Credit card help

PCDave

PCDave

PCDave

Associate
Joined
10 Nov 2007
Posts
809
Location
Southampton
Dont worry im not asking for someone to pay my bills!!!

I'm due to go on holiday at the end of the month and have been advised to get a credit card.

I dont have much of a credit history. I earn £20k per year (with potentiallty £5K in overtime)

Just curious as whats the best route to go down is....

Any help more than welcome
 
Why have you been advised to get a credit card if you dont mind me asking?

Me and the partner steer away from them and if we need a boost on our credit rating we will buy something on credit (despite the fact we could get it outright if we wanted)

If you are just doing it for credit rating I would stay away, evil things! Know a few people who got way in over their head being silly with them things
 
It's generally advised to have a credit card when abroad for emergencies, Mastercard for example is accepted in a huge number of countries, whilst a debit card may not be.
 
It seems to me that you don't know yourself why you need the card. Bare in mind also if your going away in 4 weeks you may struggle to get the account setup and then the card and pin delivered in time as lots of new applications are taking 4 weeks+.

If you want to use it on purchases whilst away that the vast majority charge an over seas handling fee of roughly 3% that gets included in the conversion rate.
 
PCDave said:
im doing it because im going on holiday and dont want to end up in a tight jam.
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This still doesn't answer. Do you plan to use it outright and put everything onto the card or is it just for emergencies? Are you taking travellers cheques, cash or a debit card also?
 
Well ignor those free credit ratings, mine is meant to be poor, but i had no issues getting a loan, credit card and letting a house and i was infact told my rating it was very good and to ignor online ratings, despite them using them :S.

Anyway most banks do special offers on credit cards for existing account customers, so give you current bank a call and see what they say. Most decisions are made quickly.

Providing they think you can repay the amount you could potentially put onto it and you dont have too much credit else where you will be fine

Phil
 
I just got one through my bank when I needed it, in this case HSBC and a Mastercard with a reasonable APR. It's set to pay off fully each month by DD, and prior to getting a mortgage etc I used it regularly for small purchases, in order to build my credit rating. They're handy things if you don't abuse them.

Check with your bank & see what they offer - it makes it easier for me as with online banking I can view all my accounts in one place.
 
I literally just walked into my bank and they asked if I buy stuff online. I said yes. They asked if I wanted a credit card for buyer protection. I said yes. I earn... £8,000 a year and my credit limit is £3,000.

It's not hard to get one with your current bank. Also don't scare the guy off a credit card because there is nothing scary about it. I use it like my debit card. If I don't have the cash I don't use the card. It's very simple.
 
post office credit card and nationwide card don't charge you for using abroad. I recommend going into the branch and applying there after a quick chat with one of the advisors. No nasty surprises that way if you're a bit unsure and it's all filled in correctly (by them:D)
 
Bunka said:
post office credit card and nationwide card don't charge you for using abroad. I recommend going into the branch and applying there after a quick chat with one of the advisors. No nasty surprises that way if you're a bit unsure and it's all filled in correctly (by them:D)
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Nationwide charge the 1% passed on by VISA, but otherwise don't add anything on :)
 
Tobes said:
I literally just walked into my bank and they asked if I buy stuff online. I said yes. They asked if I wanted a credit card for buyer protection. I said yes. I earn... £8,000 a year and my credit limit is £3,000.

It's not hard to get one with your current bank. Also don't scare the guy off a credit card because there is nothing scary about it. I use it like my debit card. If I don't have the cash I don't use the card. It's very simple.
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^^^

this tbh...

just use like a debit card and have a DD setup to pay off the balance in full each month
or at least thats what I'd do if I had one....

only thing is my bank turned me down for one :( I earn fairly decent salary, am never overdrawn and always have a few thousand in my current account yet HSBC turned me down for a credit card

have got my 'free credit report' and there is nothing bad/outstanding on there so am rather confused
 
Tobes said:
I earn... £8,000 a year and my credit limit is £3,000.
...It's not hard to get one with your current bank.
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The glory days are over, Barclays refused to give me <any> credit cards, despite me having ~£15k in savings with them and £35k paid into a current account with them.
Somewhat ironically, 2 years ago AmEx gave me a 2.8k limit what I was still a student, with only the promise of an employment start date.
 
PieMaster said:
The glory days are over, Barclays refused to give me <any> credit cards, despite me having ~£15k in savings with them and £35k paid into a current account with them.
Somewhat ironically, 2 years ago AmEx gave me a 2.8k limit what I was still a student, with only the promise of an employment start date.
Click to expand...

Glory days? I got the card last week.
 
Tobes said:
Glory days? I got the card last week.
Click to expand...

Yep, It's much harder to get credit these days. You've been very fortunate to get such a card with that limit.

Back in the good ole days that pie master was on about it wasn't a shock to see people with >8 cards with 10k available on each.
 
No idea. I'm a barman so I bring in about £150 a week. I was looking online for a card and pretty much all of them said I needed to be earning so much so I stopped looking.

Luck I guess :s
 
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