Got Lloyds Pre-Approved Credit Card Today!

pichon

I'm very sorry to see these comments, and am hurt.
I've managed my account with no missed payment, no overdraft whatsoever with good cash flow in the past three+ years.

Before I went back to my country for nine months for family illness & eventual bereavement, I closed my Carphone Warehouse Contract and Natwest Credit Card just to make sure that I don't have any financial products running and fees don't incur. But CPW screwed up my termination request, and I was getting invoices, so I had to actively make a few international calls to pay it off. They took the first payment out, but the second payment did not go through (although I asked the clerk whether it's all taken care of and was assured so in the phone call). After then I stopped getting invoices, so I thought it had been taken care of. My fault would be that I didn't check my home country credit card statement that month in detail because I usually skim the balance, and if it seems alright, don't go through each transaction. That was why I found out about default only Dec last year when I got credit file with linked addresses from previous residences.
As for Natwest credit card, I closed it down and said the reason for closing it down was my leaving the country. At the time, I paid off everything that appeared on my online banking. However, after cancellation, I could no longer see CC statements online, and therefore, I thought everything had been taken care of.

I also have more than £1000 monthly pay in that's why I have Vantage account, in which I keep all my money for Vantage interest rate, and it had been managed impeccably and had internal scoring of 3, which is quite high I think.

Along with my doctoral work, I do work about 18 hours/week part-time in total (within my visa regulations which allows me to work up to 20 hours a week. I believe for later arrivals, it changed to 10 hours per week), and I only said that I mostly work from home because that was my biggest source of income.

I decided to erase my original posting because of some sour-mouthed rhetoric against foreigner that made me feel very hurt.

I have lived with honesty and integrity, and have worked very hard all my life, and I find it very difficult to be accused of someone who could be doing something like a "fraud" ?!?!?!?!?!?

I've learned so much from Moneysavingexpert Forum, and that is why I wanted to share my story that even being a student (PhD students in fact work very hard), if you have part-time work, and have that reflected in your profile, it could increase your chance of getting credit.

battyboimatt

And they wonder why banks are in the mess they are, so he jsut changed your status to working, when infact you are a student, lets hope you pay this lot back before you go back home again and forget that you closed the account down.

Rupert_Bear

No wonder you love that branch. Its good to see they have your interest first by changing your status to working from a student. Just hope some official from Lloydstsb do not read this thread because no doubt they would have a few choice words for your beloved branch.

MentalMinnie

Isn't that classed as fraud????

simax

I can't see how - if you read the original post he/she is working part time as well as being a student. So technically they are also employed.

I can't see any fraud here?!?!?

Experian_company_representative

Nice tale - I hope you repay their faith in you! As for the other applications, you're likely to see the credit checks on your credit report - you can't undo what has taken place in that respect - but these won't show what subsequently happened. I suggest you concentrate on building your credit history further with your existing facilities and, if you haven't done so already, consider adding a note to your credit report explaining why you have no electoral roll information.

James Jones

udydudy

pichon wrote: »

................Being a non-EU national and a student - this is not a good combination as I'm not eligible to vote (hence no right to be on electoral roll) .............

I think you have generalised here. Being a Non-EU national or student does not mean you cannot register on the electoral roll.

from direct.gov.uk ---"You can register to vote if you are 16 years old or over, and a British, Irish, Commonwealth or European Union citizen"

Though depending on your nationality you may not be eligible to vote.If you are a commonwealth nation citizen you are eligible to vote for local elections but not national elections. I enrolled on the electoral roll the day I landed here and have been on the electoral roll since, but until I got my UK citizenship I did not get any national election card which they send for you to be able to vote(only one was held before that). but always got the card for the local elections. It has helped my credit file enormously as I have a electoral roll verifiable address for every month I lived here( i have mentioned month as my name came on the roll only 7 weeks after I entered the country)

If I am not wrong any nationality can register on the electoral roll as long as they are resident in the UK but will not be entitled to vote unless they satisfy the criteria mentioned above(but am not 100% sure about this)

As far as negative posts due to your foreign nationality, my suggestion would be to just ignore those. you will find all sorts everywhere, but most of the forumites are decent helpful individual.

About fraud, it was not your idea to change your occupation, but as your primary occupation is as a student(part time work or amount you earn is not the criteria) your status on the bank database should be student else it is fraudulent. Especially if you are in this country on a student visa, then your occupatiuon can never be employed unless you change to a work permit as the home office may also see it negatively(unless you prove to them that you work no more hours than allowed)

This happens quite a lot due to overzealous CS at banks, but the onus is on you as an applicant. If discovered you will be getting a CIFAS on your report and lose all your credit standing.

I would suggest even at the cost of losing your credit card you should ask them to change your status back to student to avoid problems.

pichon

Thank you very much for your helpful comment. With marriage to an English man and with a spouse visa, am i still legally bound to be listed as a student? I am to finish my course next year.

I am not from the Commonwealth country either. I read that EU and Commonwealth nationals can be registered..

savagej

There is absolutely no legal obligation on you to have "student" status with your bank.

They asked you were your income was coming from and you said "part-time work", they put this on their system as employed is employed regardless of whether it is part-time or full-time and offered you credit based on your status with them as employed and in receipt of a regular income paid into your account with your day to day finances being carried out on the same account.

You accepted it and you have nothing to worry about. You will not get any fraud marker (CIFAS) for this or into any trouble with your bank, the law, the Home Office.

People on here don't appear to understand the issue in terms of our legal system correctly.

Edit: Just read your edited post and you will find a good deal of help on this site, but unfortunately you will also encounter some people who are either making genuine mistakes in an attempt to help and you will find people who are just stirring it up to watch an see what happens! (that is me being nice about them)

udydudy

pichon wrote: »

Thank you very much for your helpful comment. I recently got married to an English man and i applied for a visa category change to a spouse visa. In that case, once i receive the new visa, am i still legally bound to be listed as a student? I am to finish my course in the next few months or so.

I am not from the Commonwealth country either. I read that EU and Commonwealth nationals can be registered..

Once your visa status changes to spouse visa then your status changes from a student to employed as you no longer primarily in the country as a student.

savagej:
Not being a lawyer myself, I am not sure about "legal obligation". But from experience(used to work at a finance broker) I have seen cases where people(student) getting a CIFAS marker for applying for credit as employed on their loan application. The clear cut reasoning was that as a person who is on a student visa work is restricted and conditional and hence is not the primary occupation of the application. The key issue here being primary occupation.

I would like to stand corrected if someone can actually show me the law in print which says otherwise. Until then I will go by my practical experience.

As far as homeoffice goes, it is a condition of the student visa again that the person is not meant to come into the country for the sole reason of earning money and the home office has come down hard on students who have been working longer hours than permitted. Again I have first hand experience of students who did not get their visas renewed and had to go back to their respective countries.

My advice to the OP is obviously based on my experience and the fact that the OP seems to be a sincere genuine person, who could have been misled.

I have also not assumed the exact conversation with the bank representative but again from experience I have seen bank personnel who have directly asked people pointed question with the intention of massaging the application so as to ensure successful outcome. This massaging of the application though not intended by the applicant is the responsibility of the applicant as they finally sign the printout. The bank representative earns thier commission and if nothing goes wrong its fine but when something goes wrong it is the OP that suffers.

pichon

Thanks again savagej and udydudy for your helpful and thoughtful advices. I think I will go to bank tomorrow and have the occupation changed to student, at least until I finish in a few months/receive the new spouse visa in the post, for peace of mind.

(On a side note, I work 18 hours including everything (research assistant job and working from home), and I am entitled to work 20hr/wk, so I shouldn't have problem with Home Office on that front, I think)