Sneaky counteroffer from CapitalOne?

dogfurnace

Hi there,

I recently applied for CapitalOne's No Hassle card at 6.9%, including a £4000 BT from my HSBC gold card. I duly received a letter several days later stating that I was tentatively approved, subject to me mailing them 2 documents proving my address. I posted the documents two days later.

Now today I receive a letter from CapitalOne that reads: "Thank you for your recent credit card application. We are sorry that we were unable to give you an account when you applied previously. But we have an alternative card which we think would meet your needs and you have been pre-approved".... they then go on to offer me some garbage card at 24.0% APR with a limit of £400!

So... is this normal procedure? It seems really sneaky and backhanded to me to inform me that i have been approved for when in fact I haven't been approved at all. I would be interested to hear what my fellow consumers think about this. My initial thoughts were to tell them where to go but from what I have read on this site this may not be the prudent thing to do. I was already turned down outright by AMEX in December, so don't want to waste another search on my credit report just to get turned down again by yet another creditor. Any advice is appreciated.

Points in my favour:
- I earn over 50k gross
- CreditExpert shows I have a clean credit report, I'm on the electoral roll etc.

Points agains me:
- I have lived in the UK for less than 2 years
- My flatmate has all utilities and council tax in her name, not mine

First post! Sorry if it's long winded...

Paul_Herring

dogfurnace wrote:

So... is this normal procedure?

From Capital One? Most certainly in my experience (with the possible exception of a lack of a definitive turn down letter from them).

I applied for a 0% BT some time ago. They turned me down.

They then sent me "...this card would be better for you..." letter. Needless to say that since it was an card offering an interest bearing BT I just ignored it. They sent another a month later offering similar terms which I ignored. They sent a third (forgot timing on this now) offering 0% BT (lower limit) which I snapped up.

One thing you don't mention at the end of your post is anything to do with the electoral register. This suggests you haven't looked at your credit reports from Experian and Equifax to see what Capital One have seen.

dogfurnace

Paul_Herring wrote:

One thing you don't mention at the end of your post is anything to do with the electoral register. This suggests you haven't looked at your credit reports from Experian and Equifax to see what Capital One have seen.

...Actually I did mention under "Points in my favour". I signed up for the 30 days free trial with Experian's CreditExpert service, which allows me to view my credit report online instantly. My record is clean and I am on the electoral register. I also paid Experian an extra £4.99 to view their version of my credit score, which is FAIR, with a score over 800 out of a 1000 (can't remember exactly what it is).

I guess I will call them and see what they say. Otherwise I'll just turn it down, try and improve my credit score somehow, and apply for whatever the best deal is in a couple of months.

Thanks.

Bezmonduk

I had a similar experience with Capital One - 0% fixed till Jan 2007 - I was accepted, then they sent me a standard visa card - after complaining, they told me I had been turned down for the 0% (which I hadn't as I kept all the letters they sent) and would have to pay off the balance before re-applying (which I can't afford to do in one payment)
so now I am stuck with a card that I am paying more interest on than the card I transferred from !

davisneil

i think you need to be resident for at least 3 years with a good credit history for them to consider you a 'little or no risk' customer.

i dont think your credit file migrates from the original country when you move to the uk, so you need to start afresh. I would take that card and pay in full every month, then just wait for them to offer wonderful things once they find out they wont make money out of you due to paying in full (just like they did to me!)

nuttyrockeress

Do you have other cards with high limits. This also goes against you. Regardless of how much you have on these cards it is more so the available credit you have to you.