'Full' Current Account for working 19yr old?

mumof2teens

My son (19 in June) has worked full time (£15k+) for 7mths now.
He has an Adapt Acct (teen Natwest Acct) always in credit.
He recently tried to get a mobile phone contract and was turned down as 'he doesn't exist' (in phone cyberspace/credit world).
It appears that although he has no negative credit history, he simply has 'no' credit history.
He went to the Natwest for a Select (current) Acct and was told No, you have to have a Basic Acct to start with, then later change (a complete change with new acct numbers). He appealed and was told No again....he's not opened the Basic.
So 1) will the application/appeal have an impact on his credit history? and more importantly 2) how do you get a decent 'current account' (regular bank) without credit history?
(He'd like a credit card, simply to build a history, but can't get one without a 'current' account pre-existing) .....help?

jonesMUFCforever

He should try any of the other banks. They will bite his hand off to provide him with a full current account as long as he has sufficent ID.

Is he on electoral roll>?

If he is on then that + plus a driving licence or passport will be sufficient.
If he is not on electoral roll then he won't be provided with any credit facility for the time being.

xylophone

Has he tried Nationwide for a Flex account/Flexdirect account?

macman

No history is almost as bad as a negative history. And an electoral roll listing is fundamental.

shonzyd

the failure to get a mobile phone contract was more than likely to do with the type of bank account he has rather than lack of credit history. if the account cannot accept direct debits he wont be able to get one.

lack of credit history - i doubt that was the reason, in the past its been easy to get mobile phone contracts without ever having any form of credit (overdrafts, loans etc). Unless things have dramatically changed over the last 5years.

Ensure he's on the electoral roll too.

mumof2teens

..he's def. on the Electoral Roll....polling card/voted

If he applies to a different bank and gets turned down, will that put a negative effect/mark on his credit report?
(did the failure of the appeal do this already?)
There is no common sense reason why he shouldn't have a full current account, but that didn't help at Natwest (who have always previously been brilliant with us oldies, mum & dad). So, I'm really worried about him applying elsewhere, then being turned down again.

In hindsight, it's obvious the refusal on the phone was because he couldn't have a direct debit (know that now) on his Adapt Acct.

Cass85

Id advise to apply to other banks because as long as he is over 18 he can apply for a full bank account.

Bank of ireland once tried that story with me when i was 23 and said that i had to credit a certain amount for 3 consecuitve months to be eligible for a maestro card (not even an overdraft or cheque book or anything else- they gave me a cash card to begin with which is no good to me). Suffice to say three years passed and my account as never upgraded so i ditched them. Alliance and Leicester gave me an electron card at 16 and changed to to visa debit at 18 so i just used it from then on.

chambta

Can't the Adapt account simply be changed to a full account internally? I'm pretty sure there's absolutely no need for Natwest to attempt to process any sort of new account.

IJP20

mumof2teens wrote: »

..he's def. on the Electoral Roll....polling card/voted

If he applies to a different bank and gets turned down, will that put a negative effect/mark on his credit report?
(did the failure of the appeal do this already?)
There is no common sense reason why he shouldn't have a full current account, but that didn't help at Natwest (who have always previously been brilliant with us oldies, mum & dad). So, I'm really worried about him applying elsewhere, then being turned down again.

In hindsight, it's obvious the refusal on the phone was because he couldn't have a direct debit (know that now) on his Adapt Acct.

The appeal itself doesn't get recorded on your credit history, whatever the outcome.

Applying for products that have a credit element, like a current account, would usually cause a credit search to be recorded. These aren't derogatory information in themselves, but if a lot of them stack up it might be interpreted negatively. It can make someone look desperate for credit.

Westin

We had exactly the same circumstances as the OP. 19 year old Son had a Nat West Adapt account and had had this for some years. It had quite a healthy balance as well. Nat West wanted us to jump through hoops to open a current account for him and again told only the basis account at first.

Walked over the road and he opened a current account with HSBC.

Bye bye Nat West...

jonesMUFCforever

Westin wrote: »

We had exactly the same circumstances as the OP. 19 year old Son had a Nat West Adapt account and had had this for some years. It had quite a healthy balance as well. Nat West wanted us to jump through hoops to open a current account for him and again told only the basis account at first.

Walked over the road and he opened a current account with HSBC.

Bye bye Nat West...

That's the way to do it.