Is it a good time to get my first credit card?

TallDaisy

Me and my boyfriend are looking to buy a house (hopefully) or flat in the next 1-2 years, we have quite a bit of deposit saved and I am ideally looking into credit cards to get my credit rating up for mortgages. I'm pretty good with saving and not been in my overdraft but obviously have no credit really because I haven't had a credit card.
Is now a good time to apply and can anyone recommend a good starter card, my friend is with Tesco and says its pretty reliable since you know they won't go under and can use the points.
Also I'm a proper dummy, sorry for the stupid questions! (Please be nice) but I am assuming that it works that you just get an online bill at the end of a month and you just pay through a debit transfer from your normal bank before getting the interest gets put on? Do you have to wait for a bill or can you say buy a tv for like £400 and then pay the £400 off the very next day? Or do you just pay everything off at the end of the month? 

Sorry if that's stupid I have asked my parents but they do everything physically in the bank, I like doing it all online and my friend confused me saying about setting up paying a minimum in direct debit.

cymruchris

Lots of questions.

It might be useful to get a card to demonstrate a good credit history - not to get your credit rating up. The numbers you see are only seen by you. No exception. The numbers change every month - sometimes they go up - sometimes they go down. Don't be bothered by it. The history is what's important - not the magic number. No matter what anyone tells you.

As you don't have much in the way of an existing credit history - you may find that any card provider that hasn't had any dealings with you will likely refuse your application if there's no history for them to look at.

Start with your own bank - go to their website - and if they have an eligibility checker - use it - and see if you are likely to be approved. If they say yes - go for it. If they say no - then look at the sub-prime market - Aqua, Vanquis, Capital One - they all have their own eligibility checkers - use them and see what they say. Tesco currently doesn't have an eligibility checker so I'd stay away from that one for the moment.  If everyone says no at the eligibility checker stage - then come back and let us know - and we can point you in the right direction of what to do next. 

Don't apply for lots of cards in a short time - that's a big no no.

If you can get a card - you set up a direct debit to pay in full every month. You spend your normal spend like shopping and petrol on your credit card. You then see a statement once a month - then on the date that it tells you on that statement - it will collect the payment automatically from your current account.

You shouldn't pay off your credit card the day you spend on it - that doesn't help your history. Wait for the statement - wait for the direct debit - rinse and repeat every month. 

TallDaisy

That's super helpful, thank you! I will have a look if any of my banks offer a credit card with an eligibility checker like you said!

cymruchris

TallDaisy said:

That's super helpful, thank you! I will have a look if any of my banks offer a credit card with an eligibility checker like you said!

That’s a good start - and if they don’t - try other eligibility checkers elsewhere - don’t start with full applications, as your file is quite thin. 

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob

If it is going to be a couple of years before you apply for mortgage, it will make no difference if you apply for a credit card now. You might be pleasantly surprised and need not spend to much time with these soft checkers.