Santander 123 Account

mankycat

I am not sure if I find this funny or alarming but I applied online via quidqo for the 123 current account on Monday and received a reply from Santander today that I had been rejected.

I have the full years ISA allowance that I planned to place into their 2 year fixed rate ISA plus a high chunk of savings that I planned to transfer into the current account. This is why I wanted to open it.

Based on their completely useless one line explanation the only thing I can think of is that I have no credit score since I've never had any debt (apart from student loads), never taken out any other loan or owned a credit card. I've never thought I'd be turned down for a current account.

Do you think it is worth my time going into a branch at the weekend and explaining my situation or is this a lost cause?

ColdIron

badger09 wrote: »

On the other hand, this will be the 5th 'current' account I've opened in the last 3 months

I wonder about this as well. I've opened 3 in the last 2 months. Given a normal credit rating, whatever that is, I'd like to know where the danger threshold lies. There are a couple of accounts I'd like to open and don't know whether to hold off for a few months

Is there a rule of thumb, or given mankycat's experience, is it all a bit of a pig in a poke?

innovate

mankycat wrote: »

I've never thought I'd be turned down for a current account.

Do you think it is worth my time going into a branch at the weekend and explaining my situation or is this a lost cause?

You should start by getting your credit agency report, best perhaps from Experian. There is a good chance that you can learn from there why they rejected you - e.g. not on electoral roll, late payment markers etc.

You might be able to open an account in Branch if you take proof of ID and address with you.

innovate

ColdIron wrote: »

Is there a rule of thumb, or given mankycat's experience, is it all a bit of a pig in a poke?

The latter, I think. If you don't want to apply for any major credit (mortgage, loan) anytime soon, and if your credit record is good, I don't think there's a problem. I have so far opened 9 current accounts this year, 6 of them over the same weekend.

badger09

innovate wrote: »

The latter, I think. If you don't want to apply for any major credit (mortgage, loan) anytime soon, and if your credit record is good, I don't think there's a problem. I have so far opened 9 current accounts this year, 6 of them over the same weekend.

It is possible, that due to the very short time frame - specifically the 6 over the same weekend - none of the 6 appeared on your CRA while they were all being processed. Whereas if you had applied for 1 a month over a 9 month period, you might have had some of them rejected.

Just speculation on my part

innovate

Yes, you might be right. I'll probably never find out, unless one or the other comes up with a great new offer soon.

Sampong

badger09 wrote: »

It is possible, that due to the very short time frame - specifically the 6 over the same weekend - none of the 6 appeared on your CRA while they were all being processed. Whereas if you had applied for 1 a month over a 9 month period, you might have had some of them rejected.

Just speculation on my part

I think there may be something to this also. I applied for a Lloyds account shortly after my Santander123 application - I don't remember the exact time frame but maybe a month between them - and definately enough time for the Santander application to show up on my CRA file. The Lloyds application was rejected.

I haven't had a chance to get around to it yet but plan to attempt an appeal out of interest to see if I get anywhere. I checked the 3 main credit files and they were all ok/good. It's funny that banks are always trying to sell credit to customers, yet a current account (with no overdraft requested I might add) is rejected.

I don't really see where the liability is with a bank account? Surely you either use it or not?

innovate

Sampong wrote: »

I don't really see where the liability is with a bank account? Surely you either use it or not?

You could run up unauthorised overdrafts, so every current account holder is a credit risk.

If you have lots of credit (credit cards, loans, mortgage, overdrafts), there comes a point where banks won't give you any more.

In my case, the available credit is very modest, and there are no unpaid items, which might be the reason why my current account applications sailed through. But who knows....

Mickygg

In terms of the interest on the £20k.Earlier posts mention the Interest rate is 3% on the whole £20k, but reading the 1,2,3 details is it not 0-1k 0%, 1-2k 2% then over 3k 3%?
So really you are getting 2.7% overall for £20k.
Can anyone please confirm?

badger09

Mickygg wrote: »

In terms of the interest on the £20k.Earlier posts mention the Interest rate is 3% on the whole £20k, but reading the 1,2,3 details is it not 0-1k 0%, 1-2k 2% then over 3k 3%?
So really you are getting 2.7% overall for £20k.
Can anyone please confirm?

No, you get 3% on the whole balance where that balance is between £3k and £20k, and you meet all other requirements of the account.