Rejected. Twice. Why?

Willywonga_2 · 12 May 2017 at 9:23AM

I am confused by how credit card application decisions are made.

I have only been stoozing for three years now and have done so carefully. My first card was a Lloyds 0% Purchase card with a £12k limit, which I used the majority of. When that came to an end I applied for a Santander 0% (and 0 fee) BT card, with a £5,200 limit which I used to BT from the Lloyds and then paid down the remaining Lloyds debt and closed the card.

Six months later I applied for another 0% purchase card with Lloyds, granted, this time with a £8k maximum limit. When Santander ended, I paid it down and closed it.

Then I applied for a Tesco 0% purchase card which only gave me a limit of £3900 (which I’m still using). However my Lloyds card is coming to an end and my plan was to BT to another 0% card (with another provider).

So I recently applied for a Sainsbury card – rejected. I then applied for a another (can’t remember the provider) on the same day – rejected again. I have been forced to pay down the whole of the debt on the Lloyds card as I can’t BT and don't want to aply for another for fear of being yet again rejected.

My credit report was gleaming prior to these two rejected applications and it will now have left two black marks and I won’t be able to apply for another card. My total gross income is £55k / outgoings £25k.

Why have I been rejected? When I was rejected my credit utilization rate was 78% - was this possibly the reason? If so, but I thought this was the point of stoozing?!

How long should I now wait to apply for another card?

Why did one provider give me £12k credit but another only £3,900?

How long do rejected applications last on your credit file?

How often does your credit file get updated? What am I doing wrong?

How can I predict a) if I will be accepted and b) how much limit they will grant?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Deleted User] · 12 May 2017 at 9:26AM

Limits will typically become lower as your available credit increases.

Your utilisation will also be a concern

MallyGirl · 12 May 2017 at 9:48AM

Willywonga wrote: »

Then I applied for a Tesco 0% purchase card which only gave me a limit of £3900 (which I’m still using). However my Lloyds card is coming to an end and my plan was to BT to another 0% card (with another provider).

...

Why did one provider give me £12k credit but another only £3,900?

I have always found Tesco really mean with their limits. They gave me £4k last time just before Barclaycard gave me £18k.

EachPenny · 12 May 2017 at 10:48AM

Willywonga wrote: »

I am confused by how credit card application decisions are made.
...
How can I predict a) if I will be accepted and b) how much limit they will grant?

You aren't alone in that!

Looking at each company individually their processes will appear totally sane and rational. Looking as a consumer at the various companies together the whole system is random, irrational and insane. But it is a product of applying varying circumstances to processes with marginally different criteria that appear to produce random results.

I've been rejected for a £200 credit limit increase but then offered a new card with £4.5k.

I've been told I was a prime customer with a card waiting for me, then declined by the computer.

I've been sent marketing emails for a card with a minimum income criteria, by a bank that knows my income is less.

I've applied for a card online with assurances I'll get it, but been told to write via Royal Mail to appeal the subsequent decline.

None of it makes any sense

eskbanker · 12 May 2017 at 11:11AM

Willywonga wrote: »

How long do rejected applications last on your credit file?

How often does your credit file get updated? What am I doing wrong?

The obvious answer to these questions is to check your credit files regularly, to see what they look like! You mention that your credit report was 'gleaming' earlier, which suggests you may already do this (with all three of the CRAs?), but if so, then you should know how credit searches are shown - they aren't listed as rejected anyway, all that'll be recorded is the fact that a credit search was performed, not the outcome, so no 'black marks' as such.

Willywonga wrote: »

I thought this was the point of stoozing?!

You should bear in mind that stoozing is effectively savvy consumers (mis)using the facilities offered by these companies in a way that minimises their revenue/profitability while maximising the amounts borrowed, so they are unlikely to be enthusiastic about it and may calibrate their algorithms to reject prospective customers who they believe to be stoozing, as there's nothing in it for the lenders....

edinburgher · 12 May 2017 at 11:16AM

MallyGirl wrote: »

I have always found Tesco really mean with their limits. They gave me £4k last time just before Barclaycard gave me £18k.

Sometimes there seems to be no reason behind these things. Barclaycard only gave me £3k, Tesco were much more generous to me at £5.5k.

Ben8282 · 13 May 2017 at 2:40AM

You started off with a card with a 12k limit.
After expiry of the interest free period on this card, you obtained a new card with a 5.2k limit.
You then filled this card to the limit and closed the card with the 12k limit.
In doing this your available credit dropped from 17.2k to 5.2k and your utilisation % jumped up to something close to 100%. NOT GOOD
Then you got another card with an 8k limit, transferred the balance from the card with the 5.2k limit to it and promptly closed the card with the 5,2k limit. At this point you could have had 13.2k available credit, but through your actions in closing the 2nd card reduced that to 8k. NOT GOOD
And so on.
What are you doing wrong?
Keep closing accounts for a start. What is the average age of your credit accounts? Mine is a 3 figure number in months. What is yours?
Always transferring, never repaying, the 0% balance.
If your income is what you claim, what are you doing with your money so that you are constantly in debt?. At some point your debt will need to actually be repaid. You can't keep transferring it indefinitely.
Yes 78% utilisation is very high. A highly probable reason for rejection.
Rejected applications are not shown on your credit files, only the hard searches to show an application was made.
Now that you have paid off the balance, keep using the cards for purchases repaying in full every month. Forget about stoozing or incurring 0% debt for a while. And stop closing accounts!!!

edinburgher · 14 May 2017 at 8:11AM

Why are you talking about debt? OP has only mentioned stoozing

enthusiasticsaver · 14 May 2017 at 8:32AM

Stoozing is still debt isn't it? The credit card company doesn't know whether the money is being saved or spent. I would also say keep a credit card open, usually the one you had longest. Using up almost the whole of your available credit means you are more likely to be rejected as does continually opening and closing credit card accounts.

Affecting my credit record is one of the reasons why I never got into stoozing plus savings rates are so low I am sceptical that significant money can be made once bt fees are taken into account. I would wait 6 months before applying for anything else.

ceredigion · 14 May 2017 at 9:26AM

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Affecting my credit record is one of the reasons why I never got into stoozing plus savings rates are so low I am sceptical that significant money can be made once bt fees are taken into account. I would wait 6 months before applying for anything else.

Yes the returns are small, but there is never a need to pay a BT fee. But look at it another way. I am using the banks money to offset the effect of inflation on my own cash assets. Effectively allowing me to stand still in real terms and the bank taking the hit. Compound this over many years and all of a sudden ,stoozing has little to do with making a return.

edinburgher · 14 May 2017 at 1:00PM

Ben8282 appears to have grasped the wrong end of the stick entirely enthusiastic saver

Rejected. Twice. Why?

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