Warning: Applying for a bank account and deciding not to go ahead affects your rating

Gromitt

Hawthornman wrote: »

TThe credit agency should only be totting up these matters once the credit has been granted. Had I taken up the offer from the bank, then I would of course expect my ability to get further credit elsewhere to diminish.

Once your credit has been granted, it can take upto a month for the account to appear on the CRA files.

Secondly, the CRA is simply a database. They don't do any processing or 'totting up'. Its upto each lender to download the data and process it. Each time you search, the search is recorded. Each lender may or may not base their criteria on this data.

Last, you must always be told that the CRA will be contacted before the actual search is carried out and that the search may be recorded and seen by others. First Direct clearly state this on the first page of the application.

pmduk

notts_phil wrote: »

Another incorrect posting by a new person on MSE

Me thinks the OP has a bit to learn!

That's very harsh. Most new users should be assumed not to know as much as long term users

notts_phil

pmduk wrote: »

That's very harsh. Most new users should be assumed not to know as much as long term users

Maybe harsh, but its true

You notice a lot of reactionary posts when people feel they have been hard done by(when in fact its not the case)

_Andy_

We're missing 'rip off', 'mis sold' and 'reclaim' here. Good start though. Also more "!"s are needed.

Experian_company_representative

We've recently publushed an advice guide on searches if this helps explain it all. You can read it here. Searches just show the search, not what happened next.

James Jones

jen245

Why do you need such a large overdraft anyway? :eek:

Idiophreak

izools wrote: »

In your opinion.

The reality of the situation is that they don't, and that's not about to change.

Hawthornman's entitled to post opinion if they want.

I think most of the posts on this thread have been somewhat negative, tbh.

I'm sure that Martin was, last year, looking into areas of this. Off the top of my head it was to do with loan applications - and the idea that you couldn't find out the rate you'd be offered at each bank without getting footprints on your credit file - and thus impacting your chances of getting a better rate elsewhere. The whole thing is somewhat anti-competitive.

Plenty of people think that getting marks for searches is crooked and I'd bet that something will be done about it sooner or later.

callum9999

Idiophreak wrote: »

Hawthornman's entitled to post opinion if they want.

I think most of the posts on this thread have been somewhat negative, tbh.

I'm sure that Martin was, last year, looking into areas of this. Off the top of my head it was to do with loan applications - and the idea that you couldn't find out the rate you'd be offered at each bank without getting footprints on your credit file - and thus impacting your chances of getting a better rate elsewhere. The whole thing is somewhat anti-competitive.

Plenty of people think that getting marks for searches is crooked and I'd bet that something will be done about it sooner or later.

I can see it from your perspective, but people on here tend to have less sympathy for someone who launches an unjustified, baseless tirade against a provider.

If they had made a post saying they had 3 searches from applying for one account at one bank and they feel it is excessive and shouldn't be recorded as such, they would have had polite responses detailing that it isn't practical, or people agreeing. Maybe it's not really the way it should happen, but over the top rants blaming companies for a mistake made by the OP will always provoke negative replies.

As to the loan thing, that does make sense. Though from the banks perspective, how are they meant to know what APR they would offer you unless they did the search? I think this is where the OP is right in a way - it would be better to break down successful searches and rejected searches.

The issue with this is it still doesn't satisfy the banks that you aren't desperate and applying for everything you can get. How are they meant to distinguish between a) checking 5 different banks for the APR and b) applying to 5 banks for 5 loans.

izools

callum9999 wrote: »

I think this is where the OP is right in a way - it would be better to break down successful searches and rejected searches

The best way is Nationwide's way.

A soft search towards the end of the application providing a quote - an offer of APR and Limit based on an unrecorded enquiry against the applicants credit file.

A full search is then only left when the applicant agrees to the quote and completes the application.

Searches need to be made, and full searches need to have a negative impact on credit worthiness otherwise people deperate for credit would bankrupt the lenders by successfully applying for a dozen cards in one week.

The correct way forwards is wider acceptance and use of the "Unrecorded Enquiry" search and "Quote before apply" system a la Nationwide

Gromitt

izools wrote: »

The best way is Nationwide's way.

Barclaycard also do this, in a fashion. Their pre-application checker leaves a soft search and gives you a good idea. If you then progress to the full application, you get the full search.

But, as shown on here multiple times, you can still get rejected!