Turned down by nationwide for a current account despite having a good credit score

ddodgeman

Hi

I have just returned from my local branch of Nationwide having failed for the 3rd time to establish why they have rejected my application for a flexaccount current account with debit card.

At first they suggested it was because of my credit score so I checked with experian & equifax who both showed me as having a good credit score with no problems or missed payments.

I have a mortgage & a good job, am on the electoral roll, already have 2 current accounts elsewhere ( which I read should not be a problem) and never miss a payment or go over my overdraft limit.

The person I spoke to at experian told me he could see no reason why i would be rejected for a current account & to go back to nationwide & ask what was going on.

I rang their main number & received all sorts of conflicting information before finally being told to go back to my branch as they had not completed the application.

However at the branch I was told that even though I had a good external credit score i.e. from experian I had a poor internal credit score measured by nationwide's own criteria. I was told that at branch level they would have no idea what the criteria was & so as far as they were concerned that is the end of that - classic computer says no.

I have seen from other threads that I am not alone in having expereinced this & wondered if there is anything else I can do.

I am pretty fed up with my main account at Barclays & am looking to change but this has knocked my confidence in that I do not want to get another rejection & risk harming my credit score.

I know that a bank has the right to pick and choose its customers but I dislike that I am not able to find out why I have been turned down. I thought that the whole point of being able to check info. held by the likes of experian was to make sure that everything there was correct & to give you an idea of what your credit worthiness is.

But if the likes of nationwide operate a parallel system that is not open to scrutiny what chance is there of knowing your credit worthiness as judged by unknown criteria that somehow differs from that held by experian et al. which is good enough it seems to secure a £100,000 mortgage but not to get a nationwide debit card. Bizarre.

I applied for the nationwide account via martin's travel money recommendation in order to cut down on charges whilst abroad however if my experience is as common as other threads indicate shouldn't there be a word of warning alongside this advice. After all it's less of a great deal & more of a big con if no-one can actually get there hands on one of these accounts & simply ends up wasting a lot of time & effort.

I feel like I have failed some sort of secret credit test & have no idea what I did wrong.

Any one else in the same boat or who can shed some light on this I'd like to hear from you.

Paul_Herring

You could try writing to their complaints department asking for an explanation, or maybe file a DPA request for any and all information that they hold on you, especially with regard to why they are refusing your application based on 'internally held data.'

ddodgeman

Thanks Paul,

How do you go about a data protection request tho' I will try their complaints dept. first anyhow & see how I get on.

Paul_Herring

Look on the 'claiming back bank charges' board - I'd assume one of the stickies at the top there details the procedure.

It will be from the side of 'getting a list of charges at minimum cost' - but you'll be applying for 'what they hold that is preventing you from successfully applying for an account.'

I'd hang on a while though, to see if others have any other/better ideas.

efallai

From my limited knowledge of current accounts and bank credit scoring I would suggest that to Nationwide you are obviously a customer that is highly unlikely to accrue any charges and thus not make them any money. I successfully opened a Flex account with Nationwide in March and my Experian credit score on the website was 840. Yours is obviously higher than mine as I'd had a missed payment in the last year and have quite a few accounts/credit cards and a loan...

Paul_Herring

I was able to open a Nationwide current account without any missed payments on my CR reports.

Nationwide are perfectly able to make money out of customers that don't incur charges (they don't have a decent in-credit interest rate, e.g.)

Kavanne

Oh yeah when I opened my flexaccount I'd missed a payment on my CC a few months before... maybe that's what they like!?

Only offered a cash card though but that's all I need as the Nationwide CC can be for abroad shop purchases and cash card for abroad withdrawals

formulaonefan

ddodgeman, you are not alone in this mate. banks are like that. HSBC gave me 30 days notice all of a sudden. i have been with them for 8 years and i dont see why they would do that. i have written to them and still waiting for a response.

write a complain letter to nationwide. send photocopies of your payslip, your experian credit report etc. explain in your letter you might take this to financial ombusman and see what happens.

Natan358

ddodgeman wrote: »

Hi

I have just returned from my local branch of Nationwide having failed for the 3rd time to establish why they have rejected my application for a flexaccount current account with debit card.

At first they suggested it was because of my credit score so I checked with experian & equifax who both showed me as having a good credit score with no problems or missed payments.

I have a mortgage & a good job, am on the electoral roll, already have 2 current accounts elsewhere ( which I read should not be a problem) and never miss a payment or go over my overdraft limit.

The person I spoke to at experian told me he could see no reason why i would be rejected for a current account & to go back to nationwide & ask what was going on.

I rang their main number & received all sorts of conflicting information before finally being told to go back to my branch as they had not completed the application.

However at the branch I was told that even though I had a good external credit score i.e. from experian I had a poor internal credit score measured by nationwide's own criteria. I was told that at branch level they would have no idea what the criteria was & so as far as they were concerned that is the end of that - classic computer says no.

I have seen from other threads that I am not alone in having expereinced this & wondered if there is anything else I can do.

I am pretty fed up with my main account at Barclays & am looking to change but this has knocked my confidence in that I do not want to get another rejection & risk harming my credit score.

I know that a bank has the right to pick and choose its customers but I dislike that I am not able to find out why I have been turned down. I thought that the whole point of being able to check info. held by the likes of experian was to make sure that everything there was correct & to give you an idea of what your credit worthiness is.

But if the likes of nationwide operate a parallel system that is not open to scrutiny what chance is there of knowing your credit worthiness as judged by unknown criteria that somehow differs from that held by experian et al. which is good enough it seems to secure a £100,000 mortgage but not to get a nationwide debit card. Bizarre.

I applied for the nationwide account via martin's travel money recommendation in order to cut down on charges whilst abroad however if my experience is as common as other threads indicate shouldn't there be a word of warning alongside this advice. After all it's less of a great deal & more of a big con if no-one can actually get there hands on one of these accounts & simply ends up wasting a lot of time & effort.

I feel like I have failed some sort of secret credit test & have no idea what I did wrong.

Any one else in the same boat or who can shed some light on this I'd like to hear from you.

nationwide did that to me aswell, but i didnt try 3 times, only the once, i said i wasnt going to pay my salary into the account and only wanted it for use abroad so i reckon they take that into account, they may have accepted me if i was paying into the account, its bullcrp really, my score was good aswell, i would understand if i applied for a huge loan or massive overdraft on the account but i didnt, i doubt i will go back, ill find an alternative

Inactive

Natan358 wrote: »

nationwide did that to me aswell, but i didnt try 3 times, only the once, i said i wasnt going to pay my salary into the account and only wanted it for use abroad so i reckon they take that into account, they may have accepted me if i was paying into the account, its bullcrp really, my score was good aswell, i would understand if i applied for a huge loan or massive overdraft on the account but i didnt, i doubt i will go back, ill find an alternative

I don't have my salary paid in to NW, but they opened a Flexaccount for me, a little tip, open a savings account with them, put a few quid in it, that seems to have done the trick for me.

System

Maybe your not the customer profile that they are looking for.

They seem to put more effort into stopping people use them as a secondary account over the past year, I've noticed.
They have tried to withdraw the CashCard version to people with accounts elsewhere, and put more emphasis on people fully switching in the full FlexAccount..