1.5 Minimum age and wage for credit cards

In the UK, you need to be 18 or over to sign any credit agreement. If you are under the age of 18 and you sign a contract, it will not be binding.

To apply for a credit card, you will need to sign a credit agreement and therefore must be at least 18 years of age.

All credit card companies set out their own acceptance conditions that must be met by any applicant before they are awarded a credit facility and a credit card to access that facility. These conditions usually concern the age, wage and credit history of the potential applicant.

Some credit cards are not available if you are not 21, and sometimes 25, or over. This further age restriction is usually placed by credit card companies when offering Gold and Platinum credit cards.

All credit card providers will need to know that you will be able to pay back any money you borrow therefore the provider will want to know how much your annual income is.

In order to be accepted for classic credit cards you will need to be earning enough money to cover the lowest credit limit offered by the card.

In order to be accepted for Gold and Platinum credit cards you will need a gross (before tax) annual income of £10,000 for some cards, but as much as £25,000 for others.

You need to have a higher annual income to get a Gold or Platinum credit card because they usually come with a higher credit limit and so the provider will need to know that you can afford to repay this larger amount of money.

The other main factor taken into account when you apply for a credit card is your credit rating. Information from your existing credit report, along with information regarding your age and wage, will be used by the lender when they decide on your credit score. If your credit score doesn’t fall within their acceptance boundaries, then you will not be accepted for the credit card.

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