Co-op Cashminder account problem

k2nga

Gaz1971 wrote: »

It seems the days of a BR friendly account are gone. As mentioned earlier in this thread, Co Op do a credit check now, despite saying they dont, and refuse you and Barclays do the same, I have had an application turned down there due to what was on my Equifax file. I went in branch with ID to find out why and they said its the BR!

With Barclays you will be turned down if you are BR. You have to appeal and they know this in Branch and once they do this you should get the account. Its what happened to me you will get there in the end.

dvs

Gaz1971 wrote: »

It seems the days of a BR friendly account are gone. As mentioned earlier in this thread, Co Op do a credit check now, despite saying they dont, and refuse you and Barclays do the same, I have had an application turned down there due to what was on my Equifax file. I went in branch with ID to find out why and they said its the BR!

Apply by post with Barclays. I was declined in the branch twice. I applied by post and it was accepted without a credit search. You need to get your ID verified in the branch with the branch stamp and the till stamp. I also included my bankruptcy petition as it proves it I have no debts (the telephone staff said to send this).

nickc25

k2nga wrote: »

With Barclays you will be turned down if you are BR. You have to appeal and they know this in Branch and once they do this you should get the account. Its what happened to me you will get there in the end.

I was discharged 3 years ago...

k2nga

yeah but the BR will stay on your credit file for 6 and the credit check will show that and fail you.

Gaz1971

dvs wrote: »

Apply by post with Barclays. I was declined in the branch twice. I applied by post and it was accepted without a credit search. You need to get your ID verified in the branch with the branch stamp and the till stamp. I also included my bankruptcy petition as it proves it I have no debts (the telephone staff said to send this).

I got my ID stamped in branch and applied by post, twice, boh refused, I appealed, twice, and both failed.

I sent BR petition and the letter of discharge along with ID and was told I was refused due to BR!

The situation at Barclays has changed regarding bankrupts

dvs

Gaz1971 wrote: »

I got my ID stamped in branch and applied by post, twice, boh refused, I appealed, twice, and both failed.

I sent BR petition and the letter of discharge along with ID and was told I was refused due to BR!

The situation at Barclays has changed regarding bankrupts

Well that's strange as my account was only opened 10 days ago and I'm not yet discharged. Once I received the cash card, I went to the branch to request it be changed to a Connect card - which all went through ok (on the old system). I think I've already said in this thread that I had problems opening in the branch (failed twice) so I applied by post (first failed as branch did not verify ID but second time was successful - although it took three weeks).

Out of curiosity, did you request a cash card or Connect card in your application for the account? When you say applied by post, did you send it to the main centre or your local branch?

If not Barclays or Co-operative, then you could try the Step Account at Natwest (as your discharged). In branch, their system asks if you've ever been made bankrupt and if yes is selected, the next question asks if you have proof of discharge (in which case the account can be opened but it has to be sent off). Worth a shot and it is not credit scored. It only comes with a Solo card which I think is accepted in less places than the Electron card.

fiveyearplan

I've been using my son's solo card and haven't been declined anywhere yet.

nickc25

It is annoying. The banks have played a massive role in peoples debts and then when things go wrong, they blame the person and refuse even a basic account. The government should be stepping in with the current rates of IVAs and bankruptcies more and more people are going to be needing to open basic accounts. I was allowed to open an account with barclays during my BR but I closed it once I got my nationwide one because the barclays one didnt even have internet banking which was a little silly on their behalf, it probably costs them less to enable internet banking than having people come into branch or get postal statements etc.

I hope something is done about the situation and now the government are starting to take over the banks by the looks of things they should be looking at things with common sense. It is still as easy to get credit as it was 5-6 years ago, my brother is heavily in debt (not listened to any of my advice or experience!!) and he is continued to be given credit cards and loans despite being maxed out all over the place. By the time I was 22 I had £69,000 worth of debt and I was earning less than £14,000 per year, the sums do not add up and eventually I was getting loans to pay others off, getting cards to pay others off and living on credit cards and loan income in the end. I did not even miss 1 single payment on any account (which I think was quite impressive because my outgoings was double my income in the end lol) before I started an IVA in 2004 and then I finally had to give in in 2005 and stop my IVA payments after discovering that my £300 monthly payments, £150 per month were going to the IVA company and I just felt it was a big rip off and also Nationwide also asked for £1500 out of the blue too because a year earlier £1500 had been paid into my account in error and I was told by Nationwide that it was their mistake and I could do with it what I want, this was just before Christmas so being heavily in dept it was a great releif to get some funds, but a year or so later they put my account £1450 (see file above) overdrawn and then I had an intelligent finance credit card which was not included in my IVA for some reason and that was another £4,000 to pay monthly payments on. I just lost my job and wanted to be self employed, so I figured that going bankrupt would be the fresh start I needed because I had no assets apart from my car which I wanted them to repossess anyway because I got a car on motability (for some reason the DLA did not tell me about the scheme until I was 23 which was quite annoying!!). But now 3 years after discharge I have these outstanding incorrect balances on my file which is hampering opening an account. I want to setup a limited company for my business and I think I am going to struggle in opening a business bank account now too.

Sorry for the long post, I just see the same thing happening to other people and something needs to be done, the banks should be forced to stop lending money like they do, my fiancee applied to Barclaycard the other day and the card came in the post the next day, which was brilliant, but it was all too easy. It is not a problem in her case because the card is just for a balance transfer and the other card is the only card. I know a few students who are given thousands of pounds overdrafts and credit cards desipite only having part time jobs, it is just all too easy and something has gotta give if this economy is going to turn round.

While my spending was due to depression after my auntie killing herself and also my disability, it was all too easy to get credit and get lots of different current accounts with free overdrafts (hence the smile account) and just have "free" money to use whenever I wanted, but after a few years it came to a head and I did not want to miss payments so I did the IVA and later the BR. Imagine if I had started to miss payments, all those letters I would have got from the banks, all those phone calls, threats etc. No wonder many people are driven to suicide by the banks and their horrible ways. I have learnt that not to worry about money, friends, family etc are the most important things in life and I have tried to tell this to other people who are worried about a silly thing such as their name appearing in tiny text in a paper miles away about the bankrupty and worrying about what will happen. My advice to anyone thinking about bankruptcy is to just do it as quick as possible and start again, do not worry about what other people will think and have a fresh start. If you are thinking of Bankruptcy then things must be bad in terms of keeping payments, so the best thing to do is to just go ahead and do it and get the banks off your back as quick as possible, it was one of the best days of my life in a way because I started a fresh.

Long post over lol

dvs

fiveyearplan wrote: »

I've been using my son's solo card and haven't been declined anywhere yet.

Well that's good. I had my Co-op Electron card declined in several places. The most annoying is when buying rail tickets at my local station. Have yet to try the Barclays Connect card as I understand there is a floor limit which may or may not prevent me from buying tickets. They've just installed a cash machine at the station so not the end of the world anyway.

nickc25

To the person who said about barclays, looks like I applied for a regular barclays account because I have had a declined letter in the post as I applied online.

I have to keep my yearly income in a savings account and pay myself a wage, so there is always a decent amount of money between my savings and current accounts but they may not look at that as a criteria? That is the only issue with them I have is not being upgraded in that period because I have never had a bounced direct debit etc. It is just a shame someone cannot make a sensible desision and just let me have a debit card as there is no way I would go overdrawn. It might be because my credit file still says "current balance" to them which needs correcting. The problem is I cannot find any information at all about these 9 accounts such as account numbers etc.

Plus I can take cash out abroad in Florida for free and take what I need thus not overspending. I currently hardly spend any money at all per month as the mortgage payments are on a 6 month mortgage holiday because of my fiancees maternity leave which is due to end in May but even then it is only £250 each and then the gas, electic etc which we only spend £700 per year on them. So I would not use a debit card that much really but would be handy to have one, it is probably why I do not spend much because spending things means I have to transfer money into her account which takes 3 days and by that time I change my mind about buying something most of the time!!