Credit card Guide

Can I get a credit card without being subjected to a credit check?

Updated: Monday 12 December, 2011

By Martin Fagan

If you’d like a credit card but are worried you won’t qualify, you may be able to get an “adverse credit card” - but watch out for the interest you’ll be charged.

You can’t get a credit card just by asking for one - you have to have your credit history scrutinised by the card issuer. But there are some credit card companies that might give you a card after doing some basic checks.

How does a credit check work?

When you apply for a credit card, lenders will run a credit check on you to see what sort of risk you represent.

This means rifling through your credit history to see how well you’ve performed in the past at paying bills and how you have managed to repay other debts.

The lender will also look at things such as how much you earn, what your monthly outgoings are and whether you have had anything like county court judgements (CCJs) against you in the past.

The credit rating system then allocates points based on your credit history, and these points are totalled to produce your credit score.

This allows the lender to predict the likelihood of your repaying credit and, in turn, helps it decide whether or not to give you a credit card.

Adverse credit cards

People who have a low credit score for whatever reason - you’ve missed repayments, or have got a CCJ for example - are going to find it difficult to get a credit card application accepted, as mainstream lenders tend to shy away from risky customers.

Incidentally, the more you apply to these companies - and get rejected - the farther your credit score drops and so reduces your chance of getting accepted for a card.

However, all is not lost, and there are some specialist providers out there who exist just for these sorts of customers.

These lenders specialise in people who have a below average rating and will give you an “adverse credit card”.

The main catch with these adverse cards, however, is that you will be charged a significantly higher rate of interest than normal cards and the limit on how much you can borrow will also not be very high.

For example the Capital One Classic Card (www.capitalone.co.uk) is available for people with bad credit history; however, it also comes with a standard variable annual percentage rate (APR) of 34.9%, and a maximum credit limit of £1,500.

In the long run, if managed properly and responsibly, adverse credit cards are also a good way to improve your credit score.

If you can prove you are a reliable borrower by meeting at least the minimum payment each month, you always pay on time and you never go over your authorised limit, your credit score will improve over time.

For more information about adverse credit cards, read the Creditchoices.co.uk guide to adverse credit cards.

Joint credit cards

If you know someone, such as your spouse or a family member, who has a better credit rating than you do, then you could apply together for a joint credit card.

Joint credit cards are just like normal credit cards but with two account holders.

If you apply like this you have a much better chance of being accepted for a card with a competitive interest rate, despite the fact that one of you has a bad credit history.

The only thing to be wary of with a joint credit card is that you are in it together. If one of you misses payments or if you exceed the authorised limit, it will be both of you who see your credit score suffer.

Prepaid cards

Alternatively you could apply for a prepaid credit card, which you top-up as and when you need to.

You deposit money onto the prepaid card, and then spend it however you like, in shops or over the internet. With these cards, when you exhaust the money you’ve loaded on the card you can’t spend any more, so you cannot get overdrawn and do not need to worry about bills.

It is not a credit card and you do not need to go through a credit check to obtain one as there is no risk involved for the lender in you spending the lender’s cash rather than your own.

The only downside is that, as you are not demonstrating any financial responsibility, one of these cards will not boost your credit rating.

Compare adverse credit cards