Getting Your First UK Credit Card with No Credit History

Overheard a girl at Starbucks: “I was rejected for the Amex Gold! I don’t know what card to get”.

As the conversation unfolded, it turns out she’s looking for her first credit card and has no idea about credit scores. Here’s the annoying bit: it doesn’t matter how much you make, and how responsible you are with your spending. Credit scores (and credit worthiness) are designed a certain way, and if you’re new to the UK you might need to “play the game” a little bit.

Not unlike our Starbucks girl, I have a friend who makes 6 figures and couldn’t get a decent card when he first arrived in the UK. Luckily, The solution is simple enough: Start with a credit building card. Aka “sub-prime” cards.

The idea is to build a credit history; the lender gives you a small credit limit, you only use 10-20% of that limit, and pay it off monthly. In other words, you’re building a history of monthly repayments in full. You do this for long enough without missing a payment or using too much of your limit, and two things will happen: your credit score will go up, and more premium cards will become available.

What Should Be My First Credit Card in the UK?

What you want is a lender dedicated to first timers like yourself, a decent app to keep track of everything, and good customer service. The top two lenders are Aqua and Capital One. (Strictly speaking, Aqua is one of the Newday brands; Newday is one of the UK’s biggest lenders and operates many brands like Opus, Marbles, Bip etc.)

Both have an eligibility checker on their website, so you’ll know for sure if you’re approved before applying. Once approved and you get set up in the app, simply set your Direct Debit to “full statement”. That means you’ll never miss a payment and pay any interest as a result. You’re also protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee, so if anything goes wring with the Direct Debit you’re entitled to a full refund.

The key is patience; you might have to spend 6 months or more before you start seeing better offers coming your way.

Visit Aqua Card

Visit Capital One