Credit Building > Argos Classic card shut down. Best alternatives now

Argos Classic card shut down. Best alternatives now

Wollit Team2 minute read · Updated 4th July 2024

The Argos Classic credit card was a credit card offered by Argos in partnership with NewDay.

This card used to offer:

0% interest on purchases for the first 3 months, followed by a representative APR of 39.9%.
Instant approval with a £500 spending limit.
No annual card fee.
And up to 3 additional cardholders for free.

To qualify, you only had to fit these criteria:

Over 18 years old with “sufficient household income”.
UK phone number.
And at least 12 months of address history in the UK.

Because of this, it was a popular credit-building card, especially for people who were relatively new to the UK.

However, this card is no longer available to new customers as Argos seems to have ended its partnership with Newday. While the website is still live, the application form is down.

What are the best alternatives to the Argos Classic credit card now?

It depends on why you wanted to get the Argos Classic in the first place.

If you often shop at Argos and its partner stores (Sainsbury’s, Habitat, and Tu) and want to rack up points, consider the new Argos Card. This is not an actual credit card but more like a store card with a credit facility. Think of it as a credit card you can only use at Argos and its partner stores. It actually shows up as a credit card in your credit report, but you can’t use it to spend outside Argos and its network.

If you want to get the Argos Classic because you wished for a credit-builder card, you can also consider another credit-building card from Newday.

Newday has a range of credit-building cards like Bip, Aqua, Marbles, and Fluid. They’re all quite similar: easy to get accepted to, even for someone with poor credit, but come with high APRs and low credit limits.

However, getting a credit card mainly for building or improving your credit score can be risky. To avoid those high APRs (which can go as high as 60%), you must pay the balance in full each month. To make sure that you’re not accidentally hurting your credit score, you would also need to use less than 25% of the credit card limit.

A safer and more affordable option is a credit-building app.

One such app is Wollit. Unlike a credit card, Wollit reports a monthly, fixed-fee subscription as a loan repayment to the credit reference agencies.

This helps you build a history of timely repayments without the risk of getting hit with high interest charges or going over your card limit. It can even report your monthly rent payment to Experian, adding another line in your credit report that shows lenders you’re responsible and pay your bills on time. The app is available both on Android and iPhone.