Credit card applications - how far back do they search?

somnerd13

In March I made a few credit card applications for 0% cards but clearly my credit rating wasn't good enough as none were accepted. I have since found out that my name wasn't on the electoral role at my address as I hadn't been moved in long. It's now approaching 6 months since my last card application and I have heard that they look back 6 months. Is this right or do some search more than 6 months back? Thankfully I managed to get a Barclaycard and use the 6.9% BT rate which is much better than the 18.9% I was paying.

NickX

somnerd13 wrote: »

I have since found out that my name wasn't on the electoral role at my address as I hadn't been moved in long.

I would strongly advise that you ensure that you are on the Electoral Role before making any more applications for credit.

This is pretty crucial to obtaining a decent line of credit and is the reason for many a rejection.

System

somnerd13 wrote: »

I have heard that they look back 6 months. Is this right or do some search more than 6 months back?

Where did you hear this? Nobody except the cc company really knows, and they're all likely to be different depending on their scoring criteria.

However, I would say it is unlikely that they wouldn't search at least a years history as stability is a major scoring factor - hence why, as NickX says, you also need to get yourself on the electoral roll.

Regards
UNDERGROUND

YorkshireBoy

NickX wrote: »

I would strongly advise that you ensure that you are on the Electoral Role before making any more applications for credit.

Which, I think, at this time of the year means waiting until after December 1st (when the annual postal canvas is complete and the CRA's have been given the information)...assuming of course you've returned the information requested to your local council's Electoral Services department between August and November?

dhassen

Searches done in march when you made your applications stay on your credit files for 6 months (EDIT no they don't it's 12, see below). The credit card companies however will look at your entire file, so if you defaulted or something in the past, this stays on file for 6 years. Regarding the searches, I would wait another month or two before applying for something else just to be safe. As others have said, make sure you're on the electoral register, even if you are on it, it may not have been updated to your credit files yet. This happened to me last year, it didn't appear on my file for a number of months.

benf90

dhassen wrote: »

Searches done in march when you made your applications stay on your credit files for 6 months. The credit card companies however will look at your entire file, so if you defaulted or something in the past, this stays on file for 6 years. Regarding the searches, I would wait another month or two before applying for something else just to be safe. As others have said, make sure you're on the electoral register, even if you are on it, it may not have been updated to your credit files yet. This happened to me last year, it didn't appear on my file for a number of months.

Just a quick correction, credit searches remain on file for 12 months.

That's unless things have changed recently. The FAQs on the Experian website still states 12 months.

"We keep a record of all searches for 12 months. This allows lenders to take account of previous credit searches when you apply for credit. Your report does not show whether or not an application was successful. Keeping searches also means that we can tell companies who have searched a report in the past six months if we make any changes to it."

dhassen

yep your right, cheers for that

somnerd13

NickX wrote: »

I would strongly advise that you ensure that you are on the Electoral Role before making any more applications for credit.

This is pretty crucial to obtaining a decent line of credit and is the reason for many a rejection.

Sorry I should have made it clear in my OP. I am now on the electoral role. In fact, I was at the time of the applications in March, but my credit file hadn't been updated and still said that I was not. It now says that I am.