First Ever Refusal for 0% CC - A Dilemma - What to do? Urgent Advice Required.

Noahnewby

I've been tarting regularly for about 3 years now and never been refused a CC @ 0% .Recently I was informed by a CC provider that my 9 Month Deal was over in November. Reading Martin's latest article on Balance Transfer Cards I noticed that true 0% [ With no Balance Transfer Fee ] Cards are getting rarer. However, I only needed one for another 6 month to finally pay off my outstanding debt. Having examined his table of providers I applied online for a Stroud and Swinton card. I received a letter from the Co-Op advising they were "unable to open the account.....because the application failed to meet the criteria for this account". ( Anybody any idea whether this double speak is really bad news ? Alternatively, anybody been turned down by these when having no previous application problems? )

I need to apply for another account before the end of this week to make sure I can balance transfer in time. I have 3 Credit Cards. One with my Bank which I pay off in full every month( Used for day to day purchases). A Card specifically for paying for Holiday Deposits,Flights, Various Insurances and similar items so that I can spread the cost over 12 Month.This is, of course, 0% Purchases Card for 12 months and runs out in March 2007 when it will be paid off.[Currently £1000 outstanding but about £500 of this in Savings A/C making interest- I only pay the min. amount each month ]The other one is the the Card which runs out at end of November.[ Currently £3900 outstanding but, again, significant amount in Savings A/C earning interest that will eventually be used to clear the debt. Unfortunately not enough in Savings A/C to totally clear card until next March).
Martin reccommends you get your Credit Ref Files when you are turned down once BUT..............................

Questions
1. In view of the diminishing timescale is this feasible?

If so,

2. How quickly do you receive your Credit Reference File from Experian & Equifax if you:-

(a) Apply by post 1st class using Martin's template
(b) Use the internet loophole suggested by Martin

OR, is it worth paying £16.95 to Checkmyfile and is the report instantaneous for this price?

Finally, if my Credit Ref File is O.K. ( Honestly, can't think of any reason it shouldn't be after double checking all of Martin's various articles on Credit Scoring etc. ) Would it be better to go for a longer term deal and pay the dreaded Balance Transfer Fee because of the unnecessary search Stroud & Swinton/ Co - Op have put on my File? I detest giving CC providers any money but realise its silly to cut your own nose off to spite your face.

Any advice anyone can give me would be welcome because I'm just not used to being rejected;) May I thank all you fellow money savers in anticipation.

Fahim_2

try https://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk. It is free for the first time, and the pin number to activate the account will reach you within 2-3 days.

MascaraMinx

Do the free months trial with Credit Expert (Experian). It's instant access and really helpful. For an extra £4.99 you get to see your current credit score too which is very useful. Sorry, can't really offer any advice about your CC dilemma as I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough!

Will.Power_2

Find out from the Co-op which bureaux they use. There's no point in looking at your Experian records if they only use Equifax or CallCredit.
You haven't necessarily been turned down because of your credit history. The lender can see that you only want a card from them to continue your practice of borrowing money interest free. While I fully support your practice, you can only get away with it for so long; the banks want to make profit and can see that you'll only be costing them money.
If I was a bank, I'd decline your business...

mrbigd

MascaraMinx wrote:

For an extra £4.99 you get to see your current credit score too which is very useful.

Not useful at all, a complete waste of money, it means nothing!

Apart from your £4.99 lighter in your bank account.

MascaraMinx

mrbigd wrote:

Not useful at all, a complete waste of money, it means nothing!

Apart from your £4.99 lighter in your bank account.

Well I found it useful because I am under the impression that lenders use this credit score to determine what type of risk you are as a creditor. That is why they do credit checks on you is it not?

Each to their own opinion mrbigd

Noahnewby

Thanks for all your advice so far folks but, please, no bickering over trivialities on my behalf. I’m a big boy and am quite money savvy, especially after reading Martin’s emails over the years. I’m just not used to being in a disadvantageous position.:o So, I’ll gratefully take all the advice you can give me and make my own mind up whether to take you up on it.

Find out from the Co-op which bureaux they use. There's no point in looking at your Experian records if they only use Equifax or CallCredit.

WillPower – Thanks for this but Stroud And Swinton use one of them and the Co-op the other( Info available on this site but I can’t remember which article- Once I found it, I printed it off) so I’ll probably need both anyway.

Keep the advice coming please. I'm particularly interested in whether anybody else has been in a similar situation, particularly if its this card provider that's placed you in it.

Once again, Thank you :T :T :T

Will.Power_2

This is more for the contributors than you KWJR...
With regard to the bickering over the 'credit score' supplied by the bureaux:
The bureau will supply the lender with a 'credit score' based on the data the bureau holds (if the lender pays for it). Some lenders will use this as their decision making credit score, others will feed it into their own credit score calculation, and some won't use it at all.
As a guide, it may be useful to some people as a guide to their credit rating, but while information supplied by a lender will be the same to each bureau, some lenders don't supply all the bureaux. If you've got a bad record with one lender, this will only affect your 'credit score' at the bureau to whom they supply data.

Noahnewby

Originally posted by Fahim try https://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk. It is free for the first time, and the pin number to activate the account will reach you within 2-3 days.

Typical, my area( North East) is not available for this service yet:doh: Looks like its taking advantage of the free offers loophole as no-one has suggested that snail mail will be quick enough.

Fahim_2

I received my mail after 2 days i registered.

mary

Have been stoozing for more than 2 years now but was turned down by Stroud & Swindon aka Coop Card. The letter from the Coop says they use Experian. I did check with Experian, doing the free trial and discovered there were 2 cards on there which had been slow to be removed from their system. I had reduced from £15K credit limit to £3K with Egg and the other one was M&S card. They were eventually put as "settled".
However I wrote to Coop and sent bank statements, accompanying letter stating that I owned a house separate to the marital one, have a very sizeable amount of savings, including a £10K investment bond with Stroud & Swindon. Even that didn't budge them to change their mind.
So I concluded that they have very rigid rules they stick to. The only thing against me was that I have a very very minimal income and probably they wondered how I would repay, despite all the assets and large wadge of cash.
So don't waste time with them, move on!