I thought I was the perfect credit risk but now been refused twice in succession…..

stevebedford

Hi All,

I really would appreciate some advice please as I have just been refused 2 credit cards on the spot. This has never happened before and generally, credit card companies have always been throwing themselves at my feet with all sorts of great offers. I have never had anything refused.

In the past, I have always shopped around for different credit cards offering the best cashback, I have always paid the full balance every month and meticulously not paid a penny in interest or charges out of principle.

Then I read on MSE about stoozing, got the bug and totally hooked! Within days, I had about £33k heading to my current account and £4k heading to my wife’s. All of the cash was stoozed in Kaupthing Edge, so I have had a few heart stopping moments late last year but that’s another story!
This is what I stoozed from balance transfers:



May 2008 - Virgin - £14500 transferred to my bank account (0% BT for 15 months)
July 2008 - Sainsbury's CC - £5000 transferred my Egg Money card (0% on Sainsbury's purcahses for 12 months)
July 2008 - Halifax CC - £5000 transferred to my Egg Money card (0% on all purchases for 9 months)

July 2008 - Capital One - £7500 transferred to my Egg Money card (0% BT for 12 months)
July 2008 - MBNA (RAC) CC - £4000 transferred to my Egg Money card (0% BT for 9 months) - My wife is the main account holder on this one.



I then spent £4000 (the credit limit) on a GM card (0% for new purchases) and paid all the money off the day before the interest was due and then started spending on the Halifax CC.


Halifax have just written to me saying that they have reviewed my credit limit and dropped it from £9500 to £8200. I am pretty much at the £8200 limit so that has killed that one - Looks like they are on to me!



I was really hoping to pay off the GM CC with the Abbey Zero card. As this had no fees on balance transfers fitted the bill perfectly. I called them and went through weeks of hell!
“You already exist on our system from your previous credit card (which I had from March to August 2008) but we have you down as Mrs. not Mr. I will need to get a supervisor to change this and we’ll call you back to complete the application”. I heard nothing so I called them again. This operator said they had no record of the call and that we should start a new application under the title of Mr. and just ignore the previous one. So we did that. The result was that the decision had to go to the underwriting department and I would hear back “soon”. I heard nothing. I called them back after a few weeks (I am getting very close to needing to pay off that £4k by now!!) – They said they had no record of my applications!!! Abbey you are a total disgrace and should not be in business. Now, whilst Abbey itself is a total utter pile of crap that didn’t stop the “Zero Card” being a good offer though and I noticed that it was now possible to apply online (it was always previously call centre only). I did this and this time got a letter straight back saying that I have been rejected.

I didn’t really think that much of it, I knew Abbey were a truly awful company and given that the Abbey Zero card had been withdrawn from the market, I thought this may have been the reason for saying no.

The next best deal was the M&S card with a 10 month 0% offer on purchases. So I applied only to receive a “no thanks” e-mail back within 24 hours.

I have subscribed (for the free period) to Equifax Credit Watch Gold and cannot see anything untoward on my credit history. There are no missed payments and all the boxes appear to be “OK” and “green”. That said, the number of credit cards I have used, paid off and closed over the years is staggering. It’s a very very long list indeed!

So………..

• Is the Abbey debacle responsible for this?
• I paid off the £4k from the 0% GM CC literally 24 hours before it would have started attracting interest. Has that information been shared and put CC companies off?
• Halifax have dropped my credit limit from £9500 to £8200 surely something has generated a big red flag for them to do this or is it just a coincidence?
  
• I had a call from Capital One (not used for purchases as I have stoozed cash on here) the other day asking if I tried to book a flight in Italy as someone had! I said no – They said their fraud department had intercepted it before the transaction went through and they are changing the card details as a precaution, nothing more I need to do.
• My wife mixed her debit and credit cards the other day and accidentally withdrew £100 cash on a stoozed credit card (it’s a sore subject!)
• I have had an AmEx Platinum CC (5% cashback for 3 months capped at £200) and so has my wife so my Mother applied with me as the second card holder. Could this have done it?
• Are they on to me as I am clearly just not profitable for them? If this is the case, how do they know that as it would be difficult to see from the credit file?
  

Other than all of that, I cannot think of what has happened!


Maybe I have just been greedy and got my comeuppance? Should I contact Abbey and / or M&S and demand to know why? Should I try applying for another card somewhere else? Should I just accept that I have been greedy and they don't want to deal with me? Any advice on what I should do will be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance guys.

Wyndham

I'm not 100% on this, but I think it is better to space cards, rather than apply for 4 in one month. I suspect that is what has done it - you look a bit too desparate so they are reading that as 'bad news'.

Abbey can be a pile of *** though, and it won't have helped!

stevebedford

Thanks Wyndham.

Good feedback, all I would say is that I applied for the cards back in May / July 2008 and have been very quiet ever since, I have not applied for anything!

I do wonder whether I have been refused because:-

- Abbey - I have already had an Abbey card between March and August 2008. I used it for the 5% (I think it was 5%?) cashback on supermarket shopping then closed it when the offer finished. Also Zero is not available any more. So maybe that is the Abbey reason?

- Marks & Spencer - I see that this is backed by HSBC. I also have a GM CC which I stoozed just under £4k on new purchases and then paid the balance off the day before the interest was due. I closed it this morning. I see that this is backed by HSBC also (well HFC Bank - same thing). Maybe that is the reason for this one?

Time will tell!

IggyB

Hi Steve,

I've only briefly looked at your figures. You have to consider how your CRA profile looks to a prospective new lender.

To them you have run up unsecured credit card debts of £31,500 in just a few brief months through your balance transfers. Presume you're only making min payments so these debts will all still be showing on your file and won't have changed much. Only making minimum payments could be interpreted by them as you struggling to pay off the debt.

Don't know what the exact limits are on all the cards but if you've BT'd them to close to credit limit then they may also see you as nearing the limit of your available credit.

You have also maxed out a GM card and are spending on an AMEX card. Don't forget a cleared balance can sometimes take a couple of months before it is shown as cleared on the CRA report so the GM balance may still be on there.

If you have any other cards that have not been settled then these may count against you even if you're not using them.

Don't know what your total credit and/or debts are in relation to your salary ? If you're borrowing close to gross income, or have unused lines of credit that when added to outstanding balances approach this figure, then they may be getting twitchy.

Did first Abbey application result in a credit search. Second one will definitely have done so, as will M&S so you may now be showing three further recent searches. As Wyndham said this could be interpreted as you becoming desparate for more credit.

Meeting payments and having a rows of "green" on your file is not the only information they use to make a decision. I've had a similar problem myself in the past.

I'd give up for a few months and allow your credit file to clear up a bit before applying for any further credit. Stick to repeats from your existing lenders (if available) to avoid further searches.

Nothing to stop you writing to Abbey and M&S to see why they rejected you. They may say its based on credit file information, i.e. outstanding balances if all else is in order, so at least you'll know.

Good luck
Iggy

lisyloo

There are several reasons that I can think of

1) Massive global credit crunch - don't take it personally.
2) As you have said you don't make them any money, so people like you are not welcome as despite being a good risk, you don't pay any interest.
3) You have lots of availble credit.

Most of the things that you have described (like lowered credit limit) are happening to lots of people and it's part of the credit crunch and nothing you have do.

clio

Does lots of available unused credit really stop you from getting more. An example i have 2 cards zero balance,
just waiting for a short while to see if repeats are going to come through.

In the wait i could find a good deal but because ive got lots of unused credit i could get a decline. Then no offers come through on repeats i then close down cards and wait for those to apear on credit file.

And when they do i could look around for a good CC deal apply and get accepted. Is this something like how it works then??

exel1966

I wouldn't say your used credit lines are particularly high, there are many regular stoozers who have considerably higher amounts used or available, myself included.
However, how does all this stand in relation to other debts, salary, employment, marital status, address, history etc etc ? I wish it was as simple as comparing like for like, but it doesn't work that way.

The credit crunch will possibly have an effect, but that's pure speculation. It certainley hasn't stopped me or others (yet), though time will tell.

Frequent (definition of that is very debateable) applications in a short space of time doesn't help. Making multiple applications simultaneously is far more effective.

Personally I don't believe how profitable or not you are makes an iota of difference. I haven't paid interest for donkeys' years and have made plenty stoozing, so far I haven't encountered any problems.

You possibly haven't left long enough in re-applying via ShAbbey. Company time limits for new applications can vary between immediate and waiting 12 months. I'm just about to close down my ZERO card, purpose served, so I'll ask how long before another application, though I won't expect to get a definitive answer knowing how unknowledgeable their c/s staff are.

Credit is a mysterious black art, when you fathom it out, please let me into the secret, until then we can all speculate as to what we believe is happening.

PS. I would consider myself to have a near perfect history as you could possibly get, BUT i'm under no illusion as to being guaranteed to credit from anywhere.

Martinslovechild

I believe that the M&S card is underwritten by HSBC - do you have/have you had an HSBC card in the past perhaps? Maybe that has something to do with it?

BTW - out of interest, as most cards now operate a fee of around 3% (M&S 0% for spending and Abbey Zero 0% for BTs aside), this means that basic-rate taxpayers require savings accounts offering 3.6% or more (or 3% in a Cash ISA). My question therefore is 'Where are you investing your stooz-pot?'.

When I was stoozing heavily, I dropped it into my mortgage overpayment pot, so in effect I was earning a grossed-up version of my mortgage interest (i.e. if the mortgage was 4%, I effectively 'earned' 4% net - or 6.66% gross). This would still result in beneficial savings today for most people since many mortgages are 3% or more, but savings rates have gone down the pan in recent months and I've found zero benefit in BT cards other than those which offer 0% for spending...