Easiest way to build credit score?

*Rainbow*Warrior*

I know this is going to sound stupid, but can you get a credit card at all if you have no income?

My son is on a gap year (he's not officially a student any more as has left college last year and not yet decided if he wants to go to uni) so has no income and we are supporting him. He doesn't need a credit card but I was just thinking it might be good to start building his credit rating so may be worth getting a card and just spending a small amount each month and paying it off in full.

Would he be able to get a card at all? Can you get one with a guarantor? Or is there an easier way?

Arleen

To get any sort of credit you generally must have some sort of an income, otherwise how is he going to pay it back? I imagine that you could make one of your cards as joint account so it will be reported on both credit files.

But my recommendation would be to get him to work and then apply for credit. You can help him out and for example front the deposit for capital one secured card for example. This way if he messes up, which sadly happens, your credit file will not get ruined in the process.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Arleen wrote: »

To get any sort of credit you generally must have some sort of an income, otherwise how is he going to pay it back? I imagine that you could make one of your cards as joint account so it will be reported on both credit files.

But my recommendation would be to get him to work and then apply for credit. You can help him out and for example front the deposit for capital one secured card for example. This way if he messes up, which sadly happens, your credit file will not get ruined in the process.

To be honest it was just an idle thought that maybe it's time he started to build up a credit score.

I've never heard of a secured card before so I've just googled them and all the links seem to refer to $ rather than £, even the Capital One card you mentioned. Can you get these type of cards in the UK?

Arleen

Yes, capital one in uk provides one but sadly I cannot post a link as I am new user here. You will want to go to capital one uk website and then add /support/faqs/secured-card.jsf to the url.
I was looking it as my first credit builder after moving to UK but when applied they've granted me normal one instead.