Credit card for EU individual living in the UK

ColinFGS

Alex9384 said:

I would open another current account with Barclays (while keeping your Santander).
Barclays is the bank that like to push their credit cards to everyone. Many of my friends who have Barclays current accounts were offered credit cards even if they weren't that much interested in it.  I don't even have a current account with them, I applied for their card and got approved with significantly higher credit limit than on my other two cards at the time.

Also, having more than one current account is highly recommended. Normal current accounts also build at least some credit history. They are reported on your credit files. If you have multiple current accounts and none of them has ever been overdrawn, it shows that you can manage your finance well. Also, keeping multiple accounts open for a long time shows stability, which is what lenders like. Since most UK current accounts are free, you have nothing to lose. You can even have 10 current accounts if you wish. If you later switch one or two of them to a different bank (for switch bonuses), you still have other accounts with long history. If you only have one current account and switch it elsewhere or your bank close it because they don't want you as their customer anymore (it sometimes happens), then you'll lose your only account with long history and you'll have to start with new account from zero.

My problem Alex is I don't have 2 years of address history in the UK. That's the minimum required by them to even check eligibility for a credit card.

yksi

I would also open another basic bank account with TSB or Nationwide, both of whom have offered me a credit card without a credit check just based on my banking history with them. Just FYI, I have had (all before three years of residency) Vanquis, Barclaycard, American Express, M&S, Sainsbury's, Fluid and Capital One. I appreciate that things are tighter now than they were, of course, and then there is Brexit, but as others have said, don't be afraid of "subprime" cards like Newday/Aqua/Marbles/Fluid and Ocean/Capital One. There is nothing shady about the way they do business, they are simply prepared to take on greater risk when lending and thus the interest rates reflect this (typically 29-39%). But this interest rate will be no big deal for you because you plan to pay it off in full every month before incurring any charges.

What's in your credit files? Have you checked all three? Do the eligibility checks in there and see which cards all three believe you'll be accepted for. I would skip the "Think Money" and "Cash Plus" credit builder cards (ugh, just no) but if there is nothing else then I would definitely agree to give Loqbox a look, mainly because it really won't cost you anything.