Amex Preferred Rewards Gold Card for building a credit rating

zerog

Based on anecdotes, the Amex charge cards are relatively easy to obtain even when one has a limited credit record. In fact my second card ever was an Amex Gold when I was still a student. I had been using another credit card for 12 months prior to being approved, and I had no other credit products except my student 0% overdraft which was always maxed out (to earn interest elsewhere) too.

While the above experience was a few years ago, it still seems to be the case based on reports from several acquaintances. Meanwhile, Amex credit cards are harder to obtain.



Paying interest on a credit card when you have the money to pay it off is stupid. There is no nicer way to put it, sorry.

Note that getting a 0% card and paying the minimum is also recorded on credit reports (definitely on Experian's at least) and therefore lenders will be able to see whether you are paying the minimum but no interest.

It is certainly possible that some lenders may look more favourably on people whose credit reports show that they pay interest. But it is also possible that some lenders look less favourably on such payment behaviour. The only people who know what criteria are used by each individual lender to approve or decline card applications are the underwriters for that lender, who are most likely bound by non-disclosure agreements.

The point of getting a credit card is to pay less for your purchases by getting cashback or reward points, to add a modicum of protection with the possibility of chargeback (though in many cases paying in cash would prevent you from being incorrectly charged in the first place); in the UK, to gain Section 75 protection on eligible purchases, and I suppose of some benefit in getting a mortgage if you have built up a positive history.

But apart from 0% credit cards and perhaps the very low rate ones such as 3.9%, credit cards are a silly way of borrowing unless you are about to starve or fall behind on tax payments. Even so, if possible, it would probably be cheaper to use overdrafts or get a personal loan and continue to pay credit cards off in full.

Deliberately paying interest thus has an unknown effect and the only point of doing so is to change your chances of getting another credit card, but it definitely means that you pay a higher price for all your spending, in which case you might as well just use cash and not have credit cards at all.

syncline

zerog wrote: »

Paying interest on a credit card when you have the money to pay it off is stupid. There is no nicer way to put it, sorry.

Here's one: "Paying interest on a credit card when you have the money to pay it off is demonstrably unnecessary." And then go on to say why.