Rejected for cards - credit score too good?

turbojohnny

Hello All,

I'm new here so aplogies if this has been covered before; I've done a quick search and couldn't find anything.

I have over the last few years been spending on credit cards and either paying them off in full at the end of the 0% deals, or balance transferring. I applied for a new card in June and got rejected.

I requested a copy of my credit file thinking i'd find something wrong with it, but all seemed to be in order. There were records of several credit cards (three with balances), my contract mobile phone, and two bank accounts with (unused) overdrafts. The info was 100% - not a single missed payment.

My initial thoughts after reading various articles on here, were that I had access to too much available credit, so in July I cancelled four old cards which had been paid off.

I still have two cards (Natwest and Egg) which I spend on and are paid in full by DD every month. I have a good income and live in a rented house and am on the electoral register at that address.

I have applied for another 0% purchase card today (Sainsburys) and been rejected. So my question is, have the card companies sussed what i'm up to and that they wont make any money out of me, and subsequently black listed me? Anybody else had the same experiences and how do you get round it?

Thank you in advance.

Moggles_2

Welcome to MSE!

There are three credit reference agencies. May I ask which one you checked?

turbojohnny

Yes it with Experian. Thanks

izools

Are the closed accounts showing as settled?
How many credit searches have been performed on your Experian file in the last six months?
How old is your newest account?

These may contribute to your credit score so if you have a recently opened account or made several applications recently you may seem a high risk to potential lenders

turbojohnny

Hello,

Thank you for the replies.

The old accounts are showing as settled, but since closing the other cards in July I have not re-checked my file to see if they are recorded as closed.

There have been six searches on my file over the last six months including one for when I applied for a savings account under the title - Identification: Money Laundering Prevention

Newest account was opened January 2009.

Thank you in advance.

John

izools

Any more than two searches in a six month period, is frowned upon heavily by a potential new creditor. Searches resulting form you checking your fle and Identification checks don't count - only searches like "Credit Card", "Bank Account", "Loan", "Mobile Phone", etc are counted.

I'd wait until some of the searches age a bit, once you have two or fewer searches recorded in the last six months, and your old accounts are showing closed, and finally once your newest account is atleast a year old, you should be in a very strong position to be accepted for almost anything you apply for, assuming the rest of your application form details are in order (i.e. been in current job for several years etc).

Good luck, and keep us posted

never-in-doubt

izools wrote: »

Any more than two searches in a six month period, is frowned upon heavily by a potential new creditor.

Good luck, and keep us posted

I think you need to be precise - any more than 6 in 6 months is frowned upon and any more than 10 per annum is.

People apply for 4/5 cards at once so would be unfair to 'frown' after just 2 searches, which isn't the case anyway :rolleyes:

speedbird1973

Any more than two searches in a six month period, is frowned upon heavily by a potential new creditor. Searches resulting form you checking your fle and Identification checks don't count - only searches like "Credit Card", "Bank Account", "Loan", "Mobile Phone", etc are counted.


RUBBISH!! I have 6 searches in the last 2 months. I have a Mortgage, 4 credit cards and "no ta" letter to show for it! The rejection was the 2nd search - the mortgage the first.

Too many searches in 6 months can be an issue - but two is not an issue in the slightest!

JohalaReewi

It could be that the credit card companies decided you weren't the type of customer they wanted. They are under no obligation to offer a card if they don't want to. Perhaps they are looking for customers who don't pay off their card but pay the minimum? At the end of the day you really don't know.

izools

speedbird1973 wrote: »

Any more than two searches in a six month period, is frowned upon heavily by a potential new creditor. Searches resulting form you checking your fle and Identification checks don't count - only searches like "Credit Card", "Bank Account", "Loan", "Mobile Phone", etc are counted.


RUBBISH!! I have 6 searches in the last 2 months. I have a Mortgage, 4 credit cards and "no ta" letter to show for it! The rejection was the 2nd search - the mortgage the first.

Too many searches in 6 months can be an issue - but two is not an issue in the slightest!

It depends who you go to and what you are applying for.

Mobile phones, they don't really care. Mortgages, not so much. Credit cards / loans, more so. When I applied for a top up on my Abbey loan years ago the underwriter eventually conseeded that the reason for decline and advised they would not consider an application unless there had been NO searches in the preceding six months.

On the other hand RBS approved me for a loan with about 15 searches in the year.

Lenders rate it differently but to play on the safe side, two every six months is a good rule.

Keep in mind that the searches only contribute toward the score, so if everything else on your credit report and application is in tip top order it will have less of an impact - but you shouldn't be too lax with it!

cooltt

OP Lenders reject you for all sorts of reasons but you never get a clear reason why because they all have their own lending criteria. However if you have a good history and pay everything on time then this does show up on your file so you may not be the customers they are looking for. After all they are in it to make money not to give money away for nothing. Perhaps you need to have a few minimum payments show up on your file to get what you want?? it's always a game of chess with lenders!!!