Why can't I get a full Current Account with RBS?

EltonJohnFan

stclair wrote: »

Its just a behaviour score of how your account has been managed.

Its better than mine its a 5 at the moment ;-)

Bare in mind that different CRAs hold different data so it might be worth you checking out your Equifax report too.

Thank you,

I may as well do the Equifax report just to be sure. I can assure you that my account has always been very well run so that's perhaps why I have the high score you refer to. I have to say though, this makes it all the more puzzling as to why I can't seem to get a full Current Account with RBS! No, I think the best thing to do is go for that online application I was talking about for the Royalties/Royalties Gold and see what happens. Could I ask one final question? what exactly does the "behaviour score" entail?

stclair

EltonJohnFan wrote: »

Thank you,

I may as well do the Equifax report just to be sure. I can assure you that my account has always been very well run so that's perhaps why I have the high score you refer to. I have to say though, this makes it all the more puzzling as to why I can't seem to get a full Current Account with RBS! No, I think the best thing to do is go for that online application I was talking about for the Royalties/Royalties Gold and see what happens. Could I ask one final question? what exactly does the "behaviour score" entail?

Its just a score that could change every month it depends on how your account has been managed. If you have regular credits and utilise the DDs, S/O and POS facility over a period of time it will help increase your score some what. So if you ended up slipping overdrawn etc it would change for the worse etc.

chexum

stclair wrote: »

So if you ended up slipping overdrawn etc it would change for the worse etc.

How far is bad? Just overdrawn, over the free £100, or over the agreed limit? Will any amount be reported? Enquiring minds wants to know I suppose this is not secret as opposed to the meaning of the internal score levels

EltonJohnFan is not likely to go overdrawn with the basic account though...

harry999

Hi

I work as an Advisor at RBS. I have come across many people with key accounts and have given them a royalties or royalties gold account with overdraft etc. If you have an internal score of 4, then a upgraded account should most definitely be accepted.

EltonJohnFan wrote: »

Thank you,

I may as well do the Equifax report just to be sure. I can assure you that my account has always been very well run so that's perhaps why I have the high score you refer to. I have to say though, this makes it all the more puzzling as to why I can't seem to get a full Current Account with RBS! No, I think the best thing to do is go for that online application I was talking about for the Royalties/Royalties Gold and see what happens. Could I ask one final question? what exactly does the "behaviour score" entail?

stclair

harry999 wrote: »

Hi

I work as an Advisor at RBS. I have come across many people with key accounts and have given them a royalties or royalties gold account with overdraft etc. If you have an internal score of 4, then a upgraded account should most definitely be accepted.

What about if the applicant had adverse data or was unemployed?

zppp

harry999 wrote: »

Hi

I work as an Advisor at RBS. I have come across many people with key accounts and have given them a royalties or royalties gold account with overdraft etc. If you have an internal score of 4, then a upgraded account should most definitely be accepted.

Agree with Stclair. Not only this, but this only takes into consideration internal scoridng. If the person has been made BR, has defaults etc, there is still a substantial chance the application could decline whether they appear on any score be it 1 or 10.

stclair

zppp wrote: »

Agree with Stclair. Not only this, but this only takes into consideration internal scoridng. If the person has been made BR, has defaults etc, there is still a substantial chance the application could decline whether they appear on any score be it 1 or 10.

Reading the OPs other threads the source of income may be an issue

knightfox

I have to be honest here. I dont understand what the problem is.

Everyone at RBS / Natwest view the key account as a real bank account. They dont view it as a second class account.

It does everything that is needed from an account. You dont get interest, but then no accounts get interest. You dont get cheques, but they are going. You have a debit card which is what you need. Its the same as any other account. Its a free bank account.

On the Natwest you can add the extra Advantage Blue. So thats okay if you need it. But most of the things you would look elsewhere for anyway. The OP doesnt do credit cards, which is fine. So the tailored rate is pointless. On the loan section it sayas why pay more, the op doesnt do this so is okay.

But why do people think that the op would have a life changing experience by having a Royalties gold account or even a Private account. I cant see it the benefits to be honest.

AnonymousForObviousReason

I like others was curious about the internal score (aka banding risk, behavioural score), so I did a little research this morning (my mum called me dull when she phoned earlier, I didn't really have a defence to that).

Each bank seems to have different methodology to work out what it is but closely guard the mechanics as it's commercially sensitive. You can get your own rating by asking, if refused you can threaten with a data protection request to get it.

There are different ratings used by the different banks. Lloyds is 1 to 9 (1 best), NatWest 1 to 10 (1 best), HSBC 1 to 100, giving a star rating of 1 to 5 (5 best), A&L claimed not to have a score - but past account management reflects on chances of successful application (which indicates there is a score that is factored in, maybe staff just can't see it). (1)

These scores aren't just important for yes/no decisions but influence the interest rates that loans and credit cards will be offered at. Lloyds (who seem most open about the system impact, regularly divulging the score to customers) offered lower rates for customers with a score of between 1-3 at about 6.2 %, higher scores increased this 24.9%. Also HSBC admitted that star rating will influence what information customers are told on the phone, referring some to call at a bank in person(2).

Factors that influence the scoring seems to include income, time with the bank (more history, more data for better decisions?), available credit, used credit (so how close to limit of overdraft), missed payments, number of times exceed OD limits, bounced cheques, management of other financial products. I would suspect other factors like gender, age and job type also influence the rate. I also have a feeling that the amount of money flowing through the account is a factor.

The rating seems to be updated on a monthly or quarterly basis and can swing wildly.

From the different terms used to describe the rating (especially behaviour), I suspect it will be based on The Markov Chain. This basically models how past behaviour will influence future actions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markov_chain more info). I'm following this line of thought, anyone else with more concrete evidence/knowledge please post.

(1) http://www.lovemoney.com/news/make-your-money-go-further/credit-rating/how-your-bank-secretly-scores-you-2963.aspx
(2) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/956649


Update:
One of first hits was http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/36113/1/01-174.pdf An interesting paper on profit from behavioural scores, some scary points in there, including the bit that talks about calculating how much profit can be made by predicting when the customer will fall behind on their loan! Indicating that it's in the banks interest to provide loans at a level which the person will pay most of it then fail, increasing banks profit in charges. - will look into properly when have more time.

knightfox

AnonymousForObviousReason wrote: »

I like others was curious about the internal score (aka banding risk, behavioural score), so I did a little research this morning (my mum called me dull when she phoned earlier, I didn't really have a defence to that).

I am reading the rest in a minute. However you are not dull.

Banks have changed especially in the past two years, from going to give out facilities easily to making it more difficult. This will only get worse over the next year.

Its handy to know how to increase the chances of getting facilites from / with a bank. Your um would have been in the same situation when she was younger. Banks have changed.