be to try with a card like Vanquis or Capital one, you'll get a very small limit to start with probably around £200/£500 and the interest will be very high (30/35%), so use the card wisely and by paying the balance in full each month, then after running the account for a good 12 to 18 months you might be able to get a card with 0% offer on purchases

Monkeynut

From what I know, I think you would be better off looking more into Graduate Loans from banks, rather than credit cards
You wouldn't have to be an existing customer, so you could try elsewhere other than Barclays. Even though you're new to credit, many of the people who take out a Graduate Loan will also be new to credit, so it's not necessarily always a barrier. They tend to have quite low rates of interest.
Also, did you have a student bank account, and if so has this been transferred to a Graduate Account, and how much Interest Free Overdraft does it have??

Would definately be worth contacting Next and asking for your limit to be reduced. There's no point having all that available credit that you don't need, pparticularly if it could prevent you getting credit that you do want.
I'd be in serious trouble if I had that much that I could spend in Next :D

Johnnii

stephane wrote: »

Why on earth do you need £3600 with next...???? You need to ask next to bring that limit down to maybe a few hundred..
As for the credit card, it is very unlikely that you'll be able to get a card from a mainstream lender due to the fact that you're new to credit ( never had a credit card) so your best bet would be to try with a card like Vanquis or Capital one, you'll get a very small limit to start with probably around £200/£500 and the interest will be very high (30/35%), so use the card wisely and by paying the balance in full each month, then after running the account for a good 12 to 18 months you might be able to get a card with 0% offer on purchases

I don't need this amount as i never asked for this amount of credit but i have cut it dramatically down. I have to disagree and say that never having a credit card is not being new to credit IMO as credit can be built on various other ways as everyone knows. I've known numerous people get their 1st credit card from mainstream lenders.
Waiting for a credit limit to go up from something small like £500 is useless to me as i have said i need this to pay for tuition fees hence i need a card(s) that will have a high limit.

Monkeynut wrote: »

From what I know, I think you would be better off looking more into Graduate Loans from banks, rather than credit cards
You wouldn't have to be an existing customer, so you could try elsewhere other than Barclays. Even though you're new to credit, many of the people who take out a Graduate Loan will also be new to credit, so it's not necessarily always a barrier. They tend to have quite low rates of interest.

Graduate loans are not for those wanting to study, it's for graduates after uni who have to prove they have a job offer or working in FT employment to be eligble to help them in starting a career. The only available loan for studying postgraduate courses is PCDL in my case.

stephane_2

You seems to know better than anyone else here so if you already know the answers I wonder why you come here for advise but one thing is sure that you might have a chance to get a card from a mainstream lender but I doubt it very much that you'll get it and if you do get it your credit limit WILL be extremely small and nothing like what you're hoping for, you've got no hope in hell

Johnnii

stephane wrote: »

You seems to know better than anyone else here so if you already know the answers I wonder why you come here for advise but one thing is sure that you might have a chance to get a card from a mainstream lender but I doubt it very much that you'll get it and if you do get it your credit limit WILL be extremely small and nothing like what you're hoping for, you've got no hope in hell

There's no need to act like that, I just disagreed with what you said that's all about building a credit history. I wanted advice as to which card is best for my situation which you made out as worse than it actually is i felt and a general jist as to how the application process is.

izools

Johnnii wrote: »

and a general jist as to how the application process is.

RE the application process, you will in all likelyhood be declined for all but the sub prime credit cards if you've never had one before.

Ergo the advice you've been given. Saying the application process is straightforward for example a Tesco Mastercard which provides a year free on purchases would be incorrect as in your case it would likely result in a decline and / or minuscule credit limit.

There's no such thing on a credit card with a long interest free purchase period that is easy to get. The two cards that offer this are the Virgin and Tesco cards but they are not easy to get.

Johnnii

izools wrote: »

RE the application process, you will in all likelyhood be declined for all but the sub prime credit cards if you've never had one before.

Is that because of my income or just not having a credit card?
What lendors would fall under sub prime cards if you know them?

MFWannabe

I very much doubt you will get a credit card with anywhere near the amount of credit you are looking for.
they will also look at you having £3500 worth of available credit with next; how do they know you're not going to go and spend all of this? If i were you i would close this account; it will look better for you.
For the amount of credit you're looking for you might be better asking your own bank for a loan; but i still think there's a slim chance of you getting this amount.

stephane_2

Johnnii wrote: »

Is that because of my income or just not having a credit card?
What lendors would fall under sub prime cards if you know them?

Both your income is very low and also because you've never had a credit card...sub prime lenders are the ones I mentioned earlier like Vanquis, Capital One, Aqua and Barclaycard Initial....

Johnnii

FREEZ wrote: »

I very much doubt you will get a credit card with anywhere near the amount of credit you are looking for.

Same question as above really, why would i not be able to get this, because of the large amount i need or because it's me applying?