Anyone here work for a bank and could advise?

Jamielad

Hi, apologies for the X-post, but...

I wonder if anyone here works for a bank and could advise me on whether Natwest will upgrade my bank card without doing an external credit check?

Brief bit of background, I've been with Natwest for about seven years. I had some problems with a few missed payments a couple of years back, which left me with one default on my file. I had a basic account (Step) which I tried to upgrade a few times to a normal current account but was refused. About six months ago they did upgrade me to a normal current account (so I was credit checked) but only given a Solo card.

Question is, now that I've got the current account, not a basic account, will they still credit check me before I can get a Maestro card, or will they just look at my financial history and behaviour with them, and how I operate the account.

Any insights gratefully received!

AndyR_3

Can't comment specifically on NatWest because I've never worked there, but the banks I have worked for will carry out a credit check, but will also consider how your account has operated, so if the credit check isn't too bad, good account operation can still get you the card upgraded.

never_again_2

I used to work for NatWest. They have their own 'scoring system' which ranks customers from 1-10; 1 being the best and 10 being the worst (but you're not supposed to know what it is). This system also pre-approves cutomers based on their bank account activity, ie for a loan, CC, etc. If you have been pre-approved for a debt card with cheque guarantee limit (called a service card 100 or servce card 250) then it should show on their system. If you have not been pre-approved then you can still complete a short service card application form, and I believe that will be credit checked, although I'm not certain.

Best thing to do is ask someone in your branch if you have been approved for one or not.

Jamielad

Cheers, that's a great answer. I'll ask them at the branch.