We were turned down, regardless of having a high income and there likely to be no problems whatsoever in making the repayments. The two deciding factors were apparently as follows:

- I’m not in enough debt (These were the words of the bank assistant). Because I choose not to take out a credit card or unnecessary loans, instead living within my means, I’m considered too risky!?
- I live in a new build. Apparently, the fact my address was not in their system went considerably against me, which seems ludicrous.

This all seems backwards to me - because I manage money well and have an income high enough to afford a brand new home I am a branded a bad credit risk. If I had 7 credit cards and a load of debt, I’m more suitable, apparently?

The question is, what happens to my credit score? I know it’s affected adversely, but how badly.

The reason given to me was that I don’t have credit. (not that I have bad credit, I basically have no credit rating, thats why I need a credit card, to earn credit).

Now, I recently bought a house and already have the furnishings for it, paid 20 pct down, have another 10 pct of its value in cash, I own my own car and have a steady middle class job working for the government. This apparently does not warrant me being trustworthy enough to have a credit card with a basic limit ?

However when I was a student with no job, no car, no money, no home… I couldn’t walk down the halls of the campus without being assaulted by 3 credit cards vendors trying to get me to sign up for a Visa or a Mastercard or a whatever they were offering…
The car I paid for in cash. The house I just bought, and take possession of in about 2 weeks (mortgage is already approved), so it won’t show up on my credit report I don’t believe until my first payment comes up after a month. I would have liked to have the credit card to make paying my bills easier though rather than 6-8 weeks later after I own the house.
I know that many of those CC’s offered to students were later declined, I just think they’d bother to write down on the application form somewhere that people with ‘no credit’ will not be accepted. There are like 50 footnotes on the bloody thing, youi’d think they could make that 51 rather than wait 6 weeks to tell me by a form letter. If nothing else, save themselves a lot of postage.
The only reason I really need one is that it would make paying bills easier, you get one credit card bill at the end of the month, make sure its all legitimate charges and pay it by over the phone banking. 5 minutes and voila!