-
My son wishes to buy a property sometime in the next 12 months and has never had a credit card. Various people have said to him that it would be good if he could have an active card for 6 months or so before he tries for a mortgage.
I currently have an offer on my Gold Card to refer for 14,000 AVIOS.
A couple of questions if anyone can kindly answer, we are not sure if he could manage £3000 in three months as he is not a big spender, and is saving for a deposit. Is this a problem ? Also if I refer but he doesn’t hit the spend target will I still get the 14,000 bonus. Can’t work our if its just for the card or if the referee needs to meet the 3K spend.
Also we share the same surname and address, I don’t want Amex to think I am doing anything dodgy, like referring myself (not that I’d know how to do that anyway). I don’t want to compromise myself with AmEx
Is this the best card for him?
That should be the driver not how many avios you might get.
Referring your son is fine. You get the referral bonus if he’s approved, nothing to do with whether or not he hits the spend target.
Though in the same situation I’d have no qualms in getting a supplementary card and switching some household spend to to his account so he hits the SUB target. With a supp card very easy to track what that cardholder has spent and therefore owes.
And if you apply for the supp once he has the card (not at application stage), via the below link he’ll get an extra 3k
https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/supplementary-cards/It is good logic but you are cutting things too fine now, IMHO. There are so many elements to credit worthiness including age of accounts, credit utilisation and payment history that IMHO, a card of their own will act negatively at this stage. If the house purchase is to be next year, a mortgage agrement in principle will likely need to be sought in the middle of the year, so a credit facility will look young. Even worse if during that the utilisation is capgtured as being high, such as trying to run 3k through the card in a short period.
Answers to questions though:
If approved, you will get the referral, regardless of any spend targets.
You of course won’t share the same DOB, so are not self-referring. Friends and Family are allowed in the T&C’s.Edit – Wow, I clearly type very slowly!! No one had replied when I started!
Thank you to all of you. –
BA Flyer as I was typing I actually though about that, and wondered if he would be better off with some kind of basic visa or Mastercard.
He has no interest in collecting MRs and like most millennials who still can’t escape due to house prices he does all his buying on-line mainly from ASOS and Amazon. He has a basic bank account with a high street bank, and savings with the Nationwide.
Someone where he worked actually suggested he get a CC , and he talked to me about it. I’m not sure what to do, and I wan to do the right thing for him even though a 14,000 point carrot is dangling right under my nose.
I think the flat purchase is unlikely to happen for 12 months.
Carpel tunnel when you say we are cutting it fine, is that in terms of building up a credit history to assist his morgageability ?
Carpel tunnel when you say we are cutting it fine, is that in terms of building up a credit history to assist his morgageability ?
Yep – he needs time to build up the history, show he has credit and 1-pays it off on time, 2- isn’t using lots of it. This can only be evidenced over a longer period of time. A profile is such a complex thing, all a bit of a black art known only truly by lenders, but newly available credit will always hinder rather than help a ortgage application in the short term.
I think your best bet would actually be to talk to a professional or two – independant financial advisors and an advisor at a bank/building society. Doing it early also shows a maturity that lenders may in itself appreciate and reassure them. When I last applied for a new mortgage some years ago, I was relativly new in a role and the income it provided. Discussing with humans, I was able to evidence through bank statements, receipts, contracts etc.. my financial profile and got an excellent mortgage with Coventry Building Society whilst some others merely entered details on a screen, like doing an online insurance quote and then gave me a “computer said no” type of resposne. I would personally recommend contacting them or similar for guidance.
Thank you, A few decisions for us to make.
Having thought it over a bit more having an Amex as your first CC card might look a bit odd. It’s probably a bit of a sophisticated card for someone new to credit, and I know he would not want to pay the annual fee, he would consider it a waste of money, plus the 11 months would probably co-inside with the mortgage hunt – I guess I could pay it to avoid that.
In terms of meetings with brokers a year ago he did go into the Nationwide and Santander where he banks and they did what you said and put some figures in their computers and they both came up with 3.5 times salary.
Regardless, there’s nothing stopping you referring him for a free BA Amex card to leave in a drawer and net yourself 14k bonus MR points. Plus a supplementary card on your account (and his) for an extra few thousand MR points!
Regardless, there’s nothing stopping you referring him for a free BA Amex card to leave in a drawer and net yourself 14k bonus MR points. Plus a supplementary card on your account (and his) for an extra few thousand MR points!
Unfortunately I don’t have a BAPP AmEx only an AmEx Gold, that’s where my 14,000 MR referral points offer is sitting. I could make him a sup on either mine or my husbands Gold Card, so thank you as I hadn’t considered that in terms of my MR points totals. But I guess supplementary card holdership would not help his interests in terms of being a good prospect for a mortgage.
Regardless, there’s nothing stopping you referring him for a free BA Amex card to leave in a drawer and net yourself 14k bonus MR points. Plus a supplementary card on your account (and his) for an extra few thousand MR points!
Unfortunately I don’t have a BAPP AmEx only an AmEx Gold, that’s where my 14,000 MR referral points offer is sitting. I could make him a sup on either mine or my husbands Gold Card, so thank you as I hadn’t considered that in terms of my MR points totals. But I guess supplementary card holdership would not help his interests in terms of being a good prospect for a mortgage.
When you refer, your referral link has a button at the top that says “view all cards”. They can apply for any card including the free cards you don’t have, and you still get the highest referral offer on your account (presumably 14k points). It’s a nice earner! 🙂
AFAIK you can also make him a SUPP on both you and your husband’s accounts and he has no obligation to use either. So you could do all three without much hassle and 1 x referral bonus plus two x supplementary card bonuses.
Having thought it over a bit more having an Amex as your first CC card might look a bit odd. It’s probably a bit of a sophisticated card for someone new to credit
The system doesn’t differentiate between Amex and others – they just think it’s a new credit line. There is no weightage for a ‘sophisticated’ card.
As carpaltravel says, if your son doesn’t plan to apply for a mortgage in next 12 months, he might be ok applying for the card. Remember it’s the date of mortgage application, not the property purchase itself.
Regardless, there’s nothing stopping you referring him for a free BA Amex card to leave in a drawer and net yourself 14k bonus MR points. Plus a supplementary card on your account (and his) for an extra few thousand MR points!
Unfortunately I don’t have a BAPP AmEx only an AmEx Gold, that’s where my 14,000 MR referral points offer is sitting. I could make him a sup on either mine or my husbands Gold Card, so thank you as I hadn’t considered that in terms of my MR points totals. But I guess supplementary card holdership would not help his interests in terms of being a good prospect for a mortgage.
When you refer, your referral link has a button at the top that says “view all cards”. They can apply for any card including the free cards you don’t have, and you still get the highest referral offer on your account (presumably 14k points). It’s a nice earner! 🙂
AFAIK you can also make him a SUPP on both you and your husband’s accounts and he has no obligation to use either. So you could do all three without much hassle and 1 x referral bonus plus two x supplementary card bonuses.
Thank you, I will go and have a look around in my account for the referral button and see what comes up. I agree it is a very nice earner !
Having thought it over a bit more having an Amex as your first CC card might look a bit odd. It’s probably a bit of a sophisticated card for someone new to credit
The system doesn’t differentiate between Amex and others – they just think it’s a new credit line. There is no weightage for a ‘sophisticated’ card.
As carpaltravel says, if your son doesn’t plan to apply for a mortgage in next 12 months, he might be ok applying for the card. Remember it’s the date of mortgage application, not the property purchase itself.
Thank you, it’s good to know it doesn’t matter if it’s an amex or not as these are the only active cards we both have at present, I have to admit I would like the referral bonus.
I guess the other alternative would be for him to get a basic CC from either Santander or Nationwide, where he does his banking/saving.
I’m grateful for everyone’s insights.
You mentioned your son has not yet had a credit card. On MSE it is suggested in this position, it would be difficult (but I suppose not impossible) to get a premium/rewards card. It is usually suggested for the applicant to try their own bank first as the bank knows their earning and spending patterns. That is assuming your son is with an institution that offers credit cards.
If that fails, your son could try for a credit builder card.
Might I suggest if your son can see a mortgage in his future, he should be the one researching how to build up his credit file?
Ths assumes he has the basics like being on the electoral roll, having a monthly pay mobile phone SIM contract etc.You don’t need a credit card to get a mortgage. As I understand it, it’s mainly about affordability, although there may be posters on here who actually work in this area who can chime in
You mentioned your son has not yet had a credit card. On MSE it is suggested in this position, it would be difficult (but I suppose not impossible) to get a premium/rewards card. It is usually suggested for the applicant to try their own bank first as the bank knows their earning and spending patterns. That is assuming your son is with an institution that offers credit cards.
If that fails, your son could try for a credit builder card.
Might I suggest if your son can see a mortgage in his future, he should be the one researching how to build up his credit file?
Ths assumes he has the basics like being on the electoral roll, having a monthly pay mobile phone SIM contract etc.Player 2 got a BAPP with a 20k limit for her first ever credit card and modest income. Others I know of have had similar. In my experience it is definitely not difficult to get a premium Amex card. Barclaycard Avios however is another story.
You mentioned your son has not yet had a credit card. On MSE it is suggested in this position, it would be difficult (but I suppose not impossible) to get a premium/rewards card. It is usually suggested for the applicant to try their own bank first as the bank knows their earning and spending patterns. That is assuming your son is with an institution that offers credit cards.
If that fails, your son could try for a credit builder card.
Might I suggest if your son can see a mortgage in his future, he should be the one researching how to build up his credit file?
Ths assumes he has the basics like being on the electoral roll, having a monthly pay mobile phone SIM contract etc.You don’t need a credit card to get a mortgage. As I understand it, it’s mainly about affordability, although there may be posters on here who actually work in this area who can chime in
Hi thank you, he does have all the normal indicators, electoral roll, mobile phone contract, a Help to Buy ISA, so hopefully that will put him in a decent position. We are probably overthinking the CC situation due to the comment from the guy he works with.
I didn’t even consider the Barclay card in this instance. The alternative are his bank and building society CC Cards.
You mentioned your son has not yet had a credit card. On MSE it is suggested in this position, it would be difficult (but I suppose not impossible) to get a premium/rewards card. It is usually suggested for the applicant to try their own bank first as the bank knows their earning and spending patterns. That is assuming your son is with an institution that offers credit cards.
If that fails, your son could try for a credit builder card.
Might I suggest if your son can see a mortgage in his future, he should be the one researching how to build up his credit file?
Ths assumes he has the basics like being on the electoral roll, having a monthly pay mobile phone SIM contract etc.Player 2 got a BAPP with a 20k limit for her first ever credit card and modest income. Others I know of have had similar. In my experience it is definitely not difficult to get a premium Amex card. Barclaycard Avios however is another story.
That sounds promising. I have checked my Amex pages and as said earlier on in the thread I can refer for the basic BA Amex, which might be more sensible in this case.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
