little credit history and credit card eligibility

Laurasdave

Hi all,

Basically my wife and I would like to apply for a shared ownership mortgage at the end of the year.

Problem is we have little credit history. Clear score has me at 435 with my only negative as no credit card, my wife's is a few points lower but same negative.

We recently switched from Halifax to Santander to benefit from the 3% cash back on our savings, we applied for a 123 credited card the same time we were accepted for the 123 current account but was rejected rejected due to low credit score.

Info about us...
My income 21000 partners 10500
Have had over £5000 balance for over a year
Never missed a payment and confirmed by clear score
Both on electoral role for over 4 years at current address.
No debts, loans or credit cards
Plenty of direct debits for many years without issues.

We obviously want to build some credit history asap. I've used the eligibility checker which shows just 1 card at 80% under bad credit but loads at 90% in other sections? Is 90% almost a sure thing? Confused that the credit builder cards have such low chances considering these are for poor ratings?

Worth mentioning only hard searches I have within last couple of years are all this year...
Very -(Feburary) bought bunk beds as new customer and paid in full within a day. Was given a £1000 balance
Talk Talk Talk(June) - just recently moved from plusnet but for some reason Talk Talk did a hard search?
Santander(June) - accepted for 123 account but rejected for 123 credit card but apparently all counts as 1 search?

Is it to early to apply for a card with 90% eligibility, Will getting a credit card now using it weekly and paying balance in full every money make much difference to our credit history over the next 4 - 5 months.

Any advise is much appreciated

Thank you

Laurasdave

Apologies for extra words here and there...
This site very laggy on my phone lol :-/

[Deleted User]

Sensible use of a card is the easiest and cheapest way of building a credit history. Spend and clear in full after month (after you have received the statement).

4-5 months of history will help, but it's not a huge amount.

If you get rejected again though, leave it for a few months.

When you come to thinking about a mortgage, I'd recommend using a good broker, as your application will need to be carefully placed.