21 Years Old.. Need Advice Pleaase?!

dannycollins

Hey there!

I am 21 and quite lucky to not be in debt, due to the fact that I did not go to university.

I only currently have a maxed out overdraft of £1000.

I have medium to poor credit rating due to missed mobile phone bills and bank charges and being declined for credit cards from when I was 18 and had no clue what I was doing by applying.


Is it a good idea for me to get a credit card with an interest free period to build up my credit rating whilst I pay off my £1000 overdraft. I am currently earning around £1500 a month.

Or will my credit rating take care of itself if I clear the overdraft and outstanding phonebills?

Kind Regards
Danny

immoral_angeluk

dannycollins wrote: »

Hey there!

I am 21 and quite lucky to not be in debt, due to the fact that I did not go to university.

I only currently have a maxed out overdraft of £1000.

I have medium to poor credit rating due to missed mobile phone bills and bank charges and being declined for credit cards from when I was 18 and had no clue what I was doing by applying.


Is it a good idea for me to get a credit card with an interest free period to build up my credit rating whilst I pay off my £1000 overdraft. I am currently earning around £1500 a month.

Or will my credit rating take care of itself if I clear the overdraft and outstanding phonebills?

Kind Regards
Danny

HI and welcome to DFW. Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear but if you've got a maxed out £1000 overdraft then you are in debt, an overdraft is a debt like any other.. in fact it's possibly worse as it's linked directly to your bank account so if you default they could just decided to use the balance in your account to pay it off without any warning. Check your terms and conditions carefully to see ifd this is the case with your account.
If your credit rating is poor it's very unlikely you'll get a card decent enough to offer an interest free period. Most 'credit building' cards have ridiculously high APRS and yearly fees.. so make sure you shop around before applying for anything as searches on your credit files go against your 'rating' as well. Are you on the electoral roll? This is one of the main things they look for along with income, time with bank, time at residence, and credit history.
Credit score will heal itself if you pay off your overdraft etc.. BUT the negative things will appear on your record for 6 years, and companies will still look at the other factors aside from credit score to decide whether to lend to you.
Also banks at the moment are very wary of handing out credit willy nilly due to the massive credit crunch that's going on at the moment.

dhassen

I'd just pay off the overdraft and any outstanding bills then you really won't be in any debt. If you've got no debt (overdraft) and a good income you've nothing to worry about.