chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

My girlfriend has gone back to work now our son is three so it's nice to have two wages coming in again.

We want to have a joint mortgage etc. in the years to come but she is 27 with virtually no credit history. She has a singular bank account to her name (HSBC current account) and that's it.

We thought the best way to check was one of those Experian 30 day free trials, so we've both signed up. Hers is in "good" and it says the negative is simply a lack of credit in the past to assess her risk.

So my question is, is there a good credit card etc. she could apply for, use a couple times for random purchases and pay off immediately before incurring interest etc? Basically as a tool to improve her credit rating for the future.

We're trying to do it the smart way so I thought I'd ask on here.


Cheers,

Andy

taylor85

iTrader: (5)

My mrs was in same boat , applied to capital one and she got one

Only puts her fuel on it and pays it end of month

Markus

Capital one had, over here at least, a secure card. You could get it with a $200 deposit and creidt limit. It would help build you credit history.

It would be worth her talking to her bank and seeing if they have a card that is good for this

PaulC72

any card just by shopping etc that'll do the trick.

paulr

Avoid capital one, heard lots of horror stories.

Natwest, hbos, Barclays, HSBC.

neil-h

This, that way you should be able to deal with it through the online banking for your current account too.

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

Get her to get several store cards. Buy one thing a month £20 or so and pay it off full every month. After a few months her rating will climb. The house phone in her name is big points to

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Barclaycard offer different types of card ( with incremental interest rates) for less favorable credit scores. At least it's a mainstream CC.

salsa-king

CoB
get married, it makes it so much easier

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

My credit rating is crap. Due to address diferences and lack of history.

Lloyds still gave me a credit card. Interest doesn't bother me as the full amount is paid off on DD anyway.

Ant

Never had a problem with capital one , colleague of mine uses a vanquis card. High APR but doesn't matter if you're paying it straight away built his score up quick

salsa-king

and that's not the best way to increase your limit on a credit card either. lol

Graz

All you need to know here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cre...t-credit-cards

Darrell@Scoobyworx

iTrader: (5)

Also there is other ways to improve credit rating, for instance open a VERY account the shopping website you dont have to use the credit they give as having available credit which isnt used also increases your score. Its shown on Experian as a % used of your credit, the lower the % the higher the score

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Hmm, cheers guys, some really useful tips.

I've just had an Aqua card at 29.7% accepted for me but that's only as I still have a 5 1/2 year old default from when I was unemployed a few years ago. That's to help my current 'fair-good' rating improve. When Nat is back from work later I'll get her to apply for a similar one.

It's then having the self discipline not to go mental and use it smartly for its purpose, ie not free money to worry a out later.

Cheers.

Graz

The idea is to pay it back every month in full, set up a direct debit to do so. If you want to actually borrow money there are far cheaper ways to do so than at ~30% APR.

I use my credit card for everything as I get back 1% of everything I spend on it but always pay it off. The only time I've ever used one for borrowing was a 0% job when we were having our extension done, used it to put off paying for our kitchen for 12 months as cash flow was temporarily a bit stretched

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

If she hasn't got bad credit as such, would it not be better for her to try to get a credit card with 0% just in case for any reason, the balance couldn't be paid straight away?

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

The only thing I'm considering borrowing for in the future is possibly a newer car but gets dependant on my job security and hers.

Remortgaging in both our names and adjusting the terms is also something we want to do, so in the meantime bumping up that score is our priority.


Because of she gets turned down, it's a negative mark on her credit history. From what I understand it's like running before you can walk.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Weird as it sounds, me and Nat both got accepted separately for the same credit card last night LOL.

I've just popped onto our Experian accounts and for some reason being accepted has dropped both our credit scores down several points. This is because "recent searches have been done on our accounts which has a negative effect".

I'm sure the more savvy will hopefully confirm it, but I'm guessing as the credit card company have run credit checks before accepting, it'd temporarily dropped our scores until debt is taken on and paid off said cards?

Cheers

Graz

Correct

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Thought so, thanks