Saga credit card rejections!

janetmundy

For the first time in my 56 years, I have been turned down for a credit card - by Saga! I ordered a copy of my credit report and discovered that my only blemish was one missed payment on another credit card last March (I owed £39, which was repaid promptly the next month). I sent a copy of the report to Saga, showing my previous good record, but they refused to reconsider. Posting information about this on Facebook and Twitter, I discover that other people of good repute have also had difficulties with Saga. As their card was recommended as one of the cheapest for travellers by Money Saving Expert, I thought I should bring this to the attention of followers of the website.

opinions4u

They can pick and choose who they extend credit to.

If they have limited funds available, and two applicants - one who's paid everything on time during the last year and one who hasn't, who do you think they should offer a card to?

izools

This is odd, as my mother was accepted for a Saga Platinum card with £3,500 limit last July.

She has a perfect credit history except for a rather big blemish - a Barclaycard account (which she closed and settled a year prior to applying for the Saga card) was held in an Arrangement to Pay from 2003-2009 and has a lovely long string of red "AP" markers for the payment history on her Equifax file - which is who Saga searched.

Didn't seem to bother them - perhaps there are other aspects of your profile that affected your application? One missed payment isn't likely to cause a decline.

Things to consider:

Have you moved address / bank / job recently (in last 18 months)?
Do you have several credit cards already (four or more)?
Do you owe a large amount compared with your income (more than about 33% - 50% of your annual income)?
Are you registered to vote at your current address?
Have you applied for a lot of credit recently (more than two credit searches in the last six months)?
Do the limits on your existing lines of credit add up to a large proportion of your annual income (e.g. a total of £20,000 available credit against a £30,000 income, even if unused)?

These factors will affect your ability to obtain credit.

Dr_Cuckoo3

janetmundy wrote: »

I discover that other people of good repute have also had difficulties with Saga. As their card was recommended as one of the cheapest for travellers by Money Saving Expert, I thought I should bring this to the attention of followers of the website.

indeed

No_Good_Reason wrote: »

After phoning them in disgust we discovered that their policy is not to accept people who already have 3 or more cards! I does NOT say that anywhere in their online application nor in the article on MoneySavingExpert.com.

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