Bad Credit Score

Rekusu

Hi there, Recently, my wife and I wanted to open a Santander 123 a/c in our separate names. Mine was no problem, probably because I am a UK citizen and on the electoral register. But my wife is Japanese and cannot be on the ER. The result is, even though she does not want Santander credit, but does want to deposit £20k into the a/c. she has been refused because she is not on the ER. She submitted statements from two bank a/c's that she has had for twenty years and a council tax bill with both our names. We appealed and it has been refused a second time. So we move on and give Santander the elbow. But here is the thing. Hopefully, she will not be in a position to require another bank account or large credit facilities, but in the unlikely event that she does need either or both, she will now have a record of two refusals, hence a bad credit risk. Is there any way to change this record? An/or find out which agency has given the refusal? And/or, find out what exactly it is that has caused a refusal? Thanks Rekusu

[Deleted User]

Credit reference agencies (CRAs) don't give refusals, they provide information to lenders who then make a decision based on their own (usually secret) criteria. You will never get a lender to tell you why they refused you as it's not in their best interest for their criteria to be widely known - leave them open to people playing the system I guess. If you push Santander, the only response will be something along the lines of:

"We take several factors into account when assessing someone for credit, including information provided by CRA X."

I believe they have to tell you which CRA they used but it was almost certainly Experian as they are the biggest.

Don't worry about the refusals though. Only credit searches are listed on credit records, it doesn't say anything about acceptance or refusal nor what you have applied for. Other lenders will see that you applied for something from Santander but not what it was or the outcome. Obviously lenders may be able to judge for themselves if you've applied for something but don't actually have an account listed with that company but I expect that would only be an issue if a human being looked at an application rather than a computer.

These searches will drop off your account given time. I think this might be after a year. They're not a big deal, I have at least 8 on mine from the last year and I've just been approved for another card with MBNA.

I guess Santander think the ER thing is a deal-breaker although I'm sure I've heard of foreign nationals who don't even have a spouse visa getting it.

I think Santander can be a bit funny. They turned me down for a 123 account last August despite the fact I have pretty good credit (I banked with FD who are supposed to be picky and Amex approved me for a card a couple of days later). Despite my circumstances not changing at all since then (if anything my credit should have been slightly worse as I had applied for and received yet another CC in the meantime - another Amex) they then approved me in March this year!

dr_adidas01

Rekusu wrote: »

Hi there, Recently, my wife and I wanted to open a Santander 123 a/c in our separate names. Mine was no problem, probably because I am a UK citizen and on the electoral register. But my wife is Japanese and cannot be on the ER. The result is, even though she does not want Santander credit, but does want to deposit £20k into the a/c. she has been refused because she is not on the ER. She submitted statements from two bank a/c's that she has had for twenty years and a council tax bill with both our names. We appealed and it has been refused a second time. So we move on and give Santander the elbow. But here is the thing. Hopefully, she will not be in a position to require another bank account or large credit facilities, but in the unlikely event that she does need either or both, she will now have a record of two refusals, hence a bad credit risk. Is there any way to change this record? An/or find out which agency has given the refusal? And/or, find out what exactly it is that has caused a refusal? Thanks Rekusu

Your wife can be on the ER she would have to become a British citizen, however based on your previous posts about other accounts she's tried to open she wont change her citizenship!!

She won't have a record of two refusals and this won't be recorded as a bad credit risk.

You should apply to both Experian and Equifax as these are the main two that most financial institutions use, and see what information they have on your wife.

It maybe a good idea to see if she has any CIFAS (fraud markers) on her files too.

Also stop applying for accounts in such a short space of time as this will look like she's desperate for credit products and can also be a cause for organisations declining applications.

Rekusu

Thanks for the replies and explanation; makes sense.

Regarding making too many a/c opening applications, she (we) made the first which was rejected, so the Santander gent added a note of explanation and appealed. That has also been rejected. If two applications looks bad, then what is one supposed to do if one wants to open another a/c?

As another topic for discussion, my wife points out that there must be any number of foreigners living in the UK, who do not have citizenship and are not eligible to be on the ER, but do have an a/c with Santander. So what is their acceptance criteria?

As ironic as it is, the Santander gent we have been dealing with is Brazilian, is not a UK citizen and has a Santander a/c, and also (apparently) on the ER as a non-voter. According to the ER dept. of the my council, that is illegal.

Rekusu

dr_adidas01

Rekusu wrote: »

Thanks for the replies and explanation; makes sense.

Regarding making too many a/c opening applications, she (we) made the first which was rejected, so the Santander gent added a note of explanation and appealed. That has also been rejected. If two applications looks bad, then what is one supposed to do if one wants to open another a/c?

As another topic for discussion, my wife points out that there must be any number of foreigners living in the UK, who do not have citizenship and are not eligible to be on the ER, but do have an a/c with Santander. So what is their acceptance criteria?

As ironic as it is, the Santander gent we have been dealing with is Brazilian, is not a UK citizen and has a Santander a/c, and also (apparently) on the ER as a non-voter. According to the ER dept. of the my council, that is illegal.

Rekusu

No one knows what any financial organisations acceptance criteria is except for the financial organisation in question. There not going to tell ordinary Joe public what it is, and it will be unique to Santander.

Time to get over it and accept that Santander don't want your wife's business, you should be careful as they may decide they don't want your business either and cancel your account. Which they can legally do if they so wish to do.

As for the ER department at the council, how does he know what banks can and can't do when it comes to accepting there customers. He will only know about ER matters and not financial institutions right to accept the customers they want.

There are many non UK residents whom have bank accounts with UK banks, to have there salary paid into. The banks choose whom they want as customers, they will provide services to those whom fit there acceptance criteria. They don't legally have to provide anyone with accounts or financial services just because they think they have the right to them.

There's something they don't like about your wife and they have decided they don't want or need her custom, time to move on and leave it!!!

Experian_company_representative

Your wife could also add a notice of correction to her credit report explaining why she isn't on the electoral roll. As Lazyloki says, the search footprints don't include the outcome and are wiped after 12 months.

James Jones

dr_adidas01

Experian_company_representative wrote: »

Your wife could also add a notice of correction to her credit report explaining why she isn't on the electoral roll. As Lazyloki says, the search footprints don't include the outcome and are wiped after 12 months.

James Jones

Adding a notice of correction to your file will slow down the whole credit process as you won't get any automatic decisions on any products you may apply for.

They will be referred to an underwriter who will read what you have written and then decide on if to approve the application or decline this. If you choose to do this then of course you will have to do this on all three of your wives credit files Experian, Equifax and CallCredit.

These are the 3 main CRA's that are used to check applications for credit.

Before you do this get copies of her credit reports and see if anything is on it that shouldn't be.

Lith

Since when do you need to be on the 'ER' to get a bank account 0.o?

Im not on it.... never been on it im 25 and have 4 accounts in UK and 2 accounts in china

nothing stopped me, i call discrimination, i know a Chinese person who opened a rbs and HSBC account WITH EASE all he needed was a passport, and proof of address....

dr_adidas01

Lith wrote: »

Since when do you need to be on the 'ER' to get a bank account 0.o?

Im not on it.... never been on it im 25 and have 4 accounts in UK and 2 accounts in china

nothing stopped me, i call discrimination, i know a Chinese person who opened a rbs and HSBC account WITH EASE all he needed was a passport, and proof of address....

You don't its just one way that lenders like to verify your identity.

As you have pointed out you can also use your a passport and proof of address as a manual way of proving your identity.

[Deleted User]

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

Time to get over it and accept that Santander don't want your wife's business, you should be careful as they may decide they don't want your business either and cancel your account. Which they can legally do if they so wish to do.

What a pile of utter !!!!!!!!! Why on earth would they do that?

anoncol

Lazyloki wrote: »

What a pile of utter !!!!!!!!! Why on earth would they do that?

Well they obviously have done. We have no idea since we cant see her records.