Unable to obtain credit. Advice appreciated

TheJeebieJar

Hi, i'm posting on behalf of my girlfriend and would appreciate any advice about obtaining credit, specifically credit cards.

The problem is my girlfriend cannot obtain credit anywhere since the 'credit crunch'. Strangely, when she first moved here, all her credit applications were successful. She is an EU national and has lived here for 4 years.

Credit in UK
mobile contract, £1000 student overdraft, £700 Higher Purchase from major high street electrical retailer (settled).

All her bills have been paid on time but her Experian report has a very low score. Since the above credit accounts she has been unable to obtain any further credit. It's becoming quite frustrating as she has even been refused from sky high interest credit builder cards. She has no adverse credit history and we're stumped as to how to get the ball rolling and improve that score. I should add she has graduated university, working part time and we are registered on electoral roll etc.

So, if any of you money saving experts have any tips or advice on where to go next, We'd really appreciate it.

Cheers

samtoby

I would go for an account with JD Williams - its a catalogue. my credit was shot but it's month by month getting better. I have cleared this account every month and my score and limits have gone up. See signature x

jonesMUFCforever

Is she registered here as a taxpayer and on electoral roll?

TheJeebieJar

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Is she registered here as a taxpayer and on electoral roll?

Yes, We have been on the electoral roll at all of our addresses.

Anthorn

Re. the student overdraft, is she employed, unemployed or still a student? It could be that credit is not available because of a limited income or that it is regarded that she has already maxed her credit availability.

It could also be that she has insufficient credit history in this country in which case she will need to build it with a high interest sub-prime credit card.

Lastly has she been making numerous applications for credit? Usually the rule when credit has been refused is stop applying and find out why credit has been refused before applying again because numerous searches on her credit report is bad, bad, bad!

TheJeebieJar

She has recently graduated and is working part time until her post grad course begins so I suppose she is still officially a student.

We try to space out any applications for credit as we know it can look bad on the credit file. The latest rejection was the barclaycard initial despite achieving an 80-90% probability on the pre checker. Would you say this is a more difficult sub prime card to apply for ? Would it be worth applying for say a vanquis or aqua card in a few months ?

Or

Is it likely that as a student on part time income she may have reached her maximum credit with the student overdraft ?

Thanks for the reply

jumperjohn

You should. sorry, she should check all her credit files, Experian, Equifax and perhaps call credit. Look at the information, your answer, in part, may lie there.

TheJeebieJar

haha, it might look like i'm looking for advice for my own affairs but it is genuinely for her. As i stated in the original post she is an EU national and her written English is still improving.

Thanks but we regularly check the credit websites, all green on her accounts but the low score remains.

jakesuk

I imagine as she is working part-time that her income may be relatively modest which could be her main problem.

Time at current bank and time on electoral at present address may be counting against her also.

It's a case of sitting by, keeping the green ticks going on the bank account and phone and re-apply again in a few months.

If there are more than 3 or 4 credit searches in the last 6 months this is excessive....

jakesuk

It might also be worth appealing the recent Barclaycard decline. It may be that there is an issue with her name or address that means the computer is automatically declining her because it can't verify her identity, and this could be sorted out on appeal.

A lot of people on these boards including me have had a lot of success with appeals. I didn't have credit until 4 years ago and have built up a history since then. During this time I've appealed 5 times and been successful in getting the original refusal reversed on 3 out of 5 of those occasions.

TheJeebieJar

Interesting, I thought there decisions were final. Is it a case of phoning Barclaycard with a reference number and requesting an appeal or does this have to be in writing ?

Cheers