Help - Cant get credit card!

chrislee765

Hi,
I'm 18 and want to get a credit card to get some credit rating.

The only trouble is, is that capital one are the only people that will give me one and the interest repayments are about 29%. I dont ever plan on leaving it long enough to have to pay interest, i want to use the credit card then pay off in full at the end of the month. Capital one say they guarantee this credit card to anyone that matches a few of their criteria.

Every other company declines me, even my bank that i have a maestro card and overdraft with.

If this normal for an 18year old?
I would check my credit rating but finding out may adversly effect my credit rating.

Any advice would be appreciated,

Kind Regards
Chris

rchddap1

If you have no credit history then it is not surprising that people keep turning you down. If there is no credit history in your record then the credit card companies have no idea whether you are a good risk or not. Going for a higher rate card initialy will do your credit rating the world of good. Also, continually applying for a credit card and getting declined is not good for your credit rating, as they will show up as searches on your credit record. You can get a copy of your credit record for a small charge, but this does not change your credit rating in anyway.

If you are intending to pay off the credit card in full every month I would suggest going with the Capital One card for now and setting up a direct debit to pay off the full amount. This will generate a good credit history for you so that in a year or so's time you can apply for another (better) card and get accepted.

Debt_Free_Chick

Just to be clear, the APR is irrelevant if you pay off the balance in full. It could be 300%, but if you never carry a balance, then you won't get charged interest.

alona1

I have just tried zopa.com to check my credit rating, you should do that. But because it is less than 400 (as I dont have alot of credit anyway) they have said that I cannot lend from them. But try it and see what credit score you get!

Also, Barclaycard will accept anyone for a credit card, they gave me my first card at 18 and they gave me £3500!!

surfcat

Barclaycard may accept anyone, but as a (pre)student with no history your limit will be about 300.

skiddy2k

chrislee765 wrote:

Hi,
I'm 18 and want to get a credit card to get some credit rating.

If this normal for an 18year old?

Chris, you say your 18, are you a student?

if so, a good friend of mine was declined a credit card with abbey, but he then found out that Barclays offer a Student Barclay card. He didnt find many other banks who offered student credit cards.

Barclays, would ideally want to pass you with there credit card, due to you being a 'student, if you are one, they want students to take advantages of there credit limits.

Barclays offer a 17.9% APR(variable), not that it matters if you no you'll be able to clear all of your balances at the end of the month.

if it helps, they also offer discounts such as 10% off everything at all:sports and 10% off at Domino Pizza (mmmm!).

check out there link, http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/Students/

i would advise that you dont apply for the Student Barclay Card via there online application form, my friend told me that they have a few errors on there appliation form, and would recommend you call them up to apply.

there 24hr customer service number is : 0870 154 0154


Hope this helps!
Good luck!!

chrislee765

Thanks for all your responses!

I am a second year full time college student? Do the banks class this as a student or do they mean university students?

Your help is much appreciated,
Regards
Chris

skiddy2k

not sure, if it also covers college students.
but would have thought it did because your still a full time student, so they may still allow it.

best thing to do is to call them up on there 24hr customer services number: 0870 154 0154 and ask them.

but i recall my mate telling me, that on the online application form(which he didnt recommend you should apply via), said, that you had to state your university/'college'.

Also, its come to my attention, i guess your probobly going to start uni later on this year, if you can wait until lets say, sep/oct until you start, i recommend you do so. reason being, during your freshers time in uni, many banks will offer you good rewards and incentives for opening up accounts with them.

for example, last year, Natwest offered a £55 cash alternative joining incentive to students who opened a student account with them. there were also many deals like this for student credit cards also!

so worth it if you can wait till late August to september when many banks will start promotiong student deals!

hope this hasnt got you confused in choosing what your going to do!

hope this helps,

newfoundglory

I think most banks actually define "student" somewhere in the terms and conditions - think you will find it usually applies "student" to those taking a degree of a certain type for at least x number of years at a recognised university.

The "student" account is usually for university students because of interest-free overdrafts. Most banks offer special accounts for under-19s, under-18s etc though.

Thats not to say of course that if you are 18 or over you can't go apply for any credit or debit card... because you can. But you shouldn't really expect to get credit and full debit cards until you are earning at least something, or of course you become a poor uni student