Turned down for first direct accounts - weird

ccbrowning

Anyone else had this problem? I did apply a few weeks ago, but they wanted evidence of my address (certified passport and other things), but due to travel I did not have time to get it in. I did get it all together, but by then I apparently had to re-apply.

So, I reapply and get told I did not meet their 'account opening criteria' and they can't tell me why. Seems rather strange? Aside from the fact that they approved me once, I have no debt, a great salary and have seen my credit report which has nothing untoward on it.

This was for the 1st Account and e-Savers.

dakkan

I think First direct are proper bank, they verify all your details before they open an account. when I made my application online, I did not get instant decision but received message that I will receive decision within 24 hours. Next working day they called at my work place to verify my details! Once they could confirm they opened my account over the phone. So its quite natural for them to ask for documents I believe.
Also from my opinion they like you most if you switch your bank, earn decent salary. Avoid asking for overdraft if possible as I think their system will reject you instantly if you do not meet their strict critieria..
I do not think Credit score has any affect on opening account as my experian score is lowest at 280 and still got First direct account. However my account is clean except that I have lots of searches and recently opened account. Therefore if you do not have default, CCJs or missed payments, you are fine.

innovate

dakkan wrote: »

I do not think Credit score has any affect on opening account as my experian score is lowest at 280 and still got First direct account.

The credit score of a CRA never has any effect on a bank's decision to give you an account or card. They have their own decision criteria and couldn't care less about the gimmicky score Experian and their competitors are touting.

The contents of your CRA files are, however, a crucial input to the bank's decision. If you have anything untoward (e.g. bad payment history) on your CRA files, you won't get a current account anywhere.

ccbrowning, have you recently reviewed your CRA files, are you happy with what they say about you? Simple things like not being on the Electoral Register or using a slightly different name to the one on the CRA files can work badly against you. E.g. if you applied as Charles Christopher Browning but your CRA files say Christopher Charles Browning, you could have fallen at the first hurdle. Infuriatingly, banks will not tell you why your application failed - you have to figure it out yourself.

ccbrowning

Yes, my CRA is fine - I looked. Plus, two weeks ago they did let me open an account, it was just that I did not have the ability to get copies of all the documents they wanted. Now that I am back home and able to get them, I suddenly am not good enough to open an account.

Nicholas-bloody-Parsons

You need to pester FD about the reasons.......

A few years ago, I was once turned down for an account with Natwest. They turned me down and did not give a specific reason; i pestered them for a reason, they said my references from my existing bank was not good enough. I wrote to my existing bank, got a copy of the references and found that the references were excellent. I re-challenged Natwest and they opened the account!