First Direct - Turned Down?!!

pressuredrop_2

I wouldn't want you as a customer as you appear to be very sensible.

I call you sensible, the banks call you uneconomic.

bobwilson

I tried again with equifax.co.uk , it took payment and then asked me to call a premium rate number to get my report! lol... what is with these cheeky companies these days?

Anyway, so I called the number and after getting through all the options, spoke to an american lady/man (it was either a lady with a manly voice or a man with a lady-like voice)... and she/he told me that she/he couldn't verify my identity.

It looks like they've taken payment anyway though!

Hmm.. I'm giving up for today. Will continue this fun another day.. !

Trajal

bobwilson wrote: »

I tried again with equifax.co.uk , it took payment and then asked me to call a premium rate number to get my report! lol... what is with these cheeky companies these days?

Anyway, so I called the number and after getting through all the options, spoke to an american lady/man (it was either a lady with a manly voice or a man with a lady-like voice)... and she/he told me that she/he couldn't verify my identity.

It looks like they've taken payment anyway though!

Hmm.. I'm giving up for today. Will continue this fun another day.. !

Heh sounds like you're having a barrel of laughs. Ok I will probably get shouted at for this, but personally I like to use the checkmyfile.co.uk service. You can call them on an 0800 number anytime if you're a subscriber and they will be able to help you with extra searches if you think they've missed a previous address or whatever. Also it does give you multiple agency reports.

No I don't work for them, but the information they've been providing me over the last 3 months or so has been enough to go from having an absolutely terrible file with all sorts of mistakes and statute barred nonsense on it, to a rather decent file with 8 green accounts and just the one default (which I'm working on still!).

Sadly not in quite the same advantageous position as you financially but I imagine you've worked very hard for it. My only advice would be to pop into your local HSBC, and open a premier account. If you transfer 50k worth of savings across to them you automatically qualify I think. My gf came over from Dubai with 50k and she's had a premier account from day 1 with HSBC and no UK credit history at all.

lisyloo

Most systems these days try to verify you on-line.
Either you haven't applied for many products in recent times or you've done a good job of protecting your privacy.
Either way it would appear that most companies are not able to establish your identity through on-line automatic systems.

Are you on the electoral role?

nrsql

>> they don't take into account my credit score
No such thing. Every institution will calculate this differently and they will be unlikely to give much information about it as that would lead to people doing things to enhance it. You can find things that will almost certainly impact it negatively but you're unlikely to know what organisations are specifically looking for or how they weight things.

Could be they don't like business owners at the moment, maybe they don't like that you haven't paid off debt, maybe they are looking at ancient history, maybe they've realised you're too astute - or maybe they've made a mistake and linked you with a bad account.

lisyloo

Ok I will probably get shouted at for this, but personally I like to use the checkmyfile.co.uk service.

There is nothing wrong with it if you are going to make good use of it (as you did).
But for most people who just want to check if there are any mistakes then it's cheaper to get the statutory reports.
That product looks reasonable value compared to others on the market.

No reason for you to get shouted at, it's just not appropriate for everyone.

cing0

Can't give you any insights into First directs qualifying criteria but try to open a savings account with them such as an ISA/ISA manager transfer as in my experience they are not as picky.
Once you have online ID etc, apply again for the current account as a customer.

bobwilson wrote: »

I applied for an account with them and just called them up to check the status of my application. They said my application had been refused because I "don't meet the criteria", I asked what criteria and they said they didn't have access to that information as it's all done automatically by the system.

anselld

Perhaps you should remind them of the lending code ....
http://www.lendingstandardsboard.org.uk/docs/lendingcode.pdf

Particularly ....
56. If a lending application is declined following credit assessment, the subscriber should explain the main reason why if asked by the customer.

I know you are not intending to borrow, but the First Account is still a credit product.

atypical

Annual Credit Report give updated credit reports every year for a one off £5 set-up fee. I'm not sure how the information they give compares to statutory reports. I signed up some years back when there was no set-up fee.

Reaper

bobwilson wrote: »

I'm business owner, earn around £70k a year, have over £100k in instant access cash savings, never go in debt, my average current account balance is £7k, and I have a high credit rating.

Most of that they don't look at. Besides how do you know you have a high credit rating if you haven't yet got your credit rating reports?

My guess is you have an absence of debt. Being in debt and handling it responsibly is what they are looking for. For example having credit cards and paying them off on time is far better than having no credit cards at all which might suggest nobody is willing to trust you with them. Having a mortgage and showing you never go into arrears counts for more than having no mortgage at all.

The other factor is proof of identity. So if you are not on the electoral role (maybe because you recently moved house) that will count very heavily against you.