Recommend credit card for me?

buttonsalfie

- 18 years old
- Doing an apprenticeship where I earn just over £5,000 a year, paid weekly
- Have a Natwest debit card
- Live with parents
- I have gone overdrawn in my direct debit account twice because I hadn't been able to pay my phone bill on time.

I keep getting rejected. The only one that I was 'successful' on was the Capital One Secured card but I don't have £200 deposit

andymc29

Sorry to put it like this. But you really don't earn enough to have a credit card. As you need to be able to pay it back.

Your best bet would be to get a part time weekend/evening job, to get some extra income. Then you won't need a credit card at all.

Plxply

Capital One Secured Card would be the only way you'll get a credit card it seems. I got one when I turned 18 although with a much lower £30 fee. I imagine the fact you went overdrawn twice is why they see you as high risk.

Of course you have to be extremely strict when using the card (or any subprime card) as you never want to incur any interest on them and use them purely to build up your credit record by paying them off in full each month.

If you can't pay the card off in full each month then I wouldn't recommend you get a credit card at all.

Anthorn

You say you went overdrawn but do you have an overdraft facility and were you within that limit? If not it is likely that you will have a red entry on your credit report bank history for those months which will impact your credit worthiness. But green entries in succeeding months after that should cancel out the red in the view of most lenders. Get your credit report and have a look.

You say you keep getting rejected. So how many applications have you made in the last 6 months? If it's more than a few the resulting searches on your credit report will also impact your credit worthiness.

Have you tried Vanquis? If you apply for Vanquis that's the last application you should make until 6 months to a year have passed.

anon_ymous

andymc29 wrote: »

Sorry to put it like this. But you really don't earn enough to have a credit card. As you need to be able to pay it back.

I think it's unfair to say that people are refused purely because of their income. I think it's more to do with managing money more than any thing else ie: I got my credit card at the age of 19, with an "income" of £7735 (Student finance) and I got a card which you're meant to only get if you earn 15K+

The OP however has been overdrawn twice which is probably why he keeps getting rejected - that, and he's probably in the rejection spiral

inmypocketnottheirs

OP if you can't raise the £200 security deposit, how are you going to clear the account balance.

It sounds to me like you need to live within your means. Credit isn't an answer to not having enough money.

dresdendave

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

It sounds to me like you need to live within your means. Credit isn't an answer to not having enough money.

Probably the best financial advice anyone can be given, if only more people heeded it rather than the "I want it now" culture.