Turned down for credit card: self-employment, or low(ish) income to blame?

markywilliam

Hiya all

Just wondered of any of you Moneysavingexperts out there have any suggestions for me.

I currently have two credit cards - a Capital One card that I've not used in years (on which, miraculously, I have a credit balance of about £15!!) and a Mint card on which I owe £1400.

The other day I applied, online, for a NatWest card to do a balance transfer with, and was rejected (*sob*). Could it be because I'm self-employed (for 15 years), or because I gave my monthly income as £1000?

I'm loathe to try applying for any other 0%-on-balance-transfer cards until I have some idea of why I was rejected from the NatWest one. I own my own home (well, the building society does!) and own half of another property that me and my ex rent out; and I have no other outstanding debts or credit cards, and - as far as I know - a perfect credit history: no missed payments, no CCJs, nothing that I can think of that might have damaged my credit rating.

Any thoughts - or suggestions of cards that I *could* apply for? I'm hoping to pay the £1400 off in the next year or 18 months but would quite like *not* to be paying interest on it as I do.

thanks in advance!

Mark
xx

BigCraigJohn

Sorry I cant advise as to the questionn.
However have you tried asking Capital one what they can do for you ie balance transfer deal?. You might find they'll do you a good deal especially if you have a good history with them.

markywilliam

Ahhhh! Good thinking, Batman - erm BigCraigJohn!! - LOL! Hadn't thought about that - I'll give 'em a call!


cheers matey

Mxx

Curt.

Ask Natwest and see why they rejected you, they may just give youa generic answer though, but you could always try appealing the decision perhaps?

If it was income based then i would think perhaps they would be likel to give you a card but with a low(ish) limit.

Though if your annual income is only around £12K or so then you may have been rejected if you have reasonable limits on your existing cards. What are the limits?

Outcast_2

markywilliam wrote: »

Hiya all

Just wondered of any of you Moneysavingexperts out there have any suggestions for me.

I currently have two credit cards - a Capital One card that I've not used in years (on which, miraculously, I have a credit balance of about £15!!) and a Mint card on which I owe £1400.

The other day I applied, online, for a NatWest card to do a balance transfer with, and was rejected (*sob*). Could it be because I'm self-employed (for 15 years), or because I gave my monthly income as £1000?

I'm loathe to try applying for any other 0%-on-balance-transfer cards until I have some idea of why I was rejected from the NatWest one. I own my own home (well, the building society does!) and own half of another property that me and my ex rent out; and I have no other outstanding debts or credit cards, and - as far as I know - a perfect credit history: no missed payments, no CCJs, nothing that I can think of that might have damaged my credit rating.

Any thoughts - or suggestions of cards that I *could* apply for? I'm hoping to pay the £1400 off in the next year or 18 months but would quite like *not* to be paying interest on it as I do.

thanks in advance!

Mark
xx

The first thing to do is get your credit report. Use a company like Experian with a free trial. Then check out how many searches have been made on your credit rating (if you have a lot then you'll find it hard to get credit) Now print it off if it's pretty good.

Next get a credit score. This will cost but it's only about £6. This will tell you how good or bad your credit rating is. (the higher the no the better the chance of getting credit) Print this off.

For the next part lets assume you have a good credit score and your credit report is ok too.

If you have any savings in accounts with any banks/building societies, make a note of it, find your relavant information/statements and keep them handy.

Now with all of this information approach any of your banks/building societies that you already use and ask for all of this information to be taken into account when you apply for a credit card. It's basically an appeal to their better judgment.

This way they will already know all the relavant information before they do a search, with the bonus of knowing any savings that could be secured.


You see I found myself in a similar situation, Great credit score, low income but modest savings. After approaching my new lender with this information, as I suggested earlier, the bank virtually fell over themselves offering me credit.

As for a good card at the moment may I suggest the Tesco credit card - 13 months free interest on balance transfers and you get Tesco points every time the card is used - not just in Tesco stores.

Azrael_1701

Outcast wrote: »

The first thing to do is get your credit report. Use a company like Experian with a free trial. Then check out how many searches have been made on your credit rating (if you have a lot then you'll find it hard to get credit) Now print it off if it's pretty good.

Next get a credit score. This will cost but it's only about £6. This will tell you how good or bad your credit rating is. (the higher the no the better the chance of getting credit) Print this off.

For the next part lets assume you have a good credit score and your credit report is ok too.

If you have any savings in accounts with any banks/building societies, make a note of it, find your relavant information/statements and keep them handy.

Now with all of this information approach any of your banks/building societies that you already use and ask for all of this information to be taken into account when you apply for a credit card. It's basically an appeal to their better judgment.

This way they will already know all the relavant information before they do a search, with the bonus of knowing any savings that could be secured.


You see I found myself in a similar situation, Great credit score, low income but modest savings. After approaching my new lender with this information, as I suggested earlier, the bank virtually fell over themselves offering me credit.

As for a good card at the moment may I suggest the Tesco credit card - 13 months free interest on balance transfers and you get Tesco points every time the card is used - not just in Tesco stores.

That is completely pointless, its just an arbitrary number assigned by the CRA and has absolutely no bearing on credit applications at all, quite a few people have a 'perfect' score of 999 and are rejected for credit.

Poosmate

I got turned down by Natwest too. I've got my credit report from Experian (a Natwest employee told me that's the CRA they use) and can't see anything bad on it except an association with a very bad person. I'm not sure why that's still on the file as the last entry for it was 1999! I've requested to be disassociated from him but haven't heard anything yet. Funnily, I've been able to obtain credit cards since 1999 so wonder if they are just being far too choosy.

I applied online but have had no correspondence from them about the aplication at all.

I hope you get it sorted MW.

Poo

markywilliam

Cheers for all that info guys! I'll let you know how I get on

Mxx