Declined Twice!

mavvysmum

I've had two credit cards so far, HSBC and Tesco, both had long 0% purchases intro offers so I used them till that expired. I never missed a payment and paid the cards off in full before the end of the intro period.

I was recently looking at getting another and applied for M&S first - got a decline, which really shocked me. They sent a letter saying that I didnt meet their credit scoring criteria? I then applied for a Halifax card and got declined again, after filling in an online application they gave me an instant decision.

I was panicking at this point so signed up for free 30 day trial on experian and looked at my credit report - nothing amiss, all payments up to date etc. Noticed Halifax never even did a credit search on me?

I've read various reasons why i could have got declined - I never cancelled my HSBC credit card just stopped using it so it was showing as £7k available credit, and apparently it can go against you if you have too much credit? Also I was wondering if they could tell from looking at my report that i only use the card for the intro period and then stop, so they'd know they wouldnt get any money from me in the form of interest? Also have they all tightened up on the applications they accept with the current economic climate? Its over a year since I last applied for a card. I did pay to check my credit score which i was told was in the "fair" category, perhaps the companies in question only accept those with good or excellant credit scores? I dont know! Am i being penalised for only having two credit cards and paying them off?

Any advice would be appreciated, i want another credit card but dont want to risk ruining my credit rating further by applying too quickly and getting declined again. I've now cancelled my HSBC card.

chanz4

if you have a fair rating this could be a reason, but also you will see on your report most lenders now say you are under an offer period so this maybe spotted

Dabooka

I think you've answered your own question. You still have the other open, which will give you a higher ratio of available credit vs. your income, and have a fair rating at a time when it's harder to lend money.

Best bit of advice would be to close unused cards down and maybe try again, but if you're declined a third time that might leave you without anything. I'd cut my losses and keep things as they are, seeing as the cards are paid off and you don't need another deal.

never-in-doubt

M&S is administered by HSBC and if you have their card (assume you bank with them) then appeal it and send in statements and a copy of your HSBC statement - this will help them to override the decline.

HSBC will give you better all round value than Tesco - you were slightly hasty in closing that card down me thinks.... don't you bank with HSBC? If so then you use this to get better apr's with them.