First credit card

owen_goddard

Hello.

Having recently finished school and going off to university this year,  I wanted to apply for a credit card - namely to build my credit score.  

Despite having a part-time job, a number of investments and no outgoings,  I have been refused one so far.  

My current account with Nationwide does not offer a student credit card, like HSBC does, and so I'm not sure whether to open an account with another bank/ building society. 

Any advice/ suggestions would be great!  Thanks in advance 

MorningcoffeeIV

It's always useful to have a ack up account.

Don't try to build your credit score. It's not a real thing. You want to build up history but you have lots of time to do that. A low income and student status will make it hard (and no one knows you have investments) at the moment, so just be patient.

horsewithnoname

Might be best trying Nationwide, then if you get one and use it responsibly for a while you may find it easier to get another. 

Gerry1

Banks usually fall over themselves to get uni students to open accounts, showering them with freebies such as railcards.

Visit a branch of MetroBank and a few conventional banks (if any are left) with ID and plenty of status evidence, telling them you'll open a current account on the condition that they'll issue a credit card.

Caz3121

there is an article here which may give some pointers https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/student-credit-cards/

lr1277

Are you on the electoral roll at the address which you are putting down in your credit card application? This is absolutely required.

Do you have a pay monthly phone contract (not PAYG). This is very helpful if you don't have any other credit accounts.

I don't know what kind of current account you have now, but you might have a better chance once you actually start your course and have student ID. Though this is speculation on my part.

As the article linked by @Caz3121 says, you need to have some income other than your student loan. Once you start your course, will you have some kind of money other than student loan money?

There is a website called finder that lists financial products and reviews them. So in Google I typed in 'finder student credit card' and the results are here:

https://www.finder.com/uk/credit-cards/student-credit-cards