Advice required - rejected despite new circumstances

stattox

Hi MSE Board -

Some advice required if possible.

Around 4 months ago I came into some money and cleared around £8k from a £12k credit card debt (split over about 3 cards). This past month I’ve started a new job with a £10k pay raise.

I’ve just applied for a credit card from Virgin (one of my old cards which I had cleared and then cancelled about 2 months ago) so that I can transfer remaining balances to them at a better rate.

I was rejected – which surprised me greatly due to the large amount id paid off the old cards and the new salary.

I went online got a free 30 day trial with experian and looked at my credit report – everything was green and said no payments missed – satisfactory. What did confuse me though was that my main bank account wasn’t listed – nor was the credit card I have with them (HSBC).


Can anybody shed any light onto why I may have been refused – baring in mind the new circumstances and debt clearance – I was thinking maybe new credit strictness from companies in current climate and or my new salary my not of filtered through system (although I did put it on the form) and why my main banks account / credit card wouldn’t be showing on Experian (I’ve had the account almost 20yrs).

Thanks – any help is appreciated.


Stattox.

Jalapee

Have you ever defaulted on any of the old cards?

PNPSUKNET

you may not qualify due to how short period since you cancelled your last card

YorkshireBoy

PNPSUKNET wrote: »

you may not qualify due to how short period since you cancelled your last card

Indeed, this table says the wait is 6 months for the same card.

OP,

Why apply for exactly the same card again? MBNA have lots of cards with lengthy 0% periods. Or what about Egg, or NatWest, or Barclaycard, or any other 12 month plus provider?

By "new job" do you mean new employer, or a promotion? If the former, then that'll affect your lender's credit score in terms of stability.

Pre-1998 (the date of the DPA re-vamp) accounts that have been managed well often do not appear on credit reports. Indeed, I have two myself that don't appear on my credit reports.

stattox

Hi

Thanks for your replies.

As far as i know - ive not defaulted on any of the cards. There was certainly nothing to show this is my credit report.

Yes im with a totally new employer - have been here 1 month.

I had one card with virgin and one with MBNA (both cleared and cancelled 2 months ago) - I applied to Virgin because they were offering the best rate - i phoned the call centre for applications and asked could i do it so soon - they said yes.

Ah then there could be the problem the £8k i paid off was from my credit card id had for about 11 yrs from my 20yr old bank account - so maybe it didnt show on my report.

I'd have no problem applying to say sainsburys or egg or whoever - but im just concerned that i've been rejected once -

a) Wont this show on my report
b) Am i not likely to fail again.

Does anybody know - would it be better to try elsewhere say Egg etc - or should i wait a couple of months - clear down a bit more some of my old balances and then try again with a few more months worked months.

Again - thanks for your replies.

Stattox.

YorkshireBoy

With hindsight you may have been better to keep the MBNA cards open...they're one of the best for making follow-on offers.

However, I'd consider making one more application - assuming both MBNA accounts show settled zero balances on your credit report (do they?) - and if that's declined then wait a good few months before applying again to enable the instability brought about by your change of employer to recover.

EDIT: If I understand your situation correctly, you now only have £4K credit card debt and have just secured another £10K per annum on your income?

stattox

Hi YB,

Yes i should of kept them open - but i just thought if i closed them they'd appear closed on my "file" and would be better in the long run - i.e access to more credit etc.


Yes ive had a £10k payraise and seperate to that i cleared my credit card debt down from about £12.5k down to about £4.5k.


Surely MBNA and Virgin use the same checking system thought wont they - are they not linked - or do you mean try say egg or someone else.

My thinking is though that 2 rejections on my file may not look good going forward.

YorkshireBoy

stattox wrote: »

...i cleared my credit card debt down from about £12.5k down to about £4.5k.

Is this verifiable from your credit report? More importantly, are the accounts marked as settled? (both questions were asked earlier )

Surely MBNA and Virgin use the same checking system thought wont they - are they not linked - or do you mean try say egg or someone else.

Stay away from MBNA!

My thinking is though that 2 rejections on my file may not look good going forward.

I agree, but at the moment you don't know why you were declined.

It could be your past MBNA history.
It could be you didn't leave long enough before applying for exactly the same card you'd just closed.
It could be the accounts are still open.
It could be your new job.
It could be any number of things really.

By making another application now you may be able to eliminate the first 2 possibilities above. Obviously the new lender will see the MBNA search - if indeed they made one (did they?) and didn't simply decline you on a 'policy rule' - so that may affect their decision. However, if the MBNA application was the first you'd made for a while then it shouldn't do too much damage.

If you are declined again though, then it could be the new job so that's why I suggested to leave it for a while after the next application.

stattox

Hi YB,

I had £12k spread across 5 cards in total

Santander
HSBC
2 MBNA
First Direct

i cleared mainly the HSBC (around £6k) - i cleared and closed the 2 MBNA's around £2k.

Now i've roughly £1.5k on FD, 2.5 on HSBC and £1k on satandar.

Yes both MBNA cards are showing as settled (sorry you had to ask twice and MBNA did search my credit report.

Now the report doesnt show i cleared the HSBC one mainly because that account doesnt show at all.

I think ill wait a month or 2 - i've noticed that a card that i lost from First Direct is still showing as active as is my new one - i've phoned the bank and they said its cancelled their end - but Experian havent updated since Sept.

Im guessing this could be part of the reason.

I dont massively need to change was just a bit concerned as to why rejected- i just have a 1 interest free period (santander) coming to an end and the and was looking to shift all 3 cards to an interest free period.

Guess ill wait a few months - clear the old debt down a bit more and hopefully reapply once FD card has gone and job is a bit more stable.

Thanks

Stattox.