Equifax issues, credit card application rejected

rainbow_carnage

My husband accidentally went over the limit on his Virgin (MBNA) credit card. It was a stupid, careless mistake, but it cost him the 0% introductory rate. So now we need to transfer or pay off a £4k balance asap.

He's gainfully employed and has a clean credit history. No serious debts, all accounts up to date. But he just applied for a Barclaycard and got rejected.

It was a bit of a surprise. He earns £28k a year. He's on the electoral roll and has lived in the same flat for 8 years. Other than a small, interest-free graduate overdraft, this is his only debt.

The first thing we did following the rejection was check his Equifax report. The report shows 4 credit cards, one of which is the Virgin card. Another is a Tesco card that he paid off last year. It shows up as settled.

The other two cards show up as up-to-date, though they've both been closed. There's a Halifax card that he closed a month ago. He phoned Halifax, who said that said it will be updated as 'settled' next month.

The last one is an HSBC card that he closed more than two years ago. He's phoned HSBC, who didn't know why the card is still showing up as open on the report. They said he has to go to talk to someone in branch.

Based on his credit report, it looks like he has a combined total of £8,500 in credit limits. It's no wonder that the Barclaycard application was rejected.

I'm not sure where to proceed from here. Should he apply for another card, or will it just be rejected? We don't have a spare £4k sitting around to pay off the card this month, but we don't want to pay the extortionate interest rate.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

YorkshireBoy

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

Based on his credit report, it looks like he has a combined total of £8,500 in credit limits. It's no wonder that the Barclaycard application was rejected.

That's not, in itself, excesive for a £28K salary. However, when couple with an overlimit marker* it may have played a part in the rejection...especially since his report will show he is maxed out on that card and desperate for more credit.

Does he own/rent the flat?
Does he have a financial association with you/anyone else? And what are your/their credit files like?
What does his Experian report show?

I assume he's tried pleading with retentions (0800 783 1116 during office hours) for the reinstatement of his 0% offer?


* I understand overlimit markers are viewed more seriously than late payment markers.

izools

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

* I understand overlimit markers are viewed more seriously than late payment markers.

It's interesting you mention this, as at the time I was approved for a Barclaycard towards the end of 2009, I was at that very moment slightly over the limit on my Aqua card and my Equifax credit file confirmed this at the time Barclaycard performed their credit check.

I would suggest that perhaps Barclaycard are a rather strict lender when it comes to the "higher ranking" cards with very good 0% offers.

It is certainly worth speaking with MBNA to appeal their decision to revoke the promotional interest free offer. You can ask them to set up a direct debit on the call to perhaps help reassure them that the account will be used responsibly.

If all else fails, Creation are rather more lax that the other common or garden lenders offering long 0% periods, so it would certainly be worthwhile applying for the Creation Mastercard to attempt taking advantage of their 15 months @ 0% offer.

He can apply here:

https://apply.creation.co.uk/creation/web_channel/cards/apply/productdetails.aspx

Good luck! :beer:

Let us know the outcome

rainbow_carnage

Many thanks for your reply.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

That's not, in itself, excesive for a £28K salary. However, when couple with an overlimit marker* it may have played a part in the rejection...especially since his report will show he is maxed out on that card and desperate for more credit.

There are no over-limit markers on the report. He's only just gone over. It hasn't been reported yet. This is the first time it's happened.

And while he's maxed out on this card, the other two have a balance of 0.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Does he own/rent the flat?
Does he have a financial association with you/anyone else? And what are your/their credit files like?

We rent. He has no financial associations with anyone on the report. My credit history is clean, but I have a couple more credit cards and only work p/t (f/t grad student). If he didn't qualify for the card, I definitely won't.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

What does his Experian report show?

Haven't checked it, yet. Probably should. The Barcalaycard rejection said that it was based on info on the Equifax report.

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I assume he's tried pleading with retentions (0800 783 1116 during office hours) for the reinstatement of his 0% offer?

He's on the phone with them now. Hopefully, the person on the other end is in a generous mood. I don't mind paying the over-limit fee and the interest that's accrued since he went over. We just don't want to carry the balance at 19%.

rainbow_carnage

izools wrote: »

It's interesting you mention this, as at the time I was approved for a Barclaycard towards the end of 2009, I was at that very moment slightly over the limit on my Aqua card and my Equifax credit file confirmed this at the time Barclaycard performed their credit check.

I would suggest that perhaps Barclaycard are a rather strict lender when it comes to the "higher ranking" cards with very good 0% offers.

It is certainly worth speaking with MBNA to appeal their decision to revoke the promotional interest free offer. You can ask them to set up a direct debit on the call to perhaps help reassure them that the account will be used responsibly.

If all else fails, Creation are rather more lax that the other common or garden lenders offering long 0% periods, so it would certainly be worthwhile applying for the Creation Mastercard to attempt taking advantage of their 15 months @ 0% offer.

He can apply here:

https://apply.creation.co.uk/creation/web_channel/cards/apply/productdetails.aspx

Good luck! :beer:

Let us know the outcome

Many thanks for the info. I'm not familiar with Creation, but will definitely look into it.

I'm just surprised that someone with a stable job, not a lot of debt and a clean credit history is considered to be high-risk. We're thinking of buying a flat in a couple years' time. It's worrying that Barclays doesn't see my husband as a lending prospect.

What are we doing wrong? (Other than, once, accidentally, putting some plane tickets on the wrong card and exceeding the limit.)

rainbow_carnage

Woohoo! MBNA have agreed to reinstate the 0% interest rate.

But we're still going to need a new spending card.

YorkshireBoy

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

Woohoo! MBNA have agreed to reinstate the 0% interest rate.

Nice one! On the number I gave you?...because I understood they didn't work weekends.

Not that it's of primary importance here, but they wouldn't budge on the interest already paid then? Or the £12 fee? What about the reporting of the breach to the CRAs?

rainbow_carnage

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Nice one! On the number I gave you?...because I understood they didn't work weekends.

Not that it's of primary importance here, but they wouldn't budge on the interest already paid then? Or the £12 fee? What about the reporting of the breach to the CRAs?

He called the number on the back of the card, mainly just to pay off the £150 he went over by. They said he had to pay the £12 fee and this months' interest, but they would reinstate the introductory rate. I don't think he asked them about CRAs.

Thank you, again, for the advice.

chexum

I don't recall an "overlimit" marker. It would still be seen in the credit file though, if at the date when the lender reports the account status, the current balance is higher than the limit.

For lenders that report the monthly activity (payments in and out, number and amount of cash advances for each month), any other lender "could" see the running total getting higher than the limit. However, as each payment (in and out) is reported only monthly, if you pay it back quickly enough, noone would be able to tell if you went overlimit and then paid it back, or you paid some amount off first to be able to use credit later...

Internally however (for MBNA) it might be considered more serious than a payment a few days late.