Good credit score - refused credit

sazzle101_2

PLEASE HELP... i have just been refused credit cards for the 1st time in Nov & then again today - can anyone shed any light on why or is it just the curse of the credit crunch? I have 2 credit cards (totaling £8k) and transfer my balances every 12 months or so ... no problem until now.

My credit report (experian credit expert) says my credit score is excellent (970/1000) - there is nothing bad in my full credit report from Credit Expert at all. I have sent this off to both Virgin and Cap One but have been given no explaination of why I am being refused - they will of course offer me a credit card at 34%.

I have never missed payments, work part time and have a decent wage, have no ccjs or defaults. I do have quite a lot of debt about £20k in total - I also have a joint morgage with my partner who has very poor credit score and has had ccjs but would this affect me? It never has in the past and we have been together 5 years.

Can't bear the thought of paying interest to these companies but its looking like I have no choice.....

Any help / advice would be really useful.... xxx

latecomer

You have a reasonable amount of debt and you are linked to someone with a bad credit history, thats more than likely why you are being rejected for new cards. A lot of lenders are being more strict with their lending criteria these days so that could explain why its only becoming a problem recently.

lisyloo

It sounds like you are not living within your means even though you've got more than one income coming in.
You need to get control of your finances especially now when interest rates are relativbely low but the chance of job loss is high.
Try one of the debt boards.
There are lots of people with experience who will help you get your budgeting under control.

Cash_Flow

sazzle101 wrote: »

PLEASE HELP... i have just been refused credit cards for the 1st time in Nov & then again today - can anyone shed any light on why or is it just the curse of the credit crunch? I have 2 credit cards (totally £8k) and transfer my balances every 12 months or so ... no problem until now.

My credit report (equifax) says my credit score is excellent (970/1000) - there is nothing bad in my full credit report from Equifax at all. I have sent this off to both Virgin and Cap One but have been given no explaination of why I am being refused - they will of course offer me a credit card at 34%.

I have never missed payments, work part time and have a decent wage, have no ccjs or defaults. I do have quite a lot of debt about £20k in total - I also have a joint morgage with my partner who has very poor credit score and has had ccjs but would this affect me? It never has in the past and we have been together 5 years.

Can't bear the thought of paying interest to these companies but its looking like I have no choice.....

Any help / advice would be really useful.... xxx

Hi

If you have a Joint mortgage with your partner, in the eyes of lender you and your partner are finically associated.

This will now mean that when you apply for credit the lender will request both your own and partners credit file.

You say that in the past you have had no problem obtaining new credit cards, the problem is that today the criteria is tighter. In this current climate lenders will be thinking that if your partner runs into finacial problems again, you could be left to pay the mortgage, purchase the food etc etc.

YorkshireBoy

I think you may have answered your own question, but to summarise...

1. Although unlikely, the CCJ's may not be registered with all CRA's.
2. You only work part-time.
3. Your partner has a poor credit rating.
4. You may not have closed down old cards as you've finished with them. Consequently you now have too much available credit.
5. You have £20K of personal (unsecured?) debt, and a mortgage. How much is a "decent wage" for part-time work?
6. And above all, we now have a credit crunch.

sazzle101_2

cra**y - time to start seriously paying things off then - I have savings but always been reluctant to use them when I had access to 0%ers.

Thanks.