Credit card options

ca101900

Hi - new member. Have read plenty on here before but just joined.

Basically, I've always avoided credit, but have found a reason to get a card for the first time ever, at 34.

My reason is primarily that I got turned down for credit by a store's provider when trying to buy an urgently needed washing machine. I have no real idea of why I was turned down, other than that my mortgage is only 18 months old and that's the only credit I've ever really had, more or less. I know Experian etc. is only indicative, but my score on there is 993 out of a possible 999, so I was quite shocked to be declined. As such, one solution to a) getting the washing machine and b) ensuring there's more credit history is to get a card.

All I want to do with a credit card is buy something on it, e.g. a washing machine, pay it off over, say, 11 months, and then essentially get rid of it. Any thoughts? I'm a complete virgin with all of this, and while I vaguely understand APR, the rest of it - balance transfers, bla bla bla, just seems rather opaque, having never done it before.

Any thoughts, advice or explanations?

Thanks!

[Deleted User]

Try your own bank or a sub prime card such as aqua. Use it regularly and pay in full each month.

This won't help with the washing machine, as you're unlikely to get a 0% offer on your first card. Get one second hand if needed and pay cash.

As you've seen, your credit score is irrelevant. With no credit history, you represent a higher risk to lenders.

Superscrooge

Ignore your experian credit score. Nearly every week someone starts a thread along the lines of;

I've got a perfect 999 credit score. Why was I rejected?

The reason for your rejection is likely to be lack of credit history.

If you have a good credit history, always repaying debts. Credit providers can see you are a good risk and are likely to give you credit.
If you have borrowed money and defaulted. You are high risk and more likely to be declined credit.
If you have always avoided credit it is difficult for credit providers to assess whether you are high or low risk?

I would suggest try the eligibility checker and see which credit cards you have the best chance of being accepted for?

https://creditcards.moneysavingexpert.com/?purchases&_ga=1.100228574.157308799.1449507210

ca101900

Thanks for these. I'm sure my quibbles are nothing new. I just figured that, as someone with a good financial standing (and yes, I guess the differentiation between credit and that is key), who pays his mortgage all the time, bills all the time etc., it would be a little less of a problem. It's sort of distasteful that the only way to get credit is to already be firmly entrenched in the system. Feels somehow wrong.

I don't actually mind paying a little interest - if I get a new one, and buy it on a credit card, then pay off 10% each month for 10 months, what's the issue if it's a low interest card? Virgin Money would apparently offer me a card with 0% on purchases for 24 months. Sainsbury's have a card with 6.4% APR that I'd apparently be likely to get. Given that the credit I was happy to have in the store equated to a total of 110% over ten months, is there any disadvantage to this? I really have no idea of the minutiae of how credit cards even work, frankly.

[Deleted User]

If you can get one of the 0% offers, then go for it.

It's not really distasteful that lenders any to see you know how to handle credit before handing if it freely. Everyone thinks they can handle it, but the default rate on first time cards can be very high.

grumbler

ca101900 wrote: »

All I want to do with a credit card is buy something on it, e.g. a washing machine, pay it off over, say, 11 months, and then essentially get rid of it.

You do want to pay the debt off, but you don't want to 'get rid of' a CC. Essentially, it's a flexible loan that you have available permanently.

However, you really need some savings for emergencies if you don't have even few hundred pounds saved yet that you can use, say, for a washing machine.

ca101900

Admittedly, things would be a lot easier if my other half earned more. That's life, though.

chanz4

order on very.co.uk