Credit Card for my son to purchase 1st car

tom222

Just fyi, I applied for my first credit card when I was 18, couple of months before my 19th birthday, and I was approved with a £2,500 limit. That was with Natwest, 5 years ago. I was earning about 13k then.

methzzz

Your son is 19 but you are 27, something doesn't seem right.

Avoid a car if possible, so much wasted dough.

Feral_Moon

methzzz wrote: »

Your son is 19 but you are 27, something doesn't seem right.

Avoid a car if possible, so much wasted dough.

You need to go to Specsavers :cool:

swindiff

Too much methzzz lol

I am 45

SuperHan

I'd still recommend him getting a credit card for other use though. It will mean he has more chance of getting higher limits in future by building a credit history

jckh14

Yeah, my first credit card only had a credit limit of £250 Even my second credit card with a lot of history at that point only gave me a starting credit limit of £1000. I could be wrong but I think the chances of you getting a high limit without having a credit card in the past are low.

I'm guessing at 19 they'll start you on £500, possibly even a decline.

Feral_Moon

My son is now 23 and has only recently had a decent credit limit increase to £4000 on one of his cards after 4 years regular use. His first card was a sub prime with £250 limit at age 18. The next two cards were base level cards but with 0% purchases, offered £450 and £950 limits aged 19/20. He was recently more successful in applying for a good long term 0% BT card and was offered £2,400.

I think the answer would be to apply for a card in your own name and then he makes the repayments. As long as you trust him to repay and can also cover the debt yourself should he fail. This is what I did for my son to enable him to afford not only his first car but more importantly the insurance which was a crippling £3000, more than twice what the car was worth!

swindiff

Thanks for everyone's advise and comments. Turns out that his bank account was still a junior one so getting a CC was probably not likely. We have now arranged for his account to be changed to an adult one. I have a Halifax clarity card so I am going to use that to withdraw the cash required to my Halifax current account. I will then transfer the balance to a Virgin card at a rate of 1.25%. I already have a Tesco card or I could have had 18 months for 0%. I applied for the Virgin card on Friday and was accepted within seconds for a credit limit of £7000

So I just need to wait for the Virgin card to come through. Once I have it I will transfer the cash from my Halifax card into my current account and then immediately do the balance transfer, this way I should pay no interest on the cash withdraw. The 1.25% charge on the balance transfer will cost him about £30. Slightly better than some of the 30% APR finance deals I saw some dealers trying to push

In the meantime we went and found him a car yesterday and he is absolutely chuffed with it. We saw a few old dogs before we found this one which is in superb condition with only £74k on the clock.

Doing it this way he can buy the car, insure and tax it for 12 months for less than £200/month over 12 months. Also if he needs a bit more cash one month then the minimum payment is only 1%

This is what he bought

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzMb6WfJ36jmYTVMVXNZM25NTUk/view?usp=sharing

TheEffect

Supporting/advising your son to buy a car via a credit card is terrible money management and advice. Instead, advise him to stay out of debt, buy an old banger, and save save save. Once he's got the cash, swap his old banger for something better.

He'll have much more respect and admiration for you later in life, when he's not digging himself out of a large hole.

Why money management/debt/credit is not an essential topic taught in all schools I do not know.

swindiff

What a load of rubbish. Credit is a fact of life and a very useful tool if used correctly. I do agree however that it is a subject that should be taught in schools. Buying an old banger could work out more expensive in the long run through high maintenance and repair costs. I myself lease a car. Ooh that's credit spawn of the devil. Without credit how many people could ever own their own homes. Like anything there is a right way and a wrong way.