Credit Building > NatWest credit card review

NatWest credit card review

Wollit Team2 minute read · Updated 1st July 2024

Natwest offers a range of multiple credit cards, each with different benefits, including balance transfer, rewards, and low APR. One of these cards is called The NatWest Credit Card, which might be confusing.

Let’s look at them and see if they are suitable for improving your credit score.

What kind of credit cards does NatWest offer?

NatWest offers six credit cards:

NatWest Purchase & Balance Transfer credit card: This card offers 19 months of 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers. It charges a 2.99% transfer fee.
NatWest Balance Transfer credit card: This card offers 0% on balance transfers for 13 months from account opening. It has no balance transfer fee.
NatWest Longer Balance Transfer credit card: NatWest’s third balance transfer card gives you 23 months to pay without interest balances from other cards. However, the longer period does come with a cost, as the card has a 3.49% balance transfer fee.
NatWest Reward credit card: This card gives you 1% back on supermarket spending and anywhere between 1% and 15% at NatWest’s partners.
NatWest Reward Black credit card: This card is aimed at shopping abroad, as it has no foreign transaction fee. Otherwise, it gives you the same 1% back when you shop at supermarkets.
The NatWest Credit Card: This seems to be NatWest’s premium card, with no balance transfer fees, annual fees, foreign transaction fees, annual fees, and balance transfer fees. The part that makes it really premium is its low APR, which is more than half as low as the other NatWest cards.

Does NatWest offer a credit builder card?

Credit builder cards are usually meant for people with bad credit history or even no credit history at all. They charge high APRs (30% to 60%) and offer low starting credit limits (between £200 and £1500).

Technically, the credit cards offered by NatWest do not fall under this category, as NatWest does not offer a credit building credit card.

That being said, some of the NatWest credit cards do have some things in common with the credit-building cards meant for people with poor credit scores:

Except for The NatWest Credit Card, the other NatWest credit cards have APRs on the higher side, from 24.9% to 40%.
NatWest credit cards come with low starting credit limits, around £1200.
The NatWest credit cards also come with credit score-related features. For example, you can check your TransUnion credit score right in the app and see a “predicted credit score” based on your current spending habits.

Because of this, we think that NatWest is probably aiming these credit cards at people with credit scores in the “Fair” or even “Good” range and who want to go all the way to the “Excellent” credit score band.

Are the NatWest credit cards a good tool to improve my credit score?

If you want a NatWest credit card to improve your credit score from “Good” to “Excellent”, try its eligibility check to see if you qualify for its flagship, The NatWest Credit Card. It has a low representative APR of only 12.9%, one of the best in the UK for a regular credit card.

The NatWest balance transfer cards also seem to be a good option. Their zero interest period is quite a bit longer than the ones offered by the other balance transfer cards on the market, which often only give you around 13 months. If you’re struggling with credit card debt, they could be a valuable tool to get a reprieve from interest rate charges while you pay down that debt.

Otherwise, you’re probably better off looking at other tools for improving your credit score.

One such tool is Wollit. Wollit is a credit-building app that reports your fixed-fee monthly subscription as a loan repayment to all three major credit reference agencies. This helps you build a history of making repayments on time (just like a credit card does) but without the risk of unexpected fees. Unlike a credit card, anyone can sign up for a credit-building app like Wollit, regardless of their credit score.