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Credit card question

robfosters said:
Yeah, I thought you meant permanent 0%. Come to think of it, I think AMEX is 0% on some of their cards as you pay off in full. They charge an annual fee though.
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They're charge cards, so not really 0% but I know what you mean.

He doesn't use his card at all apart from the guitar. He's pretty much given the account to me. I have an additional card, so I do actually have a 0% card till June next year and an APR of 17.9% after that, but it doesn't help my own credit record does it.
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No. As everyone has said, just make a couple of purchases per month on a card and make sure they're paid off. Over time, it will help you. But it will take time.
 
robfosters said:
Yeah, I thought you meant permanent 0%. Come to think of it, I think AMEX is 0% on some of their cards as you pay off in full. They charge an annual fee though.

My Dad did that recently. He wanted a new Martin guitar. Nationwide gave him a card with a 2k limit and 0% interest on purchases for 15 months. He loves his shiny new guitar.

He doesn't use his card at all apart from the guitar. He's pretty much given the account to me. I have an additional card, so I do actually have a 0% card till June next year and an APR of 17.9% after that, but it doesn't help my own credit record does it.
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Those AMEX cards are charge cards rather than credit cards AFAIK.
 
iaind said:
How bad is your credit score, and what did you do to muller it in the first place?
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In this day and age you don't even have to have done anything to 'muller' your credit rating.

Never using credit in any form actually harms your chances because you have no credit profile to draw from so are categorised as high risk by default.
 
Tosno said:
Be alpha and pay off the balance while its still in the pipeline, i have 5/5 on noodle.
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Noddle is crap though, it reckons i've got a score of 1/5 yet my bank have just thrown me a 4k overdraft offer (which i haven't taken), Next have just increased my credit limit to 5k (Which i don't use), i have never defaulted on any credit payment, just cleared a £10k bank loan and a car loan and have no debt now. Yet i have a 1/5 score!
 
BuffetSlayer said:
In this day and age you don't even have to have done anything to 'muller' your credit rating.

Never using credit in any form actually harms your chances because you have no credit profile to draw from so are categorised as high risk by default.
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since places like VM do a credit check just for getting broadband installed surely paying on time every month for utilities must lead to a credit rating?
 
arknor said:
since places like VM do a credit check just for getting broadband installed surely paying on time every month for utilities must lead to a credit rating?
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It's better than nothing, but it's not going to give you a good credit rating in the way that a credit card would.
 
BuffetSlayer said:
In this day and age you don't even have to have done anything to 'muller' your credit rating.

Never using credit in any form actually harms your chances because you have no credit profile to draw from so are categorised as high risk by default.
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Exactly this! My mother is a prime example of this issue, my dads always set up bills etc under his name, she's got joint credit cards and bank accounts with my dad, but he's the official account holder. Eventually when she got round to moving from a PAYG phone to a contract, they found that she couldn't even set up a phone contract because of having no credit history. So the system is slightly flawed.

arknor said:
since places like VM do a credit check just for getting broadband installed surely paying on time every month for utilities must lead to a credit rating?
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I would have thought so too, as you do sign up as a contract the same way your mobile phone contract would be.


Also, make sure you're on the electoral register, that's a big plus for your credit.
 
I have Virgin installed. I passed the credit check with them.

Also recently, I was getting turned down for all credit cards, but Virgin passed me for a freestyle interest free loan for an S6.

Credit is weird.

As for credit reports, Virgin record everything on your report. Each number you have with them is recorded separately too. Did you know that Sky never credit check. Therefore, you will always be accepted and cannot default with sky.
 
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noddle is very odd. They give me a rate of 1/5 however I have a paid account for creditexpert who check all 3 credit report companies and they rate me 941 out of 999.

Noddle score means nothing, as I see many people say they get odd scores all the time. As its a free service vs creditexpert which costs me a few quid a month - I'm more happy to believe the paid for service scoring system.
 
Jim99 said:
This is the key, as far as the question in the OP goes.

I think sometimes paying off your balance everything could limit your ability to get bad forms of credit, i.e. very expensive storecards, as they don't expect to make enough money off you.

However, for the big and important forms of credit, i.e. 0% cards, cashback Amex, loans, mortgages etc you'll want a strong record of paying off what you owe. So that's the way to do it - set up your direct debit and make sure you pay off the full balance every month. If you can't do it, then make sure you a) rein in your spending and b) at least pay the minimum.
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Credit rating is a risk assessment, not a profit assessment. I've never heard of someone being denied a line of credit because they wouldn't be profitable enough.
 
Ace Modder said:
noddle is very odd. They give me a rate of 1/5 however I have a paid account for creditexpert who check all 3 credit report companies and they rate me 941 out of 999.

Noddle score means nothing, as I see many people say they get odd scores all the time. As its a free service vs creditexpert which costs me a few quid a month - I'm more happy to believe the paid for service scoring system.
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Or save yourself some money and stop paying for your credit score as your throwing money away. All of the credit scores mean nothing as the banks etc don't see them there just a money making exercise. All you need to look at is your credit report and make sure that is correct and that is £2 from 2 of the sites and free from noodle. And you only need to check the reports if your going for a loan etc.
 
jamief said:
Credit rating is a risk assessment, not a profit assessment. I've never heard of someone being denied a line of credit because they wouldn't be profitable enough.
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It is, but you could easily use a credit rating to make an estimation of profitability. I have heard of it happening.
 
AFK_Matrix said:
Or save yourself some money and stop paying for your credit score as your throwing money away. All of the credit scores mean nothing as the banks etc don't see them there just a money making exercise. All you need to look at is your credit report and make sure that is correct and that is £2 from 2 of the sites and free from noodle. And you only need to check the reports if your going for a loan etc.
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The Noddle one seems to be a month or 2 behind Experian/Equifax.

jamief said:
Credit rating is a risk assessment, not a profit assessment. I've never heard of someone being denied a line of credit because they wouldn't be profitable enough.
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Unless you work for a credit scoring agency, I doubt you've ever heard of someone being denied a line of credit for any reason other than "computer said no" since that's generally the only information you get back from an application ;)
 
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