Santander 123 account

fammoneymgr

HELP GRATEFULLY RECEIVED!
I have an 'excellent' credit rating with Experian - they say as high as it gets, and have been refused a Santander 123 current account. Experian can see no reason.

I can find another product, I'm sure, but am baffled and probably personally affronted! I know that Santander will never reveal their criteria 'secrets' but why...? Anyone out there know?

Thanks,

matttye

You need to look at the information in your credit report, not the score generated by the CRA's.

Have you checked all three of your credit reports to make sure there's no incorrect information in any of them? You have no defaults, CCJs etc.? Do you have an income?

We need way more information than the credit score, which doesn't mean anything as you now well know.

By contrast, my credit score is "Fair" and I've just opened a Santander 123.

Gromitt

When did you last move house?

Are you on the electoral role?

Do you have existing credit arrangements?

What is your current debt to income ratio ?

What is your current available credit to income ratio ?

What is the risk indicator for your area?

etc...

YorkshireBoy

Are you new to the UK?

Any 'iffy' financial associates?

CIFAS Markers?

SnowTiger

fammoneymgr wrote: »

HELP GRATEFULLY RECEIVED!
I have an 'excellent' credit rating with Experian - they say as high as it gets, and have been refused a Santander 123 current account. Experian can see no reason.

I can find another product, I'm sure, but am baffled and probably personally affronted! I know that Santander will never reveal their criteria 'secrets' but why...? Anyone out there know?

There's some information about Santander's credit scoring process at: http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223428157741. I'm not sure how up to date it is.

It mentions that they mainly use Experian and Equifax.

As others have said, what's on your report is far more important than the number given to you. Also, what's not on your report is important too: lack of credit history, address details, not on electoral roll, etc.

And, because of the information it asks for in the application form, Santander will know things about you that Experian doesn't.

There's also National Hunter, which checks for consistency and fraud across applications. Sometimes people will exaggerate their income, play down how much debt they have or give inaccurate time at address info.

fammoneymgr

Thanks for your responses. I have only looked at Experian, haven't moved in 11 years, have a high income, am registered on the electoral roll, have 2 credit cards in the UK and pay off the full balance of about £2,000 per month, and one in another country, which I also pay in full. No iffy partners and also very low credit to income ratio: 8%, it said.

I was thinking of asking to get the real response through the Freedom of Information Act. Does anyone think that's a possibility?

matttye

fammoneymgr wrote: »

Thanks for your responses. I have only looked at Experian, haven't moved in 11 years, have a high income, am registered on the electoral roll, have 2 credit cards in the UK and pay off the full balance of about £2,000 per month, and one in another country, which I also pay in full. No iffy partners and also very low credit to income ratio: 8%, it said.

I was thinking of asking to get the real response through the Freedom of Information Act. Does anyone think that's a possibility?

Banks aren't covered by the Freedom of Information Act as far as I can tell. It's more for police, CPS, governmental departments, etc.

https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request/organisations-you-can-request-information-from

You should check your Equifax and Noddle credit reports too and make sure there's no incorrect information held about you in those.

SnowTiger

fammoneymgr wrote: »

I was thinking of asking to get the real response through the Freedom of Information Act. Does anyone think that's a possibility?

No. You can only request information from government (organisations) under the FOI Act.

You could probably do a Subject Action Request for a tenner, asking them to send what information they have about you. I doubt their response would give specific details about why you were turned down.

From the information you've given, it does seem odd that they rejected you. Santander 123 accounts are generally quite easy to get.

You could send them copies of your Experian and Equifax reports and ask them to reconsider your application.

Maybe they were unable to identify you, wrongly identified you as someone else or there's some nasty information about you somewhere.

fammoneymgr

I think my pride is wounded! It's so frustrating. I've never heard of Noddle and didn't know that I should also check Equifax - I thought they were related companies; one UK branch and one US.

I think I will send in my reports to the person who refused me and see what they say.

matttye

fammoneymgr wrote: »

I think my pride is wounded! It's so frustrating. I've never heard of Noddle and didn't know that I should also check Equifax - I thought they were related companies; one UK branch and one US.

I think I will send in my reports to the person who refused me and see what they say.

There are three credit reference agencies; Experian, Equifax and Callcredit/Noddle. Most lenders seem to report to all three, but not everyone does, so there could be information in your Equifax report that's not in your Experian report, for example.

You might not even need to write in to Santander once you've seen the other reports as it might be glaringly obvious what's happened. For example, if Equifax has a different address for you then you might not have any information in your report whatsoever!

SnowTiger

fammoneymgr wrote: »

I think my pride is wounded! It's so frustrating. I've never heard of Noddle and didn't know that I should also check Equifax - I thought they were related companies; one UK branch and one US.

I think I will send in my reports to the person who refused me and see what they say.

Experian: http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html

Equifax: http://www.equifax.co.uk/Products/credit/statutory-report.html

Noddle (Call Credit): https://www.noddle.co.uk/

You just need the £2 Statutory Reports from Experian and Equifax. As you (now) know, the scores they offer are fairly useless.

You should get access to your Equifax and Noddle reports immediately. Experian will send you a code in the post, which you'll need to access your report. It will take about a week to arrive.

Just present Santander with the reports and ask them to reconsider their decision. Don't mention credit scores because they will create their own, based on the information they have.

However, at the end of the day, you should remember that Santander don't have to open an account for you. They can choose not to. You can ask them why, but the usual unhelpful response is that you don't meet their criteria or to look at your credit reports. I doubt they'd be specific about why they turned you down.