Not so PC World

DavidJ

Our son needed a new laptop and used the money he had for presents at Christmas to pay for half of the cost. We agreed to take out a 12 month deferral of payment for him so he had time to get the rest of the money to pay for it. We are talking under £200

We gave all the details to the assistant who entered them onto the system to check our status, including: -.

Are you full time working Yes
how long with the company 25 years
How long in your property 24 years
How long with your bank 25 years.

Result, credit declined. No reasons no comebacks. How can we be turned down? We have never been refused credit before.

Are we going blacklisted for some reason? If so why now?

We ended up paying for the PC on our credit card as our son had to go back to his home next day. I felt like telling them to stuff it but we were so shocked.

Can anyone advised please?

Anon

Generally they will not tell you why, but as this was a credit deal they are very likely to have run a check on you with the credit reference agencies.

Get a copy of your credit report from Experian and/or Equifax (credit reference agencies) to see if there is anything on there that shouldn't be - if you have not done so already, you can sign up to free online trials for both (and get paid to do so through www.Quidco.co.uk and other cashback sites - don't forget to cancel before the end of the free trial!). If you have already done these deals, you can get a copy of reports from both for £2 each and can order these online.

Anon

Lil_Mothachucka

find out which bank the store staff applied for credit, contact the said bank and ask about your application and reasons for getting it declined.

earthmother

It may also be nothing to do with your credit rating as such, but the fact that you were asking for a relatively small (as you yourself said) amount.

The way everyone's finances are going these days, most companies will start shying away from low level or shorter term loans - they don't earn them that much money, and if you did default for some reason, it would cost them proportionately more to chase your debt than one for say £2000 - hence not making it a good prospect for them either way (especially as this was also a 'pay later' deal).

I've often heard it said (and experienced it myself) that it is far easier to get credit for large sums/long terms than for small sums/short terms.

DavidJ

Thanks very much Anon and Lil_Mothachucka

I have contacted the non-lenders after registering with Credit Expert. There is nothing on there to suggest I am a risk. Credit Expert cannot understand it either except that different banks have different reasons for deciding not to give credit (non of which they will tell you). Apparently I have to wait for a letter saying I have been declined and then appeal. How good is that????

The only thing Credit Expert can suggest is that I appeal to HFC Bank. I am very unhappy. The only suggestion I have had is that I may too much credit! How mad is that?

tinkerbell84

DavidJ wrote: »

The only thing Credit Expert can suggest is that I appeal to HFC Bank. I am very unhappy. The only suggestion I have had is that I may too much credit! How mad is that?

Errrr, not mad at all. People borrowing too much is what has led to this economic crisis!

juliapenguin

I have no idea if it's relevant but when I once queried why I'd been turned down for credit, my record came back blank ie 'unknown risk' - they said it was probably because I had no debts and no credit card (I used a debit card then) so there was just no information. Sounded a bit odd to me but there you go.

stephen77

martin has article on credit ratings on the opening page.

It may be of help.

suzi_69

juliapenguin wrote: »

I have no idea if it's relevant but when I once queried why I'd been turned down for credit, my record came back blank ie 'unknown risk' - they said it was probably because I had no debts and no credit card (I used a debit card then) so there was just no information. Sounded a bit odd to me but there you go.

Almost the same thing happened to my sister - she was offered a Debenhams store card when she was paying for an expensive, designer dress - if she signed up there & then, she got £X amount of discount off the dress. Due to the value of the item she decided it was worth it, so they took her details & then she had to wait at the tills to be told that they would only give her a £75 credit limit, as she had no credit history - at the time she had no loans/credit cards! As the dress was almost 3 times this amount, she declined & paid by debit card but was left feeling really upset & red-faced!! She was treated like she was to blame!