Recently moved to UK, need a credit card

Lollipop16

First time here so please say if I've messed up somehow and be gentle with me!

I have recently moved to the UK from France (where I lived for 12 years). I am a British National.

I applied for a Tesco credit card and was refused, my credit score is at 725 which is around average I believe?

When applying for an Aqua card, I found I couldn't add my French address in the address history, so I abandoned that. :wall:

Any ideas and advice? Anyone successfully apply for a credit card after a recent move to the country?

TIA.

grumbler

Whoever gave you the figure 725 failed to tell you that it was meaningless.

Unless some bank that you have history with in France have a UK subsidiary, your French credit history doesn't mean anything in UK unfortunately, and you have to build it from scratch.

A typical first credit card in UK is either with the bank you have a current account with for a while or one of Bad-credit Credit Cards.

BTW, Aqua is one of them. Don't get offended by 'bad-credit'. No credit history falls in this category too.

HappyMJ

When I first came to UK I opened a basic bank account with the RBS in the Channel Islands then registered to be on the electoral roll I then applied for a boring old store card. A Burton card to be exact. Used it once and paid it off over 6 months. Then I applied for a proper UK current account with cheque book, overdraft etc...then I applied for a Visa card with my bank-RBS-, then a Visa card with another bank then I applied for a mortgage all in fairly quick succession. I moved here in May 2001 stayed in several properties over the first year only ever as a lodger as I never could pass the credit check to ever rent one on my own so I purchased my own home in June 2002 and been there ever since. After moving in I've applied for new credit every 4 months and now have a nice collection of credit cards. Many have closed over time I have about 12 that could be used at the moment. They are only ever used to transfer balances about and offset the mortgage with...and now to invest into savings accounts to earn money with little effort.

Lollipop16

Thanks for the replies.
I have UK accounts with HSBC and Nationwide. I'm on the Electoral Register.
I spoke to HSBC and they said Experian advised them I was a bad risk but can't see Experian report til I get my PIN - I can't think of anything in particular that would cause this. No bad debt, no outstanding bills. I only opened the Nationwide account in October and they gave me an overdraft!
So frustrating!

grumbler

Experian gives them facts, not conclusions/advices.

"Bad risk" can merely mean lack of sufficiently long credit history.

inmypocketnottheirs

I'd call Aqua and make a telephone application.

I have an Aqua Card and don't have poor credit. Primarily I took the card for the 3% cash back, which has now been reduced to 0.5%. I still keep the card because of fee free overseas transactions.

Their customer service is good, as is their online platform.

I pay in full each month, so no interest charges hit my account.