Capital One: pleasant phone call following my appeal

Watson

I was recently refused by Capital One and sent in an appeal letter. Today, some three weeks later, I received a phone call from them: a very affable lady asked me about my income and my other cards (but with no exact details - she wanted to know how many cards I held, whether they had outstanding balances and what uses I made of them, but she never asked for figures).

She also wanted to know how long I'd been self-employed, and even apologised for ringing me at all - "I hope I'm not disturbing you when you're busy".

In short, she basically went over the information which I'd already given on my original application. She then said that the matter would be considered today and a letter would go off to me this evening.

It was such a pleasant conversation that I almost won't mind if they turn me down again. What a pity all financial business can't be that civilised!

Watson

$17mma

Update:

Have you heard from them since? have they now agreed to give you the card? and under what conditions did you appeal?

Watson

$17mma wrote:

Have you heard from them since?

Yes, I have.

Have they now agreed to give you the card?

No, they haven't. I received a slightly odd letter - obviously a form letter, but when I first read it, it felt like one tailored for a particular set of circumstances. It says, in part:

When we processed your application, we asked the Credit Reference agencies, noted below, about you and about people who you have a financial link with - for example, people who you share a joint bank account with, or who you have jointly applied for a type of credit with, eg a mortgage or a loan. The information that they gave us was considered in our decision.

The odd thing about this is that it's over twenty years since I applied for credit jointly with another person (a mortgage with my then-wife) and nearly six years since I had a joint bank account (which was closed when we divorced). I haven't yet checked my Experian and Equifax reports, but it seems very surprising that anything dating from so long ago, and when my circumstances were so different, should affect a credit card application today. So I suspect that it's just a general, all-purpose letter after all, and the real reason for the refusal wasn't linked to anyone else.

...and under what conditions did you appeal?

No particular circumstances. I applied online and receved a standard, non-specific refusal - though looking at it again, I see that it also contains very similar wording to the above, about "people who you have a financial link with". I didn't pick that up at the time. Anyway, the first letter included a line saying that I was free to appeal - so I did.

Watson

cjbaps

It would be well worth checking your credit details! I joined Equifax in August and found my ex was still down as an associate DESPITE never having had a joint account - he applied for one without my knowledge, but I refused to sign it, so it was never activated. ANyway - I did this immediately and have since managed to get a Capital One card and then my bank offered me a £3000 limit credit card at the end of October!

Good luck!

Watson

cjbaps wrote:

It would be well worth checking your credit details!

Thanks for that. I've now checked with both Equifax and Experian, and there are no entries on either for anything to do with my ex-wife.

So I managed to get turned down all on my own!

Watson