Credit card rejection

Cruelemort

Afternoon all,

First a bit of info and history, i am mid twenties and earning a reasonable amount of money (>£30k), i spent a fair bit of time in agreed overdrafts to a fairly hefty amount over a several years, all paid off in the last year and a half. Had mobile phone contract for about 6 or 7 years, had a (student) credit card for about 8 years, never missed a payment on either. Once about 4 years ago i missed a rent payment due to my own mess up transferring some money, but paid the charge and payment was accepted no problem.

About a year go i applied for a Barclays credit card and got rejected, i never really used my (student) credit card so started using it more to make sure i had a credit rating, just now i have been rejected from Bank of Ireland and i do not know why. I have moved houses quite a lot in the last few years but am on the electoral register in my current house, have been there about 6 months.

I was wondering if anybody could answer why i keep getting rejected for credit cards even though i would seem to be eligible. I cannot currently get an Experian report because (ironically) my credit card is full up so they wont accept it (i have the money in my account to pay this off, i have no debt whatsoever).

Maybe student credit cards do not count towards credit rating? My student credit card is with Natwest - maybe i am more likely to get accepted if i apply for a Natwest credit card rather than someone else - but i need to be careful now because too many rejected credit applications look bad...

Regards

izools

I would still suggest getting a copy of your credit report ASAP.

One thing to note is it will only allow you to enter your current and prior address when signing up. Once you've completed signing up, you'll need to manually add all of your previous addesses, and this is important, as there may be nasties hiding at a linked address from four or five years ago causing you to be declined.

It takes 24 hours to update the data from extra previous addresses, so check your data the day after entering them in.

There may be an old mobile contract that had one month left to pay that you forgot, or any number of things that may have slipped by the wayside that you forgot about.

Also, multiple credit searches in a small timeframe can hurt your score. If you make a lot (3+) in a small timeframe (less than three months) this can have a severe detrimental effect on your score.

Also some creditors can be weary of customers who have not lived at their current address for long- as this can cause financial intsability - every time someone moves, costs are incurred, and lenders can consider frequent moves to be a risk factor because of moving costs being incurred regularly or just general instability.

NOTE: Creditors can't see whether an application was approved or declined, just that it has been made.

Also, if you don't have many credit accounts, or just one, some prime lenders may consider this to be too limited history to rate your credit worthyness. A lot of mainstream lenders like to see history with a few credit cards, so they have a more thorough portfolio to rate you on. You may need to open a sub prime card so that you have a couple of cards on your file for a year or so before getting mainstream credit.

BUT - As ever, your credit file should reveal the most important bits

CannyJock

Would be worth making a manual payment to your credit card for £2 to free up some available credit to order your credit report Didn't realise that they checked for available funds before processing the fee, assumed they'd be happy to take you over your limit like anyone else.

You can also use a debit card iirc which I'm guessing you'll have for your current account where your money is?

Definitely agree that a detailed look at your own credit report is the place to start.

Any

If you move addresses a lot that could be a problem - especially if they are all rental properties.
Order your report ASAP as you can then see whether there isn't any problem in the past from your other addresses.

And then if everyothing O.K. - I agree with you to apply for NatWest card first.

Cruelemort

Thanks for the responses all, i shall get my credit report sorted.

My debit card is maestro, topcashback are doing £8 for equifax so i am gonna go with that one, but they do not seem to accept maestro - unless it comes under "solo".

Does checking your account with experian/equifax show up on the report itself? Do not want to hit my report too many times as i have just been rejected! Also does trying to make a transaction over your credit limit hit it?

Regards

Cruelemort

Oh, i have about £16 free on my card, i presumed they checked you had money for X months payment before accepting. Maybe there is some other issue with my card not working, will have to phone them up.

RichyRich

Where you obtain a copy of your credit report a record is made but this is not available to lenders.

bazster

One point about credit applications: the address you give has to be EXACTLY the same as the address on the Post Office Address File - even if it's wrong, as mine is.

I found this out when my wife applied for a current account (giving what we consider to be the correct version of our address) and was refused. The local Nationwide branch (for it was they) was very helpful and it was them who came up with the cause of the problem i.e. the discrepancy in the address.

So now, we make applications using the correct, wrong address, and once successful, do a change-of-address to the wrong, correct address. If you see what I mean.

Cruelemort

How do you find out the Post Office address file? I went to the post office site and it costs £85 for a license - is it the same database as the postcode/address finder? (http://postcode.postoffice.co.uk)

Regards

bazster

Cruelemort wrote: »

How do you find out the Post Office address file? I went to the post office site and it costs £85 for a license - is it the same database as the postcode/address finder? (http://postcode.postoffice.co.uk)

Regards

Actually I have access to it because I build direct-marketing software for a living but yes, that address finder looks like it.

Any

Cruelemort wrote: »

Thanks for the responses all, i shall get my credit report sorted.

My debit card is maestro, topcashback are doing £8 for equifax so i am gonna go with that one, but they do not seem to accept maestro - unless it comes under "solo".

Does checking your account with experian/equifax show up on the report itself? Do not want to hit my report too many times as i have just been rejected! Also does trying to make a transaction over your credit limit hit it?

Regards

Just to get one off credit report cost £2, you don't need to sign up with them for loads of money!
Some people say it is useful to be signed up with them, but I personally see no need (I buy the one off one 4x a year instead) and if you don't have the money right now you can just order the one off.