Credit card for furnishing my flat, perhaps £1,200, 18 months IFC?

vassa

I recently furnished a 2 bedroom house with brand new furniture including washing machine, fridge freezer and hob/oven for less than that.

Also, the stuff you mentioned wasn't 'essentials' as you put it.

£300 a month on food for one person is pretty obscene too, you can more than half that bill if you put a bit of effort in.

My furniture - all from Ikea, 2 large coffee tables in faux-oak, large desk, oak bookcase, 2 faux-oak bedside tables, double bed and mattress, desk chair and 2 freestanding lamps cost me less than £400. Looks good, was dirt cheap and is well made.

The_Boss

P-Ride wrote: »

RE: Credit ratings, it's true, I have no idea what having a mortgage does to that. My rating was reasonable until recently (I cancelled Experian when I got my mortgage); there will be perhaps one late phone payment left on my last 12 month's history (nearly a year ago now). But, as you say, Experian's an educated guess.

I've already explained that you don't have a rating. Experian are not a lender, so their opinion of your financial situation means nothing at all. Lenders will see you have a mortgage and most likely turn you down until there's evidence that you can manage this appropriately.

NPHammer

The_Boss wrote: »

I've already explained that you don't have a rating. Experian are not a lender, so their opinion of your financial situation means nothing at all. Lenders will see you have a mortgage and most likely turn you down until there's evidence that you can manage this appropriately.

Dude. You are relentless with the banging of the drum about how people don't have a rating.

Of course there is truth in this, different lenders have there own criteria, CRA rating numbers are lacking in real value yada yada yada, but maybe once let someone type the phrase credit rating without ripping them a new one? You might find you enjoy the change.

P-Ride

RE: Food, I eat 4-6 meals a day as I'm heavily into weightlifting. £300/month = £10/day, which is less than I've been spending up until now. I'll have to bulk buy and cook in batches to get down to £300/month, TBH. I am on the road four days a week, so have the joy of a thermos bag with tupperware boxes inside..

For furniture, I have to get a double bed, two wardrobes, massive desk, dining table, chairs, bookcases as a minimum. Looking at at least £1,500 for all that!

NPHammer

I love how you came here for advice on a credit card, and you get people picking apart your eating habits! :-)

I certainly wouldn't consider £10 a day extravagant, particularly if you include occasionally eating out into that number. There aren't many more important investments than what you put into your body.

Addressing your desire for a credit Card, I recommend Nationwide, Fluids, and Barclaycards soft searches and in that order of preference of the value. The outputs from these 3 should give you an indication if lenders are likely to consider you for a decent 0% card.

P-Ride

Good to hear someone on my wavelength! When I was a student, food was the one thing I never compromised on. I would rather sleep in a tent and eat well, than in a bed and eat bad food! Sadly, simple clean meat and vegetables (the stuff we've been eating for thousands of years) isn't as cheap as processed rubbish.

£300 is for groceries. I've got into a really bad habit of eating out every day at work; and that's just not sustainable once I'm moved in, so I'll have to adapt! Cooking up on Sunday and boxing dinners up seems the way it's done. Will still eat out occasionally; that will come out of my 'pleasure' budget though!

Aha, soft searches you say? So I can use those three services to get a scope for whether I'll get approved, without any punishment for asking? How sensible! How reasonable! Why on earth shouldn't we get some transparency as standard; rather than applying and then being punished for enquiring? Thanks!

YorkshireBoy

P-Ride wrote: »

not sure what I have to lose by applying for a Tesco's credit card with 18 months at 0%?

You've nothing to lose at all. However, working against you are a whole host of things...

• Very recent mortgage. Many lenders could want to see you 'established' with the repayments before granting 'prime' facilities.
• Very recent address change (and probably be a while before the CRAs have your ER data).
• Short time at address.
• A financial association with someone else (how's their CRA file?).
• No recent history of managing a credit card.
• Late payments on your CRA file.

And finally, even the bank that receives your income, and therefore knows more about your financial circumstances than anyone else, won't extend you 'prime' facilities.

Like I say, you've nothing to lose so go for it...but be prepared for rejection or a low credit limit.

Good luck!

P-Ride

Hmm; and is being on the electoral role also taken as seriously by credit card companies as by mortgage companies? Getting me on the role at this current address (I've been here since March) was a big enough hassle!

YorkshireBoy

P-Ride wrote: »

Hmm; and is being on the electoral role also taken as seriously by credit card companies as by mortgage companies?

No doubt someone will be along to tell you they got a card without being on the ER (but in my opinion it is important). However, you've lots of other factors (see above!) to take into consideration which they may not have had).

Getting me on the role at this current address (I've been here since March) was a big enough hassle!

So we can add another one to the list above then?...too many recent addresses. How many addresses over the last 3/6 years?...and were you on the ER at all of them, ie even though you may have moved around a bit there's still some traceability.

And don't forget that all these points will be checked of your financial associate when you apply for the card.

P-Ride

Hmm, fair point. My rating was decent when I got my mortgage; the one late payment within the last 12 months will be close to dropping off that time-frame, so - having been approved for the mortgage - I though I should be gravy.

What you've identified though, is that aside from taking on a mortgage, I am also in a brand-new address; and it will take me a month or so to get on the electoral register too.

The address I had before March I was in for 20 years (and on the electoral role) as it was my parents' house.

The whole moving house thing makes it sounds like I may well struggle for a few months?

Hmm, looks like I may have to go without a card for a while.. I can try a soft search to find out though?..