Advice on Young Borrower

harvey.grainger

Looking for some advice hopefully, i am 18, in full tiem employment, and am looking to somehow raise about £2000 towards some sports equipment, i have considered a loan, but then read that as i would be able to pay it back within a year, possibly a credit card with 12 months free purches on it, however, all the ones i have trie,d i have been declined, i dont really know why as i am not a bad borrower, could anyone give me some advice? Thanks

CLAPTON

As an 18 year old you will find it very difficult to get a loan or a 0% or indeed any 'good' credit card.

This is because you have no record of credit so potential creditors can't see if you make regular payments on time.

Also, applying for several cards will be recorded on your credit report and will make it look as if you are desperate for credit and hence make your credit rating worse.

How many applications have you made?

If you've made a lot its now best to leave it for six months or so and then try to get a 'starter' credit card.
Try your bank or one like Barclaycard initial or capital one.

Also pay the full amount off and it wont matter how high the APR is as you wont be paying any interest.

On the matter of your immediate problem, I'm afraid you best plan is to save up for things you want... over the years this will save you a fortune in saved interest and charges and also you gain interest on your savings.

Butlers1982

The only lender that will give you a credit card at your age would be your bank as they have a payment profile about you.

But i doubt if it will be interest free.

Please be very wary of signing upto anything without getting someone to check it for you, especially a loan. Ive heard too many stories of people who sign up for loans when they are young and end up paying for them for years and years

Errata

There could be another way round this. Why not borrow from the Bank of MumandDad and pay them interest?

laura_1987_19

I got a loan a year ago, im 19. It was £4000, it was for a car. I then went and brought a car for £4500, irresponsible spending and not watching what I was doing caused me to have to get another loan of £1200 to pay off the over draft that I fell into. Me and other half wish to buy a flat next year, i want to clear the debt first. I am currently saving £4000 to clear everything off (thats what I have left) It will take me 5months to save this (i live with the rents!! it helps!!) why oh why did i not see that the loan I appartenly NEEDED there and then to get a car with could be saved up in a matter of months (rather than the 4 yrs i have for the loan!) if i could give any advice, being the same age as you, SAVE UP, especially for that amount, it will feel far more satisfying too!!!

jenni1188

You must have been on a greta wage Laura as theres no way i could save £4000 in 5 months. I earn £1000 per month so it would mean earning £1700 a month but then my rent would go higher so bloodyhell good on ya girl.

Where did you go for the loan?

My overdraft is £50 and it is sticking at that, i am responsible with my money at 19 so i wouldn't need to have an overdraft and my job i can confidently say is secured for the next 7 years (unless they go bump) and i have an annula rise of £2500 and a bonus scheme so i am looking to pay of the loan in 2 years but get it over 3 just so i can save as well as pay off the loan for now.
I have tested myself and i can save £250 per month so i want a loan for £125 - 130 per month so i can save for my next car as well.

My car now has probably a year tops left to live and the new car i want is £3000 so not much.

I also have some other standing orders set up going into a savings account but it goes in when i get paid so dont see it going just leaving it to creep up.
I then have 2 accounts my mum and my dad each took out and started saving since i was newborn so i get access to them in 6 months so they will do nicely on a deposite for an house but im watching the market.

So all in all i think if you can manage payments, you have family support and your ok with paying £800 in interest (mine should be less aspay off early) then loans are great, you can have the product now instead of waiting years as long as you can pay it.

£3k isnt much and i can pay it off if i came into difficulty.

Hats off to you laura for your saving!

harvey.grainger

ok, dragging this up from the past, i have now managed to beg and borrow and got what i wanted! basically, i checked my credit rating, and it said i have a bad one, from T Mobile, i have never had a T Mobile phone or account? I phoned Experian, and they said it was down to T-Mobile, but i cant find anything to 1- contact them any sense by, and 2- raise my credit score!

harvey.grainger

is there any way to remove this item from my credit rating, i have never had a account with t-mobile and they assure me that i have! i havent! this is really annoying as i seem to be unable to apply for anything at the moment!

CLAPTON

write to experian saying you are 'disputing ' the entry as you have never had any debt with them...they will go back to t - mobile and then see what happens.

enjoyincubus

CLAPTON wrote: »

write to experian saying you are 'disputing ' the entry as you have never had any debt with them...they will go back to t - mobile and then see what happens.

I was always under the impression it was T-mobile's responsibility to update their records and then pass this information back to Experian? So you would have to write to them in the first instance?

I had a similar issue with O2 a while back (although I had previously had an account, but they had reported it as a default), I tried ringing O2 but that didn't get me anywhere apart from a large telephone bill (their customer services was an 0901 number).

In the end I put it all in writing to O2 and within a week I had a phone call to apologies and to say that they had updated my records.