Which card?

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egyptiancotton
egyptiancotton Posts: 525 Forumite
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in Credit cards
I'm looking to apply for a credit card to help build up my credit history; my credit report is healthy but the only thing lacking is a credit card. I had a credit card for a few years up until 2015-ish but cancelled it (daft decision for a few reasons but it paid 0.8% cashback on any spend amount in the year). Never missed a payment on anything, I have a mortgage, no credit applications for a while, etc.

I was looking at the Tandem card but I'm put off by the poor reviews. I'm attracted to Aqua's 0.5% cashback offering but I don't think they offer large credit limits. I'm thinking of applying for the Barclaycard Platinum Cadhback Plus because of its 0.25% cashback and travel benefits - their website says you need to have four years' experience of managing credit but their soft search indicated I should be accepted.

Any advice would be welcome, thanks.

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  • Ben8282
    Ben8282 Posts: 4,821 Forumite
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    Forget about Tandem. Aqua is a credit builder card and will not give you a good credit limit. Try the Barclaycard; a single application even if declined won't hurt and at least you will know where you stand.
    Presumably the closed credit card account is still showing on your credit files so there is some credit card management history shown there.
  • egyptiancotton
    egyptiancotton Posts: 525 Forumite
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    Ben8282 wrote: »
    Forget about Tandem. Aqua is a credit builder card and will not give you a good credit limit. Try the Barclaycard; a single application even if declined won't hurt and at least you will know where you stand.
    Presumably the closed credit card account is still showing on your credit files so there is some credit card management history shown there.

    Thanks, I'll try Barclaycard. The Credit Club's soft search indicates I have a strong chance of being accepted by American Express but I know they're not accepted by some retailers, and I'm not keen on having 2 credit cards.
  • Terry_Towelling
    Terry_Towelling Posts: 2,279 Forumite
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    lloydyyy wrote: »
    Thanks, I'll try Barclaycard. The Credit Club's soft search indicates I have a strong chance of being accepted by American Express but I know they're not accepted by some retailers, and I'm not keen on having 2 credit cards.

    I'd probably not worry about having two credit cards. The important things are to keep them safe, use them sensibly and always pay in full every month - unless you are stoozing on a 0%-on-purchases card (but that's another story).

    Two cards can be useful; if one provider has an IT 'meltdown' you can always revert to the other. Maybe apply for the one you want the most first.
  • egyptiancotton
    egyptiancotton Posts: 525 Forumite
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    On second thought, I'd rather apply to a provider with the best customer service. Any recommendations? John Lewis and Virgin Money seem to be highly rated.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    It depends how often you envisage contacting them.

    I’ve held cards for years and never had to contact customer services for many of them
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