Aqua Reward Credit Card - 3% cashback up to £100/year

lisyloo

It's a sub-prime lender and you may not be in their target market.
It's not just about credit worthiness but usually most companies have a target market.

My credit report is very good, but I do take out cash on credit cards (abroad) so I'm not sure whether it was that.
We will never know, but just because you are well off does not mean you are everyone's target customer.

kaloss

lisyloo wrote: »

They should have specified what they require.
If they have specified that it needs to be certified then yes you need to provide that - a normal photocopy will not do.
Is there anything you don't mind sending off the original on the list - like DWP paperwork?

You can get documents certified at the post office for a small fee
http://www.postoffice.co.uk/counter-services/passport-identity/identity-checking-service

Ok, thank you. I didn't know I could just do it in the post office.
Btw, given this I think I will apply again in some months (even if I got accepted). I'm changing address in 2 weeks (and moving in the new one in 1 month) so probably I couldn't receive the card on time and, even though, I would have to comunicate the new address and certify again the documents.

Is there any chances those conditions (3% cashback and 0% on foreign currency) will hold just for the "early costumers" or, in case they change the conditions, they have to change them for both the new and the old costumers?

Hastobe_Katt

But it is disingenuous to quote the reason you have been refused as your credit rating. Scrolling back through this thread and seeing how low the average credit limit is I don't think it would have been advantageous for us anyway as we have a Capital One cash back card and a Nationwide Flex credit card both with credit limits of £10k and, for the Capital One card, no cap on cashback.

I am just angry that my time has been wasted and that I may have a credit card rejection on my credit history. I will be contacting the FSA tomorrow to advise on Aqua's abuse of credit ratings.

If anyone else wants to call the tel number for the FSA is 0845 606 1234

lisyloo wrote: »

It's a sub-prime lender and you may not be in their target market.
It's not just about credit worthiness but usually most companies have a target market.

My credit report is very good, but I do take out cash on credit cards (abroad) so I'm not sure whether it was that.
We will never know, but just because you are well off does not mean you are everyone's target customer.

aleph_0

Hastobe_Katt wrote: »

But it is disingenuous to quote the reason you have been refused as your credit rating. Scrolling back through this thread and seeing how low the average credit limit is I don't think it would have been advantageous for us anyway as we have a Capital One cash back card and a Nationwide Flex credit card both with credit limits of £10k and, for the Capital One card, no cap on cashback.

I am just angry that my time has been wasted and that I may have a credit card rejection on my credit history. I will be contacting the FSA tomorrow to advise on Aqua's abuse of credit ratings.

If anyone else wants to call the tel number for the FSA is 0845 606 1234

What are you looking to achieve? Many on here would agree with you that the current system is slightly silly, and the fact that failed applications affect the next application isn't fair. But they're the ones offering credit, and as the system currently stands it's up to them to decide whether to take you as a customer or not, and they can make decisions based on anticipated profitability. If they have said "we have rejected you based on your credit history", they'd technically be correct, maybe their calculations reject anyone who has 'too much' available credit, and they might define this in absolute values (say, £15k). I'm obviously speculating here, but when the only verifiable information is your available credit, this makes sense. You could also try to appeal to aqua first.

You should note that there is no such thing as a universal credit rating. You can rank poorly on one banks system, and well on another.

If you want to change the rules, I expect lobbying your MP, or others who can actually change the rules is the way to go.

Hastobe_Katt

I am well aware of how the credit rating system works. The reason for my complaint is quite straightforward. Aquas tactics of focussing on those with a poorer credit rating but using a so called 'adverse credit score' to reject others - with no indication on their web site that this is their selection criteria - results in a negative impact on the credit score of the failed applicant. This is an abuse of the CRA system.

aleph_0

Hastobe_Katt wrote: »

I am well aware of how the credit rating system works. The reason for my complaint is quite straightforward. Aquas tactics of focussing on those with a poorer credit rating but using a so called 'adverse credit score' to reject others - with no indication on their web site that this is their selection criteria - results in a negative impact on the credit score of the failed applicant. This is an abuse of the CRA system.

My point is this is true for most applications. Most lenders will have a preferred customer they're aiming for (in terms of income, available credit, debt/income ratio), but reveal little detail before you apply (maybe minimum income, if you're lucky). Your credit score was adverse wrt their criteria. We don't know if this is because your history is too strong, or if there is a way it is weak for them. This is no different to the situation experienced by people with 'poorer credit ratings'.

I agree, the system should be more transparent. But this is a regulatory problem, and I can't see how aqua are abusing the system more than any other company.

I suggested above, if you do care, the first thing to do would be to appeal to aqua. Their reasons for rejecting might be down to the algorithm failing, or not being able to obtain credit data about you, which manual processing would discover.

gener8or

I would agree the selection is strange, here is my experience:

Got good credit history, never missed a payment etc.
Mortgage, credit cards.
Have 2 cards MBNA with 7k and Tesco 4k sitting at 0%
Same day I applied for Barclaycard balance transfer 0% and got approved for 16k
Few minutes later applied for Aqua and got 1.6k limit.

Strange

kaloss

If I got accepted and then I don't request the card would my credit history be affected?

lisyloo

Is there any chances those conditions (3% cashback and 0% on foreign currency) will hold just for the "early costumers" or, in case they change the conditions, they have to change them for both the new and the old costumers?

They can vary the terms and conditions as they please, but what they tend to do is keep old customers on the old terms and have new customers apply for a new card. That seems to be the easiest way for a business to manage it.

lisyloo

If I got accepted and then I don't request the card

Err... you have to request the card before you get accepted so that's not possible.
You can of course cancel the account anytime you like, but you'd already have the card so you'd have to cut it up.

would my credit history be affected?

When you apply you agree to a credit check.
This is recorded.
A check is not an issue unless you have loads and then you can look desperate and it goes against you, so unnecessary checks are not advised.

If you get the account then your credit account and payment history will be recorded until 6 years after closure.
The credit limit will "use up" some of your credit allowance, so would potenatially stop you getting other credit.
Good payment history is a positive addition.
Bad payment history e.g. late payements is a negative addition.

Why would you apply for the card if you didn't want it?

You can of course cancel anytime you like e.g. the deal changes, but the history of what you have done will remain - that's the entire point of credit history :-)