Wanting a first credit card to build credit

chrisl645

Hi

Im 28 Still living with parents earning 20k ish a year and hoping to buy a house this year, I did a credit report with Doodle and they gave me 3/5. Ive only ever had a loan for my car and phone bill, both of which have never had a payment missed. (the loan was paid off over a year ago)

My thought is to get a credit card, set up a direct debit to pay in full to build up my rating a bit before I apply for a mortgage by the summer hopefully. But with so many credit cards and a rather limited knowledge on them I have not much of an idea of which to got for without being denied and having a mark on my credit score before I apply for my mortgage.

Any help appreciated :j

than_prutt

I think your first port of call will be the credit card eligibility checker on this website. It will give you a fairly good idea of which cards you will likely to be accepted. They are quite accurate in my experience..

KxMx

My first thought is for you to approach your bank.

With that salary i'd think you've a good chance of being accepted for quite a few cards.

By all means if you want start with someone like Vanquis and in time try a better provider.

Always pay off in full.

A4445

Barclaycard initial could be a good start :-)

chrisl645

Im with Santandar and with MSE card calculator they said 50% chance.

I went for the Barclay Card 18.9% with a 95% chance of acceptance

But... they said NO! But offered me an alternative instead. Higher APR i think

Will I have a bad mark on my credit file now even though they offered me another one?

Superscrooge

There will be a record on your credit file of a credit search. But that shouldn't cause any problems.

It is when your credit file shows lots of credit searches in a short space of time that lenders start to get nervous as it makes it look as though you are desperate for credit and a high risk.

Set up a direct debit to always pay the balance in full and you will soon build up a good credit history.

than_prutt

chrisl645 wrote: »

Im with Santandar and with MSE card calculator they said 50% chance.

I went for the Barclay Card 18.9% with a 95% chance of acceptance

But... they said NO! But offered me an alternative instead. Higher APR i think

Will I have a bad mark on my credit file now even though they offered me another one?

If you want a first credit card, just accept the alternative offer. If you pay all you statements in full, the APR is irrelevant. Use it for a while and applying for a better deal, say, later in the year.

It won't be a 'bad' mark at all, just a search for credit which won't make too much of an impact. Has to happen if you want your 'first' credit card right?

chrisl645

Brilliant. Thanks for the advice guys.

I went for the alternative anyway, fully intending to pay it off every month.:beer: