retired and need new credit card

trickydicky14

Can you advise?
I have a squeaky-clean credit report and have never been turned down for anything financial (yet) and always had a couple of credit cards on the go mainly for 0% purchases.
My Halifax credit card is due to be paid off in full in the near future so I will do that no problem and move on to a new card.
Now I see a problem looming, I have recently retired and a minimum wage needs to be available to get these cards, well my pension is tiny less than 5K a year and my state pension does not kick in for a few years yet. I tend to live of modest income from savings and investments.
I currently bank with several of the credit card providers and have a very good track record with them and have had credit cards with some of them in the past with no issue.
Do you think I could find a way round my problem, would I be better going to see the card providers in person as I don’t want to get rejected by applying online. What’s my chances or are the rules set in stone?

r2015

Why do you need a new credit card?


I still have the credit cards I had when I retired 8 years ago.

molerat

r2015 wrote: »

Why do you need a new credit card?


I still have the credit cards I had when I retired 8 years ago.

But do those old cards offer you anything apart from a line of revolving credit ?

Superscrooge

Try the eligibility checker. This will give a good indication of which credit cards will accept you.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/eligibility/credit-cards/

trickydicky14

r2015 wrote: »

Why do you need a new credit card?


I still have the credit cards I had when I retired 8 years ago.

The 0% on purchases runs out after a set time, for me 2years.
So a new card is needed.

EachPenny

trickydicky14 wrote: »

The 0% on purchases runs out after a set time, for me 2years.
So a new card is needed.

I'm in the same boat, £5k seems to be a magic figure when it comes to getting a new card.

Even the banks who have sent me begging letters desperate for me to have their credit card are saying 'no' when I actually get round to applying.

Oh well, I'll just have to send their letters back to them in future and point out I'm not eligible for their fantastic deals

eskbanker

trickydicky14 wrote: »

Do you think I could find a way round my problem

If your income is likely to be insufficient to get interest-free credit, then why not just dip into your savings and investments whenever you need to buy anything that you can't pay for immediately?

If you're planning on spending more than you're earning that's what you'll effectively be doing at some stage anyway....

Sncjw

Do you pay in full each month anyways?

Candyapple

trickydicky14 wrote: »

Can you advise?
I have a squeaky-clean credit report and have never been turned down for anything financial (yet) and always had a couple of credit cards on the go mainly for 0% purchases.
My Halifax credit card is due to be paid off in full in the near future so I will do that no problem and move on to a new card.
Now I see a problem looming, I have recently retired and a minimum wage needs to be available to get these cards, well my pension is tiny less than 5K a year and my state pension does not kick in for a few years yet. I tend to live of modest income from savings and investments.
I currently bank with several of the credit card providers and have a very good track record with them and have had credit cards with some of them in the past with no issue.
Do you think I could find a way round my problem, would I be better going to see the card providers in person as I don’t want to get rejected by applying online. What’s my chances or are the rules set in stone?

Makes no difference going into a branch or applying online - the same data is inputted as everything is done electronically these days; only difference is the bank clerk would be typing it in vs you doing it yourself in your home.

If you have any existing cards some providers do tend to offer further 0% deals. Barclaycard regularly offer 0% money transfer and balance transfer deals, as do Tesco, Halifax, Lloyds and MBNA.

0% deals on purchases in my experience are a lot harder to come by once the initial deal has ended, so you'd be better off using any money transfer deals that are offered to you if you aren't eligible to apply for a new card.

trickydicky14

eskbanker wrote: »

If your income is likely to be insufficient to get interest-free credit, then why not just dip into your savings and investments whenever you need to buy anything that you can't pay for immediately?

If you're planning on spending more than you're earning that's what you'll effectively be doing at some stage anyway....

Thanks for your response but I think you miss my point, whilst I have free credit via my card, I save my money in some sort of interest account and when the interest free period ends I just pay off the card in full and keep the interest I have made over the two years.
I am not spending what I don’t have I am just making some money out of the process, I thought lots of MSE followers did this??

trickydicky14

Sncjw wrote: »

Do you pay in full each month anyways?

The card is interest free for 2years so I only pay the minimum each month and pay off the balance at the end of the 2year period. Why would I pay in full each month?