Turned down by Co-Op despite Excellent credit score

bigpat

Hi

I recently applied for a Co-Op bank current account, but they wrote to me and said that "after careful consideration we are unable to open the account(s) that you have requested". They go on to say their "decision is based on information provided by one or more credit reference agencies...the information which resulted in the decline was registered with Experian..."

Never having seen my credit report before, I signed up for their free trial and took a look. It's "Satisfactory" all the way down, and green across the board, without a single amber marker, let alone any reds. It showed "No data retrieved" under all the sections about CCJs, Fraud, linked addresses etc.

Next I looked at my credit score and that puts me at 999 (out of what? It's not clear) but it says that's "Excellent" and that "71% of people have a score lower than excellent". It also says "There are no negative factors currently affecting your score."

So why would the Co-op turn me down? I'm puzzled!

One thing I did note is that there are 22 accounts listed. We've lived here 11 years and have changed mortgage 3 times. Additionally we have two buy-to-let mortgages which we have changed twice each. Add to that various credit-cards (I've both stoozed and tarted in the past!) and catalogues, many now closed and you can see how you'd get up to 22 accounts. Or is that a lot? Could it be the sheer number of accounts that sounded a warning buzzer somewhere in the Co-Op system? I wouldn't have thought we're unusual in having had 22 accounts of various types.

The credit report shows only three recent searches: two by Co-Op on successive dates recently (one for "Current account" on 18/04 and one for "Unrecorded enquiry" - whatever that is! on 19/04) and one by Churchill Insurance in Feb.

For my wife, two searches show up, one from Royal & Sun Alliance, probably related to a car insurance quote I think and one from Ikano Financial Services. I'd never heard of them, but when I googled them I found they're behind the Ikea store card amongst others so that's quite likely. She got an Ikea card a few months ago as it meant a discount on a bed.

Is any of this out of the ordinary? I've never been turned down for ANYTHING before. Part of me says "Stuff 'em...their loss", but equally I'm just mystified.

brightgirl

Call them and state that you have no adverse credit history and that you think a mistake has been made somewhere. They will usually take a second look at the application.

Paul_Herring

bigpat wrote: »

Next I looked at my credit score and that puts me at 999

Ignore that 999. It bears absolutely no relation to whatever Co-op (or any other company that does supply credit) would come up with.

So why would the Co-op turn me down? I'm puzzled!

They might simply not want you as a customer. They may already have enough "excellent" customers who may make little money for them. The phase of the moon might be wrong.

Can be any number of reasons largely, or even entirely, unrelated to your credit history.

bigpat

Thanks for that link. So that's what 999 is all about. It did strike me as an unlikely number to have been calculated in any fashion. It makes sense now...well sense in a kind of warped Experian way. Right, I'm off to cancel the free trial with them before I forget!

bigpat

Huh...they don't like taking "No" for an answer! Eight minutes, but at least it was a freephone number!

scott_lithgows

Apply for the smart saver account,I did and I,m always being asked to "upgrade" to the current account.

MichaelCR

Even though you have a perfect credit history, Still means you can be rejected from time to time, Perhaps you simply didn't fit the criteria on which they approve people, The world of credit checking and banks etc is certainly a strange one.

maggiej_2

Had a similar experience with the Co-Op. Have never been rejected for any bank a/c, credit card, store card etc so to have been refused a bank a/c with them was surprising to say the least!

As a matter of interest did you apply online via their website? This is how we applied and got the rejection a couple of days later. When enquiring over the telephone as to why the application was rejected and quoting the reference on the letter, the customer service person stated that the reference given was unknown and could find no record whatsoever of our online application! Very strange. She asked what a/c we were interested in - Current Account Plus - stating that ones credit rating has to be A1 to be accepted for this a/c. However, she quickly took our application over the phone and stated that all was in order and accepted in principle subject to the necessary checks. 4 days later the a/c was up and running - no problems.

It might well be worth calling them. It certainly paid off for us. Hope this helps

catfish50

I was once rejected for a NatWest account for the following reason:

I applied online. When the online form requested my address, I put in my postcode and their address-finder filled in the address.

A few days later I received the printed form in the post, with instructions to take it to a NatWest branch along with my ID. The clerk in the branch asked me for my address so she could look up the record on their computer system. I gave her my address.

She found the record, but the address as generated by their online system differed very slightly from the (more complete) version I had supplied in branch. It was quite obviously the same address, when read by a human, but as far as the clerk was concerned, the address on The Computer (which had been generated by The Computer from my postcode) was correct and the address I had supplied was wrong and that was that.

NatWest, needless to mention, is part of RBS. Nuff said.