Sainsburys - a card too far?

cronshd

Did I just push it too far?

I thought the Sainsburys Platinum (0% on purchase for 12 months) would be an ideal way to SBT by stealth: purchase the premium bonds online (you can with a Visa) - and then cash in the premium bonds - and transfer to a bank - or keep them if you want a punt.

Anyway - I have an Egg Green card (and now Blue card) with £15+5k limit plus a Virgin with £15k. Also just applied for A&L, Mint (both accepted) and Amex Platinum accepted.

When I applied online for Sainsburys Platinum - it declined immediately - within a second of pressing the ENTER key. Does it really check Experian that quickly? I guess so. Is Sainsburys in the same stable as Virgin or one of the others?

My credit rating with Experian when I checked a month ago was 'Fair' - about 450 I think.

Any thoughts?

crunchy_with_ketchup

Sainsbury's cards are adnministered by Bank of Scotland. My guess would be the don't like the look of the amount of credit you've got overall. I have applied for a few cards recently, Virgin for 0%, Amex and Citi for cashback, plus have been stoozing through a few cards. I then applied for a Liverpool & Victoria card in order to get the best rate in France, only to get turned down, as the kind souls didn't want me to stretch myself too far... :-D

jameslon

Not that it really helps in your case, but I noticed before on an application that they credit check before the final screen in the application process has been reached (I suppose to avoid delay at the end.)

You could try the Experian free trial online and see if the search has appeared on there.

jameslon

crunchy_with_ketchup (yummy!), do you know who adminsters Tescos' cards?

realaledrinker

cronshd wrote:

Also just applied for A&L, Mint (both accepted) and Amex Platinum accepted.



Any thoughts?

Yeah - applying for a fourth card in quick succession will start alarm bells ringing as it appears that you have a sudden urgent need for credit. Suggest you back off for 3 or 4 months before trying again. Keep away from BoS/Halifax stable for the moment. Maybe try Cap1 if they have any decent deals on at that time.

sleepless_saver

If it's any consolation you wouldn't have been able to use it directly to buy premium bonds - it's the Visa debit card they accept, not Visa (or any other) credit cards AFAIK.

cronshd

Just to say thanks very much for your replies!

It is a compelling forum!

Martinslovechild

jameslon wrote:

crunchy_with_ketchup (yummy!), do you know who adminsters Tescos' cards?

According to Tescos' website, Tesco Personal Finance Limited is a joint venture between The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and Tesco PLC.

crunchy_with_ketchup

jameslon wrote:

crunchy_with_ketchup (yummy!), do you know who adminsters Tescos' cards?

Royal bank of Scotland