how long to leave between applying for credit card and mortgage?

narners

Hi all,

I've only just joined up (first post!) so apologies if this is in the wrong place etc.

My other half and I are looking to buy our first house, and the advisor we've spoken to thinks we should be fine to get a mortgage of the size we need, based on our earnings etc. - but while my other half has a credit card (fully paid off each month), I've never had one - or anything else financial really apart from a current account (no loans or anything like that). So, I'm wondering whether I should get a credit card now and start spending on it (paying off fully each month), so that I build up some kind of credit score to help with the mortgage application.

The only thing is, from reading stuff on here it looks like it's a good idea to space out applications for credit and not do too many close together - so I'm wondering whether if I apply for a card now, it will actually hurt our chances if we then try and get a mortgage in a month or two? Does anyone know how long I should ideally leave in between? Or will it not matter too much?

Do I even need to bother getting a card at all if it looks like the mortgage will be OK anyway? Would we potentially be able to get more if I had more of a credit history?

I'm a bit new to all this to be honest - have been educating myself about different kinds of mortgages and the various fees and processes involved in buying a house all week, and am feeling a little overwhelmed!

thanks in advance

pippitypop

Lenders tend to look at your applications for the last 6-12 months. As long as you haven't applied for more than 3 times for credit you should be fine. If one of those applications is for a credit card and the rest were for your mortgage applications, again you should be OK. Every lender though has different criteria!