Declined for Pre Approved Credit Card

kristianity77

Hi

I recently went to my bank for something quite trivial (needed a new chip and pin card) and the lady at the bank said to me (from a popup on her screen perhaps, i dont know) that i was pre approved for a credit card with my bank.

I explained to her that i knew my credit wasnt very good and i didnt want declining for anything as i knew that would make matters worse? (My below average credit rating stems from a few years ago when i got behind on a couple of things, all sorted out now)

Anyway, i was assured that because it was pre approved everything would be ok. I thought this would be a good start to getting my credit back on track. So i signed the forms whilst i was there, and was on my way.

Imagine my horror when a couple of days ago i got a letter from my bank saying the had declined my application because my credit wasnt good enough! I didnt ask for the card, they offered to me saying it was already approved!

So now through no fault of my own i now have a further black mark agianst me for a failed application which i never intended to do. I only did it because i was told i could have it

Am i just going to have to take this on the chin or is there anything i can do? I dont really want the credit card, but i most certainly dont want the black mark i have now gotten

Thanks in advance , Kris

NickX

My understanding is that other lenders will not actually see that you were declined, they can just see the search that was made.

So, I don't think that it should reduce your Credit Rating too much, however I appreciate your frustration when you were told that you were "pre-approved". I would be tempted to appeal on this basis or even make a complaint that you were miss-lead to believe that you had already been approved\accepted.

Good Luck.

msaquib

Hi,

Which bank was it?

MS

ferry

I had this with Halifax.
I usually bank online and the offer appeared as part of a 'Pre-Approved' offer banner,along with a personal loan offer.
Needless to say that when I applied I was refused.That was last year so I hope that the negative effect of an extra uneccassary search has died off.
I wish I had taken the matter further now thinking about it as I would like to have had that search removed altogether.
I understand that its quite difficult to do as they have to pay a certain amount to have have this done.

ldn-100

Pre-approved offers are often based on the information banks already have available to them and there is always a chance of rejection if they uncover something they were not aware of when doing further checks. Although this is often not explicit.

The record of the search on your credit file will be gone in 12 months.

chilli_dog

My money is on it being the Natwest

YorkshireBoy

ferry wrote: »

I had this with Halifax.
I usually bank online and the offer appeared as part of a 'Pre-Approved' offer banner,along with a personal loan offer.
Needless to say that when I applied I was refused.

I had a different experience with Halifax and 'pre-approved' cards.

I was accepted without a credit search and given a very healthy limit. The 'pre-approved' offer was still there two weeks later so I applied again and bagged another card with an identical limit. They then removed the offer from my online area. :rolleyes:

I did make my applications by phone though (via their current account online help desk IIRC), and checked with them that they wouldn't search me first. I knew they wouldn't when they launched straight into the questions without first reading me the "we may search the files of..." script.

Later confirmed that there were no searches recorded by checking my credit report.

kristianity77

Hi all, yes it was with Natwest
And also, there is no way that my credit can possibly have worsened in the last 2+ years as everything has gone back to normal. So what exactly are they basing the pre approval on?

chilli_dog

I doubt there was a pre approved offer in all honesty. SOunds like a trick to get you to apply. Natwest are notorious for it. Get a copy of your credit file just to be on the safe side

pam0

in natwest it is possible to be declined even though the screen says u are approved. it is rare but does happen. the screen that says ur pre approved isnt solely based on ur credit rating other things affect ie which account u have, how u operate that etc, so thats partly why it will say approved.

nzseries1

pam0 wrote: »

in natwest it is possible to be declined even though the screen says u are approved. it is rare but does happen. the screen that says ur pre approved isnt solely based on ur credit rating other things affect ie which account u have, how u operate that etc, so thats partly why it will say approved.

So are you saying that it's fair that somebody is "pre-approved", even though they may still get declined? Are Natwest using a different English dictionary to look up the meaning of the word "approved"?