Student credit cards - do they exist?

Nebulous2

Credit availability ebbs and flows. At times all you have needed is a pulse to get a credit card. Now is not one of those times. 

Starting out in the world of credit the traditional route was your own bank, but that has shifted to one of the non-prime lenders. They give small limits with high interest rates, but they are prepared to take a chance on you. 

As an alternative, if you went to university some banks had an eye to a long-term relationship and offered you a package of bank account and credit card on favourable terms, often interest free. Their interest in this has cooled as they have seen that just going to university doesn't guarantee long-term profitability. The increase in multiple bank accounts, and increased usage of switching has also shown them that customers are fickle. They can throw loss-leaders at people and may well not get anything back. 

Your son has landed in the midst of a perfect storm. Credit has tightened, his bank doesn't want to take the risk - Barclaycard have been busy cutting limits and reducing their risk in the market. His main route would be a credit-builder card, use it wisely, repay it every month and he will become a better risk in time. The availability of credit may also improve. 

If he wants to avoid that then he has a 'get out of jail free' card as a student. There appears to be some lenders who will still want him and offer him a traditional student package. He appears to be determined to refuse that route, as not good enough, however. 

In short:- What he wants takes no account of how the world is at the moment. He's trying to enter a formula one race, when the car he has is equipped for stock car racing. 

WillPS

I'm not sure interest-free student credit cards were ever a thing - certainly when I was a student they all had fairly standard APRs of 15-30%.

Nebulous2

WillPS said:

I'm not sure interest-free student credit cards were ever a thing - certainly when I was a student they all had fairly standard APRs of 15-30%.

Oh they were. My son even managed to drag it out for several years after he left. Santander - from memory it was a £500 free overdraft and £1500 interest free on your credit card.

There were conditions attached, you had to pay a student loan into the account and maintain a reasonable turnover.

aris

Nebulous2 said:

WillPS said:

I'm not sure interest-free student credit cards were ever a thing - certainly when I was a student they all had fairly standard APRs of 15-30%.

Oh they were. My son even managed to drag it out for several years after he left. Santander - from memory it was a £500 free overdraft and £1500 interest free on your credit card.

There were conditions attached, you had to pay a student loan into the account and maintain a reasonable turnover.

Barclays offer overdrafts on their student accounts:

https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/student-account/

[Deleted User]

WillPS said:

aris said:

WillPS said:

"Not wanting to open another bank account" isn't a pitfall, it's an opinion/desire which you seem intent on forcing on your child. In fact, having only one bank account is in and of itself problematic.

How do you know it isn't their wish either?  Please stop making assumptions and criticising how other people choose to run their lives.  This isn't a parenting forum.

It's not about parenting, it's about allowing any capable adult to make their own informed decisions independently. You kind of gave away that it was your desire rather than your son's by answering "I'd prefer not to" to another poster.

None of us have the ability to invent a credit card, there are very good reasons why availability of these products is controlled. Barclays do not have to give your son a card regardless of any banking history either of you currently have.

Invite your son to use an eligibility checker, and if none of the offers on there are promising, then the account with TSB or HSBC is likely the only possibility.

If your son doesn't want to do that, that's up to them, isn't it? Nobody actually needs a credit card, it's not like a history of holding one is an absolute necessity to get a mortgage, nor is it a necessity for travel.

Your son should also be advised that the credit limit is likely to be extremely limited on any card (probably £500 or less), which would limit his ability to maximise S75 coverage (remember that it only works on products which cost over £100).

You could perhaps invite him to look over the many threads posted by people who have not succeeded in getting their flights and hotel costs refunded in the last year on the grounds the hotels and flights were available even though the cardholder was unable to use them. Travel insurance is what your son would need in these circumstances more than S75.

With S75, with a £500 limit technically the OP's son could buy 500 £100 items, so long as they paid £1 for each item on the card, they would get protection

WillPS

Deleted_User said:

WillPS said:

aris said:

WillPS said:

"Not wanting to open another bank account" isn't a pitfall, it's an opinion/desire which you seem intent on forcing on your child. In fact, having only one bank account is in and of itself problematic.

How do you know it isn't their wish either?  Please stop making assumptions and criticising how other people choose to run their lives.  This isn't a parenting forum.

It's not about parenting, it's about allowing any capable adult to make their own informed decisions independently. You kind of gave away that it was your desire rather than your son's by answering "I'd prefer not to" to another poster.

None of us have the ability to invent a credit card, there are very good reasons why availability of these products is controlled. Barclays do not have to give your son a card regardless of any banking history either of you currently have.

Invite your son to use an eligibility checker, and if none of the offers on there are promising, then the account with TSB or HSBC is likely the only possibility.

If your son doesn't want to do that, that's up to them, isn't it? Nobody actually needs a credit card, it's not like a history of holding one is an absolute necessity to get a mortgage, nor is it a necessity for travel.

Your son should also be advised that the credit limit is likely to be extremely limited on any card (probably £500 or less), which would limit his ability to maximise S75 coverage (remember that it only works on products which cost over £100).

You could perhaps invite him to look over the many threads posted by people who have not succeeded in getting their flights and hotel costs refunded in the last year on the grounds the hotels and flights were available even though the cardholder was unable to use them. Travel insurance is what your son would need in these circumstances more than S75.

With S75, with a £500 limit technically the OP's son could buy 500 £100 items, so long as they paid £1 for each item on the card, they would get protection

Indeed so - good luck trying to do that though, especially if you're booking online.

WillPS

Nebulous2 said:

WillPS said:

I'm not sure interest-free student credit cards were ever a thing - certainly when I was a student they all had fairly standard APRs of 15-30%.

Oh they were. My son even managed to drag it out for several years after he left. Santander - from memory it was a £500 free overdraft and £1500 interest free on your credit card.

There were conditions attached, you had to pay a student loan into the account and maintain a reasonable turnover.

Student 0% overdrafts definitely were, I had 3 of them.

I can't find any reference to a Santander Student Credit Card with 0% APR tho. In fact, I can't find any reference to a Santander Student Credit at all on Wayback Machine. £1500 would also be a much higher credit limit than I'd known to be available on the student credit cards which were on the market over the last decade or so.

[Deleted User]

WillPS said:

Deleted_User said:

WillPS said:

aris said:

WillPS said:

"Not wanting to open another bank account" isn't a pitfall, it's an opinion/desire which you seem intent on forcing on your child. In fact, having only one bank account is in and of itself problematic.

How do you know it isn't their wish either?  Please stop making assumptions and criticising how other people choose to run their lives.  This isn't a parenting forum.

It's not about parenting, it's about allowing any capable adult to make their own informed decisions independently. You kind of gave away that it was your desire rather than your son's by answering "I'd prefer not to" to another poster.

None of us have the ability to invent a credit card, there are very good reasons why availability of these products is controlled. Barclays do not have to give your son a card regardless of any banking history either of you currently have.

Invite your son to use an eligibility checker, and if none of the offers on there are promising, then the account with TSB or HSBC is likely the only possibility.

If your son doesn't want to do that, that's up to them, isn't it? Nobody actually needs a credit card, it's not like a history of holding one is an absolute necessity to get a mortgage, nor is it a necessity for travel.

Your son should also be advised that the credit limit is likely to be extremely limited on any card (probably £500 or less), which would limit his ability to maximise S75 coverage (remember that it only works on products which cost over £100).

You could perhaps invite him to look over the many threads posted by people who have not succeeded in getting their flights and hotel costs refunded in the last year on the grounds the hotels and flights were available even though the cardholder was unable to use them. Travel insurance is what your son would need in these circumstances more than S75.

With S75, with a £500 limit technically the OP's son could buy 500 £100 items, so long as they paid £1 for each item on the card, they would get protection

Indeed so - good luck trying to do that though, especially if you're booking online.

Yes it was extreme but I was just pointing out it would not in any way limit his S75 coverage like you said - he can book as many things as he wants so long as he spends a token sum on the card

WillPS

Deleted_User said:

WillPS said:

Deleted_User said:

WillPS said:

aris said:

WillPS said:

"Not wanting to open another bank account" isn't a pitfall, it's an opinion/desire which you seem intent on forcing on your child. In fact, having only one bank account is in and of itself problematic.

How do you know it isn't their wish either?  Please stop making assumptions and criticising how other people choose to run their lives.  This isn't a parenting forum.

It's not about parenting, it's about allowing any capable adult to make their own informed decisions independently. You kind of gave away that it was your desire rather than your son's by answering "I'd prefer not to" to another poster.

None of us have the ability to invent a credit card, there are very good reasons why availability of these products is controlled. Barclays do not have to give your son a card regardless of any banking history either of you currently have.

Invite your son to use an eligibility checker, and if none of the offers on there are promising, then the account with TSB or HSBC is likely the only possibility.

If your son doesn't want to do that, that's up to them, isn't it? Nobody actually needs a credit card, it's not like a history of holding one is an absolute necessity to get a mortgage, nor is it a necessity for travel.

Your son should also be advised that the credit limit is likely to be extremely limited on any card (probably £500 or less), which would limit his ability to maximise S75 coverage (remember that it only works on products which cost over £100).

You could perhaps invite him to look over the many threads posted by people who have not succeeded in getting their flights and hotel costs refunded in the last year on the grounds the hotels and flights were available even though the cardholder was unable to use them. Travel insurance is what your son would need in these circumstances more than S75.

With S75, with a £500 limit technically the OP's son could buy 500 £100 items, so long as they paid £1 for each item on the card, they would get protection

Indeed so - good luck trying to do that though, especially if you're booking online.

Yes it was extreme but I was just pointing out it would not in any way limit his S75 coverage like you said - he can book as many things as he wants so long as he spends a token sum on the card

The travel websites I'm used to using wont do partial payment - they want the whole lot from one card. This is quite common, although I imagine over the phone or in person at a travel agent it's quite normal to part pay (although I've never done it).

aris

If you have a low credit limit on a card, you can put it into a positive balance by transferring funds if you know you have a large purchase to make.