Prepaid Credit Cards

Karma67

I have just begun to read into this subject and wondered what everyone's thoughts, advice and/or recommendations are.

I have a poor credit history, but i am trying to sort all finances out (alot of the debt was hubby's but i'm not lilly white either!)...and as far as i know i have sorted out most debts, re:repayment plans etc, and no surprises are on the horizon!!

I doubt I would be offered a credit card, but I would really like to do my shopping online re food etc but I have the dreaded Electron card that Tesco despises!! and then found out about Global Prepaid Credit Card, seems like a good concept for poor credit rating people like me, but then i saw on this particular one, a fee of £99!!!

Plus I'm always cautious of offers seeming too good to be true, and i'm just skittery about applying for it and then it be a big 'con' and i lose what little money i have!!

So....please pass on any thoughts and the like, i would be grateful for any advice, (even mentions of credit cards that may take me!! lol)

nh

Capital One and Barclaycard both have a high-APR card they offer to those with poor credit. I would try applying for them before going for a pre-pay card with a fee.

Of course, you need to pay the card of every month by the due date without fail or you will pay an extortionate amount of interest.

Apply for both cards at the same time and neither will know you have applied for/been turned down by the other, if you see what I mean! You don't have to take both if they both accept you.

You don't want to apply for too many things in a short space of time though as this may affect what little good credit rating you have. Though with defaults/CCJs (if you have them) I don't think the little matter of too many searches is going to be a big issue. However, better to be safe than sorry...

If a pre-pay card is the only card that will accept you, I still wouldn't go for it as the fee is too high for the benefits (shopping online) it gives you.

Karma67

Funny you should say about Barclaycard i had an invite to apply today!! but I daren't apply....i never thought about applying for both at same time....hmmmm....

Thanks for your advice

nh

Karma67 wrote:

Funny you should say about Barclaycard i had an invite to apply today!! but I daren't apply....i never thought about applying for both at same time....hmmmm....

Thanks for your advice

You've got nothing to lose really. Apply for both, go for an Egg as well just for the heck of it. I had an error on my credit file a bit ago which showed six months of missed payments, but Egg still gave me a card (although it would have been better if they hadn't then I would have realised the problem and got it sorted sooner!).

If you get turned down by all of them, then at least you know you are probably not going to get credit any time soon. So don't apply for anything else for six months. Like I said before, a poor credit rating is hardly going to be damaged further because of multiple applications (don't go mad though! Two or three is plenty).

You can apply for these cards online I think. Keep us posted.