First credit card... worth it??

JWIOW

Just thought I'd ask on here if anyone could tell me what my best options would be in my situation...

I'm currently 19 and have been in and out of employment (full/part time and seasonal work as well as apprenticeship) since I was 16.
Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances I am now unemployed (I have a small income from doing a few hours a week in a self-employed telemarketing role.

I'm quite lucky in that I don't have any debts and want to keep it that way, I left education to avoid the debts of going to university and no guaranteed job at the end of it and have a go at progressing by experience in work whilst I earn then paying for extra training in future if I so need it when I know that I can pay it off in full straight away and not be stuck with debts!

I still live at home with my father who charges me rent in accordance to my earnings for that month.
I have a savings account and a current account but I was thinking should I be looking to build my credit score somehow?

If so, how would be the best way of going about it?
Obviously until I find another full-time job it's hard to commit to anything financially at the moment yet I thought I might as well look into my options now as I've never really learnt about credit etc, the main things I have to pay for are car insurance, tax, phone contract and petrol at the moment.

Any advice would be much appreciated

CKhalvashi

JWIOW wrote: »

Just thought I'd ask on here if anyone could tell me what my best options would be in my situation...

I'm currently 19 and have been in and out of employment (full/part time and seasonal work as well as apprenticeship) since I was 16.
Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances I am now unemployed (I have a small income from doing a few hours a week in a self-employed telemarketing role.

I'm quite lucky in that I don't have any debts and want to keep it that way, I left education to avoid the debts of going to university and no guaranteed job at the end of it and have a go at progressing by experience in work whilst I earn then paying for extra training in future if I so need it when I know that I can pay it off in full straight away and not be stuck with debts!

I still live at home with my father who charges me rent in accordance to my earnings for that month.
I have a savings account and a current account but I was thinking should I be looking to build my credit score somehow?

If so, how would be the best way of going about it?
Obviously until I find another full-time job it's hard to commit to anything financially at the moment yet I thought I might as well look into my options now as I've never really learnt about credit etc, the main things I have to pay for are car insurance, tax, phone contract and petrol at the moment.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Check out the credit card pages on the main site, as there is a wealth of information that Martin and the team have written.

You may be best off starting with either your bank, Aqua, Vanquis or Barclaycard Initial, remembering to set a DD to pay the FULL balance every month. That way, they don't cost you anything. I put anything upto £20k/month on cards, claim back work expenses, then pay off card, effectively meaning that I don't pay a penny in interest.

They're worth having, as it allows you to artificially inflate your bank balance each month, and later on the stoozing (making money) to the tune of £100s a year by carrying debt.

CK

unimaginative_user_name

You are wise not to look at credit cards until you are in work. On most (all?) applications you have to put down your income and if this is low your chances of getting a card are low.

Once you are more stable financially you could either ask your bank for a card as they know how you have managed your account or try one of the credit-building accounts listed on the main site. The interest rate will be high at first but if you pay your balance in full by the date on the statement you won't pay interest. Your limit may only be a few hundred pounds at first but again if you are looking to improve your rating just a couple of purchases a month and paying the bill off every month will improve your rating and help build your credit history.

I always think if you make credit cards your servant rather than your master you can really use them to your advantage. They can help with cashflow, some give cashback or rewards, you can stooze ( where you get a 0% deal, and just pay the minimum for the length of the deal while the rest of the balance you put in a savings account to earn interest and then use the savings to pay off the balance on your cc but keep the intetest.). All this is some months down the line though when you've got enough of a credit history to get one of the better cards.