Marbles CC still open. How can I make them close it?

Claypole

I recently applied for a Morgan Stanley credit card, so I could transfer balances (approx total £4500) from two existing cards(neither of them Marbles) and then close these two down.
My application was declined last week.

Today I received a credit card statement from Marbles still with a credit of 1p.
This has been an ongoing saga for the last six months or so, where I have called them to make sure the account is closed and they can give the 1p credit to charity. They have sent me letters stating the account it closed and I will not receive any more statements or contact from them BUT they fail to pay the money to charity and I'm still receiving statements.

I am in the process of signing up to the free trials with Experian and Equifax to see if this Marbles account is still open.
I believe having this Marbles account still open could be affecting my credit score and thus the reason why Morgan Stanley declined my application.

My question is, if I find from the credit reports from Equifax and Experian that the account is still open, how do I force Marbles to give the penny to charity and close the account down? They just seem to be ignoring me. :mad:

Claypole

I've just checked on Equifax and found the following summary....

Number of Accounts:
Current (12) Previous (n/a)
Number of Defaults:
Current (n/a) Previous (n/a)

Of these 12 Accounts, 6 of them are Settled or Satisfied which includes my Marbles Credit Card.

Does this mean the Marbles account is closed and therefore DOES NOT affect my credit score?

Can I get these settled accounts removed or do they have to remain on there?


I have a late payment warning of 2(October 2006) with my Alliance and Leicester current account but it is not up-to-date.
Is there any way I can get A&L to update my credit report as I have made payments since and back into my overdraft limit.

This is still quite confusing to why Morgan Stanley declined me a credit card.

BONJOEY

it means that they are closed but will still show on your credit file for 6 years from closing the account, its good to have some closed accounts on file but not to many, i shouldnt see this as a problem as its not an open account with avalible balance,

Claypole

Thanks BONJOEY.

Ok I need to get my A&L account up-to-date.
I'm at £85 of my £100 overdraft limit, so I'm going to pay that off and close the account. Then hit them with Reclaiming Bank Charges (around £250).

Phoenix79_2

Everything (good and bad) will stay on there for 6 years. Settled accounts, as long as they have been run correctly wil not effect your credit worthiness.

I'm pretty sure the A&L payment warning will stay on as well. Just becasue you have rectified the problem doesn't mean they will remove it from your record. Other lenders will need to see how you have run accounts in the past

Claypole

Yes the settled accounts were run correctly.

Only the A&L warning would affect my credit rating.

Can just this one factor cause credit card companies to decline applications?

or

is having too many CC accounts open a bigger factor in their decision making?

I wanted to transfer two balances to the Morgan Stanley then settle/close the two CC accounts, thus only have 3 CC's rather than 4.
The overall credit limits would have been lower too.

Phoenix79_2

It depends on how stringent the card provider is. Perhaps you just didn't fit their profile? I got a Morgan Stanley card and already had 6/7 credit card accounts open as well as a loan, a car lease and 2 phone contracts.

Claypole

I think maybe being self-employed doesn't help me to fit their profile. Irregular earnings makes me a higher risk.

I only have 1 loan, 4 credit cards (two which would have been settled) and 2 bank accounts (one over 6 years). No mobile or similar contracts.

I'm just looking to get another 0% balance transfer or low % balance for life credit card with a £5000 limit so I can cancel my Capital One and A&L cards, as their 0% balance periods are over.

I already have M&S &More(3.9% life of balance) and BarclayCard (6.9% life of balance(though only £800 limit)).


Now that Morgan Stanley have declined my application, their credit check will go against me (now on my record) if I were to apply for a Virgin or Mint credit card. Therefore I cannot apply for other cards or I run the risk of being declined and making my credit score worse.
Is that correct?

Phoenix79_2

Credit 'scores' like a score of 991/1000 etc are worthless. The card issuers only look at the facts on your file. The Morgan Stanley will show as a recent search but won't mention that you rejected. For all they know you may have changed your mind!

Applying for too many cards in a short space of time will look bad but applying for the odd one or two shouldn't make a great difference.