Shocked by lloyds...

mothersuperior

Hi guys,

I turned 18 in December whoopie yes into the real banking world.
I have a full time job at the moment before possibly going back into study.
I earn 25.000 pa basic for my job which i started about 3 months ago.

Anyway everyone was saying to me i have no credit rating, i mean my friends. Then could someone here explain why now i have:

A Select accout at lloyds with a 500 pound overdraft. Select account is for mobile cover.

A phone contract

A barclaycard inital Horrible APR

A Lloyds Advance mastercard 11 % APR

and a mint card.

See all i wanted was one credit card.
This is mainly for emergencys but also so i can go out and carry that and not my debit card, so i don't worry if i lose it. well worry less than the debit card.

Anyway i applyed for all three to see which one i would get.

The mint arrived on Saturday

The lloyds arrived today and i am still shocked they gave it to me

and the barclaycard came first, considering i applyed for it the day after my birthday.

Just some advice please guys, of course i am temped to spend spend spend.
But then again i hate debt. So thats not the priority.

Does anyone have any idea why i got these? I thought mint and lloyds would laugh at me.

Also whats the best way to cancel i am going to get rid of the barclaycard i think due to the high rate. nasty business.

So guys any idea how i got it and which one should i keep?

Cheers
James

RayWolfe

There are people with whom banks just can't win.
If your 18 and earning 25K you should be bright enough to work out yourself which one to keep.
Or are you here to boast?

peawack

Perhaps they are trying to give you the rope with which to hang yourself, figuratively speaking.

dunstonh

I think he is capable of supplying his own rope now. He does have 3 credit cards after all.

This highlights the risks of listening to friends who obviously dont know what they are talking about. There is no such thing as a personal score. Banks dont just look at credit you have and say "oh you have lots, lets give you lots more". They also look to see if you have too much. As it stands three credit applications in less than 6 months does you far more damage than having no credit cards at all.

mothersuperior

So i have damaged my credit rating??

I am a lil hazzy about credit ratings which is why i was shocked. I know the in's and outs of the banking, well since i was 16 and got my first real job.

boasting?? No i just wanted some advice. Yes i know i was lucky to get them and i know what it's like not to get good credit. My mother to this day is still on the sharp end of bad credit and i have seen ballifs card bills reidiculous loans. So i was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, i have my job from working my !!! off.

I was just curious about the credit scoring. All i wanted was some advice on what to do.

Cheers
James

LuciferTDark

Cancel the lot & cut the cards up, you don't want credit cards, you really DON'T WANT CREDIT CARDS!!!!

jamesd

Don't worry about it and don't bother to cancel the cards. Just spend on each of them from time to time and pay off the whole balance on all of them each month. A nice record of regularly paid off cards will be good for your credit rating. Just don't be tempted to forget that you don't have free money - it's just money you have to pay back. Doing that each month helps to reduce the temptation factor.

MABLE

mothersuperior wrote: »

So i have damaged my credit rating??

I am a lil hazzy about credit ratings which is why i was shocked. I know the in's and outs of the banking, well since i was 16 and got my first real job.

boasting?? No i just wanted some advice. Yes i know i was lucky to get them and i know what it's like not to get good credit. My mother to this day is still on the sharp end of bad credit and i have seen ballifs card bills reidiculous loans. So i was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, i have my job from working my !!! off.

I was just curious about the credit scoring. All i wanted was some advice on what to do.

Cheers
James

You are earning £25k so why bother with credit cards. Just have a debit card and get use to that and if you feel you can handle credit then get one good credit card. I assure you life can still be enjoyable without cards.

full-time-mum

I had a credit card (Barclaycard) when I was a youngster at uni. I used it to help me budget my miniscule grant (I know, you don't get one of those now)

I always always always paid it off at the end of the month but it just allowed me to buy books when I needed them rather than have to wait for next month.
In this day and age of internet purchasing, I would have thought having one card would be useful.

If you really are tempted to spend spend spend then I suggest you read some of the debt-free-wannabe threads for a sharp wake up call (although it sounds as though you have already got some first hand experience).

I'd say you sound fairly sensible. After all, you have already joined this site.

If you are disciplined enough not to use your cards unwisely then I can't see what the problem is. Maybe just keeping one is good advice - purely for ease of administration. As already suggested, use it wisely and pay off each month to create a credit history and then, in a while when you have got the hang of things and know you can trust yourself to be sensible, get a 0% deal and play the system.
We make a moderate amount each year by just investing what we have spent on the card - not life changing but every little helps - but you have to be absolutely sure that you are going to save the money you should have paid off at the end of the month otherwise you will be on that slippery slope.

Mark7799

full-time-mum wrote: »

I had a credit card (Barclaycard) when I was a youngster at uni. I used it to help me budget my miniscule grant (I know, you don't get one of those now)

I always always always paid it off at the end of the month but it just allowed me to buy books when I needed them rather than have to wait for next month.
In this day and age of internet purchasing, I would have thought having one card would be useful.

If you really are tempted to spend spend spend then I suggest you read some of the debt-free-wannabe threads for a sharp wake up call (although it sounds as though you have already got some first hand experience).

I'd say you sound fairly sensible. After all, you have already joined this site.

If you are disciplined enough not to use your cards unwisely then I can't see what the problem is. Maybe just keeping one is good advice - purely for ease of administration. As already suggested, use it wisely and pay off each month to create a credit history and then, in a while when you have got the hang of things and know you can trust yourself to be sensible, get a 0% deal and play the system.
We make a moderate amount each year by just investing what we have spent on the card - not life changing but every little helps - but you have to be absolutely sure that you are going to save the money you should have paid off at the end of the month otherwise you will be on that slippery slope.

Agreed, some sensible advice here - just because some people can't handle credit cards doesn't mean that the cards are evil. Make your own mind up and introduce yourself gently to the world of credit.

edindie

mothersuperior wrote: »

So i have damaged my credit rating??

I am a lil hazzy about credit ratings which is why i was shocked. I know the in's and outs of the banking, well since i was 16 and got my first real job.

I was just curious about the credit scoring. All i wanted was some advice on what to do.

Cheers
James

You'll be fine mate. As long as you don't apply for any more credit in the next 6 months your 3 recent searches are unlikely to make any impact on your credit rating. If you do need another line of credit (for some unknown reason!) get quotations instead of applying for lots of different ones as a high number of searches can give you negative points in many scorecards.

But as people have said, as long as you always:

• Make sure you're on the Electoral Roll at your current address
• close lines of credit you don't use any more
• Never miss a payment (quite important)
• NEVER decide not to pay something and get a CCJ! (very important)

then you'll be fine. CCJs stay on your credit report for 6 years so can screw you for a while...