Advice please/best credit building cards

JamieR_2

Hi,

First time poster (though frequent reader/lurker) on MSE in need of some general advice & guidance.

I bank with HSBC and was invited to apply for a credit card which I duly did and was provisionally accepted with a £2k credit limit. To date I haven't really wanted to go down the credit route however as my salary (and other commitments, though manageable) have increased, it's an option I want to explore further.

Anyway despite having been provisionally accepted, my application was formally declined with a predictable lack of explanation.

I've since obtained a copy of my Experian credit report to establish the position and I see that I am assessed to have a "good" 882 rating with no defaults or CCJ's. It's equally true, however, that save for my Orange mobile phone Contract, I have no other credit facilities.

By way of brief background, I'm a single 26 year old male; earning slightly above national average salary. I'm a private tenant and have been renting my property for just under one year (and have been on the electoral role from this date) however was living with family before.

I'm aware that having no/minimal credit can be as bad as having a history of defaults/CCJ's so I suspect this is the reason my application was declined.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I would be grateful if anyone could advise on the best cards to apply for in my position (which I am likely to be successful in getting) in order to enhance and build on my credit score.

My initial research leads me to the "Aqua Reward Card" and "Vanquis" (both with fairly chunky APR) however any further feedback would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

aylithuk

Hi

My OH just applied to the Aqua card because even through he is 32 years old he's never had ANY credit! not even a mobile contract!

His earnings are on par with mine however where I am able to get all types of card with 4K plus limits he's only been able to get the Aqua Card with a limit of £250.

End of the day you need to build you credit rating up by apply for 'sub prime' cards.

The limit might not be big but as long as you use it and repay in full this, this will help you apply for better cards in the long run.

cjjhbn

if i was looking to build my credit history like the op i would try barclays intial card