Credit Card Difficulty Ratings *Opinions/Experiences Needed*

trikidy

This is a thread that aims to list all the major credit cards available, and judge their difficulty in obtaining them on the experience of MSE users. This will help people in judging what they have most chance of being excepted for, without creating unnecessary searches on their credit files.

If users can post which cards they have been accepted/rejected for, we can come up with an average difficulty for each card. Also if users have suggestions as to moving a card above or below another feel free to say, similarly any comments will be appreciated.

If you have been with your bank for a reasonable amount of time, they may be the best place to apply first. Exceptions to this is Clydesdale Bank.

This is just a rough estimate, of course each company will judge each person differently, this is just to help band together similar types of cards.
Easiest cards are meant for those with little credit history, these cards will tend to be accepted easier than other types of cards. Also these should be the first port of call for those with bad history.
Medium cards could be categorised as those that people with a generally good history of credit should be accepted for. These will usually require a reasonable annual wage to be accepted, along with a good past credit.
Hard cards could be categorised as those requiring a higher than average wage to be accepted, along with a good history of credit, being on the electoral role is essential for these cards.

Easiest Cards to obtain Easiest down to hardest
Capital One Classic- Fairly slow on credit increase
Capital One Progress
Aqua- Credit limit upgrade easier than others
Vanquis- Lenient on Electoral Roll Status, Slow on credit increase unless you use it regularly and utilise the card and more than 50% of the limit you can get increases
Barclaycard Initial Reasonable credit increases if use majority of available credit

Medium Cards to obtain Easiest down to hardest
The AA Credit Card
Tesco's
M&S Money - Easy on the credit limit increases
Sainsburys
Natwest
Halifax Clarity
Nationwide
Virgin

Harder Cards to obtain Easiest down to hardest
Lloyds TSB Amex Card- Tend to offer higher credit limits than MBNA
Barclaycard Platinum
MBNA American Express

BugsyBrowne

trikidy wrote: »

Just wondering if there was a thread which had every credit card in, and rated them from easy to hard on how to get them.
I feel it would be useful as it could show people what card is the next step up from theirs, as well as helping people avoid unnecessary credit searches on their file.
If one does not exist does anyone want to help me make one?

Thanksss

All credit cards are relatively easy to get if you have a good credit rating, people only think credit cards are hard to get is if they have a less then perfect credit rating(history).

Basically easy ones to obtain with a poor credit rating are: capital one classic/progress/vanquis/Aqua/

Maestro.

BugsyBrowne wrote: »

All credit cards are relatively easy to get if you have a good credit rating,

Are they now

Vanquis only accepts 18% of applicants. I'll be willing to bet most if not all CC companies have only a "percentage" of that which they accept regardless.

My own bank, despite having largely perfect history with them*, outright refused me for a CC, declined the appeal and then shortly afterwards resent me the original "thank you for applying but your application has been unsuccessful bla bla bla" letter, making me think they credit checked me twice. That and some other reports on here has led me to believe the "own bank" theory for a good chance of getting a credit card merely runs on coincidence, and your internal history with them actually has very little influence on the decision. I know that my experience with Clydesdale has left me with a very bitter taste in my mouth and if my local branch staff weren't so friendly I'd be off like a shot.

*used a £250 planned overdraft for a few months after coming into financial difficulty, which I talked to the bank about. Only used for a few months and never strayed from the agreement. Had the account for around 6 years, and in that time only OD once by a couple of £, years ago, which I fixed very promptly and duly paid the £25 fee. Their minimum credit limit is £500, I find it hard to believe that they think someone who earns £18,000 a year would struggle to pay that off, when my monthly outgoings are easily double that.

trikidy

Yes, that's what I mean. People with no credit, or bad credit, could apply for the easier ones, and those with fair to good credit the medium, and those with perfect could apply for the best ones.
Just thought a nice list might be helpful.

trikidy

Added a couple of cards, if people can add some more then we could have a fairly comprehensive list

jon142

M&S Money - Hard to obtain, easy on the credit limit increases

Lloyds TSB Amex Card - Hard to obtain

Maestro.

We could do with more of a breakdown of what is hard or easy etc.

i.e., does "hard to obtain" mean you need a squeeky clean credit history or that you need to be earning 3 squillion pounds to qualify.

In the easy section I can say that Vanquis are probably quite lenient on electoral roll status, as I'm positive I applied and got accepted before my ER status went on my credit file, which is almost unheard of these days. On the contrary, Aqua and Crapital None wouldn't even entertain me without ER, so it might be worth putting those in between "easiest" and medium.

BugsyBrowne

jon142 wrote: »

M&S Money - Hard to obtain, easy on the credit limit increases

Lloyds TSB Amex Card - Hard to obtain

Jon can you explain why someone with good credit will find it hard to obtain an M&S credit card as its no different to any other mainstream credit card & same with lloyds.

It's pretty obvious if someone with a bad credit rating gets turned down for a card of course they are going to say its hard to get accepted.

keeleyjadex

I have good credit - Instantly accepted for Natwest, Tesco (even though this is meant to be difficult), Sainsburies and recently Nationwide.

Flat out denied by Virgin and Barclaycard had to access my application further.

It's confusing. I don't think any are easy or hard to get hold of. Previous applications show that I can get card that some people deem 'difficult' but get refused for 'Medium' cards?

trikidy

Of course it's going to vary from person to person, but I think this can be useful to get a rough idea, of what each card tends to be.

YorkshireBoy

Maestro. wrote: »

Vanquis only accepts 18% of applicants.

I think that's the 2010 figure? Last year they've improved slightly, and accepted one in five applications.

Doesn't surprise me though, bearing in mind most applicants for this card will either have little, if any, credit history or have a very poor credit history. And even those successful are getting, in the main, only £250 credit limits (around 50% of them) and circa 30-40% APR. The other 49% of successful applicants will therefore be given rates approaching 60% APR.

Still, they must be doing something right because profits are very good. When you think about it though they shouldn't be that good because most applicants are supposed to be using these products for credit-building. Whereas, in reality, a great many of them must be rattling up a load of debt...otherwise Vanquis et al would be going out of business!

I'll be willing to bet most if not all CC companies have only a "percentage" of that which they accept regardless.

I'm not so sure. I've seen it posted on here by industry insiders that for mainstream cards many lenders accept around 50% of applicants who have an average, or better than average, credit rating/history.