How to Get Credit in the UK
One route to get credit is not to apply for loans in the traditional way but rather to take advantage of the electronic overdraft models of most major banks. In short these models will monitor the amount of money being credited each month to your standard bank account and will then log a pre-approved overdraft based on a ratio of the amount you credit.

You will need to keep your bank account in good standing for 4 to 6 months. The calculations are based on a an average but minimum levels are expected. Note that the overdraft may well not be automatically applied to your account. Instead an overdraft limit will be pre-approved for you by the system.. and applying it your account is usually as simple as a phone call to the banks standard telephone call centre. Often no paper work is required as you will have signed everything necessary when you opened the bank account, even if at that time you were not seeking or applying for credit.

This is one of the easiest and painless methods to get unsecured credit. To increase the amount of credit granted, pay more money in by either transferring cash back and forth between accounts of even drawing out cash and paying some of it in again. Circulating money is the key - but you need to be very creative. Open accounts in different banks and set up transfers. Maybe you will want to pay money into a friend's account and have him or her write out cheques for you to credit in. The whole idea is to make it look like you have more income - for example a second job or small business. The computer of course does not much care where the money is coming from, but blatant circulation (eg drawing out money from an ATM and paying exactly the same amount back in over the counter) will likely be picked up and this may affect your ability to get the overdraft!

To check if you are eligible the best approach is simply to call the bank once the time period of 4 to 6 months has passed and ask if there is any pre-approved overdraft limit. Be cool .. start your conversation by mentioning that your enquiry is for "future reference". Or even tack on this question at the end of another more a standard enquiry so that you are not calling especially to find out about your limit. You can then make a subsequent call safe in the knowledge that the credit will be granted!

More ways to get credit
For more on how best to get credit and loans, the Complete UK Credit Repair Guide provides valuable information on how best to get credit and which lenders are most lenient in granting overdrafts etc. For details about the guide please click here