Credit cards for PhD student

jessy_swan

Hi

I am struggling to understand whether I am eligible for a credit card. I am a PhD student who receives a tax free stipend from one of the UK research councils. This is my only source of income and I have another 2 years of funding left.

I was hoping to apply for the Halifax Clarity credit card as I am going abroad for a conference and this seems to be the best way to take money with me. Additionally I am conscious that it would be a good idea to get a credit card, which I only plan on using for small online shopping purchases and booking travel, as a means to improve my credit rating. So if I am unlikely to get that particular card I am hoping to get another credit card.

Do anyone have any knowledge on whether I would be eligible? And if so how do I explain my student tax-free stipend as income.

If I am not eligible I guess I will just have to wait a couple of years before building my credit score.

Thanks

DCFC79

The score isnt what lenders can see, only you can see it.
The score can be a representation of how your report is but the other 2 agencies could rate you lower.

Have a read of this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5504756

Or this one

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4974939

I can't say if you have a chance or not, not even sure if you can count the tax free stipend as an income, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will answer you on that.

eskbanker

If you're just starting out on the credit journey then it's unlikely that you'll have much of a credit history, so it's probably worth reading the MSE piece about building this up.

Another page worth visiting is the MSE eligibility calculator, which is intended to answer just the question you're asking, but is only ever going to be a rough and ready indicative guide rather than a definitive position. Hopefully a PhD student won't be joining the ranks of those who indignantly post back that "it said I had a 90% chance but I was declined"!

bigadaj

eskbanker wrote: »

Hopefully a PhD student won't be joining the ranks of those who indignantly post back that "it said I had a 90% chance but I was declined"!

Depends on the PhD, plenty doing arts or humanities may not understand.

bigadaj

Aqua reward might be worth a go.

eskbanker

....and, right on cue: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71125548#Comment_71125548

jessy_swan

Thanks for the replies. I am just not really sure if my stipend counts as an income which makes the eligibility calculator slightly problematic. I have a student credit card from my undergraduate course but I was told in my bank this wouldn't contribute towards any credit rating in the future.

Maybe I should just go into the bank to clear this up.

eskbanker

The question of what counts as income actually came up yesterday in another thread, where Halifax's stipulations are shown at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71121805#Comment_71121805, which excludes "Student loans, grants and bursaries" but doesn't refer to stipends as such.

As per that thread, rules will vary so shopping around may be in order, but in your shoes I'd phone Halifax's specialist credit card team (or better still submit the question via live chat or email to get a 'written' answer) rather than going in person to a branch.

I wouldn't have much faith in their statement that a student credit card doesn't contribute to a credit rating but have a look at your credit files via http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/check-free-credit-report.

System

Student loans are a grey area but I would consider grants/stipends as income.

You could ask Halifax to convert your exisiting card to a Clarity (assuming I've read it correctly and they are the issuer) or apply for a new one.

You could also look at the Aqua Reward as it might be easier to get and there is usually a £20 Amazon voucher floating around for applying if you look around (google it).

focusonskill

For you information, I was also a PhD student and applied for aqua rewards card 7 months after coming to UK and got accepted. At the time of application, I only have credit history of a current account for 6 month. Although the initial credit limit is just 250, it was subsequently increased to 900 and then 2200 over the year. The card also has 0% FX charge with additional cashback. I don't understand why Halifax Clarity is considered superior as it has not cashback.