Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
hmm
are you on the electoral register? that tends to help with having some sort of credit rating.
wtf?
you need a credit check to get a covid test?
srsly?
DWP want to monitor claimants' bank account activity
- Thread starter LeytonCatLady
- Start date
hmm
are you on the electoral register? that tends to help with having some sort of credit rating.
wtf?
you need a credit check to get a covid test?
srsly?
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
hmm
wtf?
you need a credit check to get a covid test?
srsly?
To apply online for a test by post you do. Some US company does the checks.
Notes under the mattress, gold coins, antique furniture, job done.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
I had a covid test earlier and my financial history was not mentioned oncehmm
are you on the electoral register? that tends to help with having some sort of credit rating.
wtf?
you need a credit check to get a covid test?
srsly?
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
i had forgotten about that.
i had a covid test in december (applied online and got it / sent it back by post), and have booked covid vaccination, and haven't been asked for any financial details either time...
i may have been able to quote an NHS number at them though
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
They asked for my NHS number but I couldn't remember it. Didn't hold me up tho
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Getting a 'credit builder' credit cards does work, in my experience.Credit check for my current house came up blank, credit check to verify online UC claim came up blank, credit check to get a covid test by post came up blank. I am a real person, I earn money and pay bills, I manage to pass my DBS check every time; but I don't have a credit card or a phone contract and I've spent the last few years subletting (not least due to inability to pass a credit check for a proper tennancy) so there have been no bills in my name.
Oh wait, you were doing a bit weren't you? Very good, yes
This type of card will have a very high interest rate, so be careful.
The trick is to use it to pay for stuff that you were going to buy anyway, your weekly grocery shop, travel pass/petrol, new shoes or anything else you were already planning to buy. Also good if you're buying anything costing more than £100, because you get extra consumer protection.
And then make sure you pay the balance in full every month.
I started off a year ago with one of these, they gave me a £300 credit limit to start with, which they put up, after maybe six or nine months, to £1,300, last autumn, and they've just written to me to say they're putting my credit limit up to £2,300 from next month.
My credit score from from 600+ to 800+, from poor to good.
But I do have bills in my name and I'm on the electoral register here.
Credit cards for bad credit
If you've been rejected for credit, applying again could make it worse! Assess your situation & use our eligibility checker. Plus, the best credit cards for bad credit & credit builder cards - MoneySavingExpert
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Getting a 'credit builder' credit cards does work, in my experience.
This type of card will have a very high interest rate, so be careful.
The trick is to use it to pay for stuff that you were going to buy anyway, your weekly grocery shop, travel pass/petrol, new shoes or anything else you were already planning to buy. Also good if you're buying anything costing more than £100, because you get extra consumer protection.
And then make sure you pay the balance in full every month.
I started off a year ago with one of these, they gave me a £300 credit limit to start with, which they put up, after maybe six or nine months, to £1,300, last autumn, and they've just written to me to say they're putting my credit limit up to £2,300 from next month.
My credit score from from 600+ to 800+, from poor to good.
But I do have bills in my name and I'm on the electoral register here.
Credit cards for bad credit
If you've been rejected for credit, applying again could make it worse! Assess your situation & use our eligibility checker. Plus, the best credit cards for bad credit & credit builder cards - MoneySavingExpertwww.moneysavingexpert.com
I'm reluctant to jump through any of these ridiculous hoops tbh. Particularly in light of the fact that simply applying for credit can hurt your credit score. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't.
And I much prefer spending money I've already been paid to spending next month's pay cheque. Which to me feels like a much more sensible way to manage money, but nobody gets to skim a percentage off when you do it that way round so it has to be penalised.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
You don't have to spend money you don't have.
Random made up numbers: Say you get paid on 15th of the month. Say you get paid £2,000.
Yes, you could think I'm only spending money that I already have so I'm only going to spend what's in my bank account.
You've got a direct debit set up to pay rent, £600, and phone, £25, plus car insurance £100, leaving £1,275.
So you spend £50 on some groceries, and £50 on petrol to get to work, then buy some new trainers, £100. Then you get a takeaway and some beers one night £25. Then you buy more groceries, more petrol. Rinse and repeat.
Yes, you can make those payments on your bank card.
But you could make those payments on a credit card. And pay them off in full as soon as you get your statement. You don't need to spend more money than you have in you bank account. Keep track of your spending. Don't buy anything you wouldn't have bought anyway.
Say throughout the month all those random small payment add up to £1k. Yes, you can pay with your bank card so it goes directly out of your account. Or you can put them on a credit card and pay it off in full once a month.
Even those small purchases can help build a track record of getting bills and making payments.
If you clear it in full each month, they don't skim/charge a percentage.
I've had my card for a year-ish and I haven't paid a penny in interest, because I've always paid it in full each month.
I mean, okay, so I haven't just bought essentials, I've also bought books and artwork, but I haven't bought anything where the money isn't already sitting in my bank account, ready to pay for it. I've deliberately channeled payments through the credit card that I could/should have paid with my bank card, but I knew that paying with a credit card - and paying it off in full each month - would supposedly help improve my credit score. And it did.
I'm not in debt in the accumulative sense. I put stuff on my credit card, and then I pay it off in full, with money that's already in my bank account. Because that's how you game the system.
Because maybe in a year or two I'm going to want to get a mortgage, just like you want to get a place to live. And I knew I wouldn't be able to do that with a poor credit score, so I needed to take preemptive action to improve it.
It's one of the anomalies of credit scoring that people who don't have mortgages, loans, credit cards, can often have poorer credit scores than people who are in heaps of debts with mortgages, loans and credit cards. It doesn't really make sense. Like, how can someone who still owes £50k on their mortgage, has a £10k car loan and £5k on a credit card have a better credit score than someone who rents, bought a second hand car outright, and doesn't have a credit card? How can someone who has £65k of debt have a better credit score than someone who doesn't owe a penny? It doesn't make sense, right?
But the person with £tens of thousands of debt has a better credit score, because they've demonstrated that if a bank/building society lends them money for a house, if a bank/car finance company lends them money for a car, if a credit card company lends them money, then they've made their payments on time, so they've demonstrated they are trustworthy and good for the money.
NB: gaming the system like this only works if you spend only what you would've spent anyway, and what you can pay off in full each month, because otherwise the high interest rates on these credit builder cards are punitive. But if you pay it off in full each month, you don't pay any interest, you just improve your credit score.
I'm just saying: that was the theory, and I was dubious too, but it actually worked for me.
It does require restraint and common sense though. (Hahaha! There's two words I never would've thought could apply to me!
)I wouldn't recommend it for anyone/everyone, it's just that you mentioned low credit score impacting on your ability to get a tenancy in your own name, and this can - potentially - help with that.
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NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
One thing I don't understand, if they want people to prove that they can be good little debtors in exchange for being issued credit, why then would people be allowed to game the system like that? Are they just banking on such people being few in number and working towards a specific goal like a mortgage, so they make money in the end anyway? Or is that crediting them (heh) with too much foresight?
muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
Because the whole system is a sham
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Because they hope/expect a certain number of customers will be tempted to spend that bit extra. There will always be customers who intended to be canny, but got caught out with needing a new boiler at home or a new head gasket for their car, which they couldn't really afford, but stuck it on their card in an emergency, or someone might need to travel urgently due to a family emergency. Or there might be customers for whom buying something in the sales is irresistible, or a holiday might be too tempting.
Card companies are banking on a certain percentage of careful customers converting into interest paying ones.
That's why you need to be super careful with the high interest 'credit builder' credit cards to only spend money you already have and buy things you would be buying anyway, and not to get sucked into treating it a bit like an overdraft.
I'll keep on like this for a bit longer, then maybe at some point try to get a 'regular' credit card with a lower interest rate, just in case at some point in the future I did need to put a boiler or head gasket or emergency travels on a credit card.
maomao
普費斯
I have about 4 grand credit card debt (was more, going down) that I've paid very little interest on by taking out interest free purchase credit cards when new boiler type emergencies happen and then transferring to interest free balance transfer cards at the end of the credit periods (that bit costs 2.5% every couple of years). We also have a credit card for shopping that pays reward points at Argos and we clear every month. I'm not sure what the credit card companies get out of it other than data on how I shop and the hope that I fuck up a payment.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I'd be scared of relying on being able to do a balance transfer to another credit card to take advantage of another interest free period, in case my application got rejected and I ended up paying interest at some point, because I'd figure the merry-go-round would come to halt sooner or later, no?
But you're right, though, hadn't thought about that, but as well as credit card companies banking on some people failing to clear the balance, all that data about consumer spending habits is very, very valuable information, so even if the card companies don't make money from charging interest to some canny customers, they will use/monetise the data they've gathered.
maomao
普費斯
You do have to be careful. I did the last balance transfer three months earlier than planned because I was about to be made redundant and wasn't sure I could get such a good deal as a student. But it's safe for two years now and fingers crossed we won't need any more major appliances urgently in that time.
19sixtysix
Life as viewed from a Gay Gorbals Garret
Gold coins are looking a sensible option for savings.
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