Why is it so damn hard to get an overdraft/credit?

Legacy_user

Been with A&L 4 years now, I have never had 1 charge on this account, pay is in every week, also have a few £ in the linked savings account but any time you try for an overdraft its declined, They say its based on how you run your account, so I'm guessing they are only interested if you get monthly charges etc.

My credit history is not the best but still good enough to get a catalogue last year with a £2k limit which got from £100 to £2K by being a good payer or my credit was good enough to get an iPhone contract last year which has always been paid off on time, infact my bills are always 0.00 because I pay weekly so have enough built up on credit over the month yet can't get a £50 overdraft.

But I needn't just blame A&L I have tried other banks for an account and you either get "We are sorry we can't offer you this account but we do have this crappy one" or you just get a plain NO

paulmcerlean

Ok, firstly - when you say you dont have the best credit history can you be more specific?

Any defaults or missed payments on there?

Are you on the electoral role?

How much do you pay into your A&L account per month?

opinions4u

Once upon a time, there were lots of banks who borrowed lots of money from wholesale funders (American pension funds etc) and they would lend it to anybody at stupidly low rates.

Then, one day, some people far far away decided that they didn't have enough money to repay some of the banks. Those banks, in turn, then couldn't pay back their wholesale funders. Or, in some cases, those wholesale funders refused to extend any new credit to other banks.

This was called the Credit Crunch.

Now the banks have no money left so won't lend anything to mere mortals.

So we all learned to manage our money better and to save up for the things we need, instead of buying them on the never never.

And we all lived happily ever after.

Lokolo

I don't have problems getting credit. I am super dooper amazing though.

In seriousness, if your main bank isn't offering as a sales pitch, then you won't really have a hope with getting one with them.

Have you looked at your credit report?

Also, if you keep applying, it makes you look desperate for credit/cash, which is a bad sign. Desperation usually means not paying back easily! If you are applying a lot, slow down.

HouseHuntr

nirelandguy wrote: »

Why is it so damn hard to get an overdraft/credit?

It's not, providing you have a resonable/good credit history! In today's financial climate it's imperative.

Those who've been a little slack in the past with payments or overstretched themselves too much are now paying for it as nobody wants to offer them anything!

DizzleUK

Quick point about A&L

You say you get paid weekly. Do you get paid in cash and you deposit the money into your account yourself? If so this could be the issue. My partner gets paid weekly in cash and pays it in. A&L said they wouldn't offer an overdraft on his account as his wages are not paid in directly by his employer.

We eventually got an overdraft on our joint account, but we have a huge amount of direct debits set up on that account and is solely used for such. We got the o/d after we had the account for a year.

noh

DizzleUK wrote: »

Quick point about A&L

You say you get paid weekly. Do you get paid in cash and you deposit the money into your account yourself? If so this could be the issue. My partner gets paid weekly in cash and pays it in. A&L said they wouldn't offer an overdraft on his account as his wages are not paid in directly by his employer.

We eventually got an overdraft on our joint account, but we have a huge amount of direct debits set up on that account and is solely used for such. We got the o/d after we had the account for a year.

I dont pay any wages into my A+L account. Just transfer in £500 a month and transfer it out again. They gave me a £1200 overdraft on application.
It's your overall credit history that counts not just one single factor.

DizzleUK

noh wrote: »

I dont pay any wages into my A+L account. Just transfer in £500 a month and transfer it out again. They gave me a £1200 overdraft on application.
It's your overall credit history that counts not just one single factor.

The key on this statement is "on application". Overdrafts are generally easier to get when you open the account as they can go by your credit history and the information you supply on the application form.

Once you have an account, the overall running of the account is taken into consideration on top of your credit file, and depending on the bank's way of scoring behaviour, it could be harder to get that overdraft.