Credit card for student ?

[Daniel 1982]

Hello there,

I am a PhD student with an annual income less than 30.000 AUD. I get scholarship which is above 20.000 AUD, though. I have a 4 year student Visa and no permanent visa. I read through the requirements of a lot of credit cards and it seems I am not eligible for any cards with reward programs. Does anyone have experience how strict they are? Can I just write a random income in the application form or do I have to prove them that I get scholarship? Thank you in advance for any answers...

,

Daniel

 

[Hvr]

Don't lie on the application form. They do check and if you're found to be telling porkies then you will be in a world of hurt.

 

[Daniel 1982]

Thank you for your answer. Do you by any chance know if they make exceptions sometimes? In fact I get 23 000 AUD per year but they require 30 000. DO you think there is reallistically a chance for me to get it? DO you have experinece with this?

 

[Alanslegal]

Unless you are spending quite a bit of money and regularly, rewards programs generally do not work out beneficially given alot of those cards usually have some type of annual fee attached to it. Of course, with a bit of research you can get good value out of those cards - like during certain promotions - however as always you do need to spend, to earn.

With an income of $23k I would think one would have no issue in obtaining a credit card, just expect a very low limit eg. $1-2k to get started off with [however I am not too sure how strict credit providers are about the residency status though.]

 

[markis10]

Thank you for your answer. Do you by any chance know if they make exceptions sometimes? In fact I get 23 000 AUD per year but they require 30 000. DO you think there is reallistically a chance for me to get it? DO you have experinece with this?

Most if not all banks require you to be a citizen or permanent resident for low income cards, temporary visa holders will not get credit from any financial institution that is unsecured unless they earn in excess of $50000 PA, that along with your low income rules you out I am afraid.

 

[Daniel 1982]

Most if not all banks require you to be a citizen or permanent resident for low income cards, temporary visa holders will not get credit from any financial institution that is unsecured unless they earn in excess of $50000 PA, that along with your low income rules you out I am afraid.

Thank you for your answer. That is a pitty, it turns out to be more diffcult than I thought. Anyway I simply submitteed an application for the Woolworths everyday Credit card and I will see what happens...

 

[harvyk]

Can I ask what you specifically need a credit card for?

Unless you want the card for emergencies, one option may be to get a debit "credit" card, this is a card which looks and acts like a Visa or MasterCard, but draws on your own money rather than as a line of credit. You won't earn points, but considering most points earning cards have pretty high fees, you'd probably find the saving on fees more than offsets the points not earned, esp at a total max spend of only $23,000pa...

The other thing to be aware of, on a very low income there is a real risk of getting caught in a credit trap (I am speaking from experience here). Unless your very disciplined having a credit card on a low income could mean you'll end up living beyond your means, because it's only a dollar here and two dollars more there, but at the end of the day you can easily end up owing more on the card than you earn in a month.

 

[Daniel 1982]

Can I ask what you specifically need a credit card for?

Unless you want the card for emergencies, one option may be to get a debit "credit" card, this is a card which looks and acts like a Visa or MasterCard, but draws on your own money rather than as a line of credit. You won't earn points, but considering most points earning cards have pretty high fees, you'd probably find the saving on fees more than offsets the points not earned, esp at a total max spend of only $23,000pa...

The other thing to be aware of, on a very low income there is a real risk of getting caught in a credit trap (I am speaking from experience here). Unless your very disciplined having a credit card on a low income could mean you'll end up living beyond your means, because it's only a dollar here and two dollars more there, but at the end of the day you can easily end up owing more on the card than you earn in a month.

hello and thank you for your reply. I have a debit card. I thought I would use a credit card to earn miles with it. I only spend about 660 AUD per month on food and I shop mostly at Woolworths. With the Woolworths card I would get 2 points for each dollar spent which would lead to lets say 8000 points per year (accordning to the Woolworths calculator for earning points).
Then I have to take into account the annual card fee and I have to take care not to pay interest and pay on time. Finally I would substract the money I spend for the credit card minus the money I have to spend for my reward ticket to see if it effective...
Is there something missing in my calculation ....

Is there a simple online calculator or table where I can see where I could go to for a certain number of points?

Cheers,

Daniel

 

[harvyk]

https://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/do/dyns/InitialPointsRedeemed

8000 Points would get you a one way SYD-MEL ticket, however you'd still be responsible for the taxes. Picking a random day, a SYD-MEL ticket costs $133, which breaks down to $105.80 in airfare (what the points would cover) and $27.20 in taxes (what you'd need to pay out of your own pocket to get the award flight).

You'd also still need to purchase a return ticket out of your own pocket.

If this whole exercise is going to cost less than $105, it may be worth it, but it's a lot of stuffing around for very little IMHO, a better move may be to simply use a LCC like TT or JQ, and simply pocket the savings. Chances are it'll end up cheaper than trying to stuff around with FF programs.

 

[Daniel 1982]

Thanks a lot for your answer. I will have a think about it

 

[cove]

Daniel my two sons ran with a card connected to my account when they were teenagers and then I gave them access to my points with Amex. They both had scholarships too so we were happy to help them travel.

 

[Daniel 1982]

Thank you very much for your answer. I will take this hint and try to find a way to get some points....

 

[cove]

With Amex they were ok about supplementary cards so the boys would earn 1.5 points per dollar on their expenses into my account. I think my youngest son got his at 14 and there were no problems when they travelled.
Technically hotels won't allow a person under 18 to book a hotel room as they could renege on the bill but my boys did not misbehave so all went ok