Post Office CC: how difficult to get

FB13

I am thinking of applying for the Post Office card solely to use abroad. I was wondering how difficult it is to get the card?

I've had the American Express cashback card with a limit of £3000 for 18 months now.

I am not able to get the Halifax card as I've lived in the UK for less than 3 years and they are apparently pretty strict with their 3 year rule.

FB13

Alternatively, could someone tell me others cards the Post Office is comparable to in terms of selectivity? They don't have a whole lot of information on their requirements on their website, compared to Barclaycard for example.

chexum

It looks like it's hard to tell

What could help is that the Post Office card is among the moneysupermarket's smart search, so they may give a rough idea about your chances if you really don't want to waste not even a single search.

If that's any guideline (probably it isn't), for me Barclays related cards always come out at the top with 9 (of 10), followed by BOS (+Halifax/Lloyds/Sainsbury's) at 7, a lot of supermarket cards, including the PO at 6, and a few at Low.

It's still to be taken with a grain of salt, for one they only check your callcredit history, which is sometimes much more stripped down than the one at Experian/Equifax, apart from not always showing all your credit accounts, it usually has the fewest of the searches recorded as well.

And the grain of salt is that I recently got a nice card, approved online immediately that the above site told I have "Low" chances for (which is the lowest rating of all).

The three years is not a hard rule. It's generally only a problem with the application form. If you already moved once, to have a previous address, preferably not within 12 months, it usually won't matter at all. However, with just a year or two credit history, your credit file will be considered thin, and then your rating may be more affected by your current neighbourhood/postcode. Checkmyfile could give a quick indication in that case.

FattyBettyBoo

I got rejected for a Barclay card, rejected for a limit increase on my Virgin card and accepted for a Post Office card (dont know what my limit is yet - apparenty will be somewhere between £500 and £10,000). I have a average credit rating (quite a lot of borrowing but never missed a payment).