Number of credit searches

fezboy

Hi All,

I need to do a balance transfer on my credit card as I have started to pay interest so I did the eligibility test on here and applied for a Halifax card. I was declined, even though it said I had an 80% chance of being accepted.

So I looked at my credit report with Experian and the score was 904 which I thought was pretty good, however it was highlighting that my credit utilisation was high at 76% and the number of searches was high too, so I imagine that these were the reasons for the decline.

In the last 6 months I have 5 searches on my file for various reasons, one was the credit card, one was for a new current account, another for a new ISA and the other for my mortgage.

In the last year I have 9 including the 5 from the last 6 months. these were for overdrafts, savings accounts and increasing credit limit on my card.

I didn't think that 9 searches in 12 months was that bad, but apparently it is. Have people any knowledge of the number that is deemed to be acceptable?

Thanks for any help.

thornelius_2

They like to see no more than 3-4 searches on your file as it looks like you could be taking on to much credit, each search stays in there for a year

gb12345

fezboy wrote: »

however it was highlighting that my credit utilisation was high at 76% and the number of searches was high too, so I imagine that these were the reasons for the decline.

Since Experian are not party to Halifax's lending criteria, there is no guarantee that the potential problems they highlight are the cause of your declinature.

Perhaps your available credit is deemed to be too high for your salary or you haven't been in your job (or property) long enough to satisfy them or you're not on the electoral roll - the reasons are numerous and no one one here will be able to tell you why Halifax don't think your a suitable applicant.

Thrugelmir

How many lines of credit do you currently have? I noted that overdrafts was plural along with a change in bank. So possible that an increasing level of indebtedness has been detected.

marathonic

I'm on a similar boat except that I don't pay interest until 19th December.

I'm working on improving my report (not my score) in any way I can. This involves paying slightly over the minimum on both cards to avoid the 'minimum payment' marker, not going into my overdraft and paying down the balance on the 0% card to reduce my utilisation.

My utilisation as of last months report was 78.6%, this month it's 65.2% and next month it'll be 56%.

Recent searches are also an issue on my report with a First Direct account search 2 months ago, the 6 month 0% interest free credit card search 5 months ago and a Halifax account search 5 months ago. These will be older by the time I come around to applying.

Last month, the MSE Eligibility checker gave me a 20% chance for Halifax :eek:

It should improve by the time I apply but, if not, I can scrape the money up elsewhere to pay it off - forfeiting some savings interest in the process.

Have you tried the Nationwide, Barclaycard or Fluid soft searches (maybe these cards don't suit you depending on the cards you currently hold).

marathonic

fezboy wrote: »

I didn't think that 9 searches in 12 months was that bad, but apparently it is. Have people any knowledge of the number that is deemed to be acceptable?

Thanks for any help.

It may not be the searches themselves or even the available credit. It may be that a new mortgage, credit card and current account has brought the average age of your active accounts down too low.

simeyb

You seem to be trying to get as many lines of credit as possible!!!??? Are you simply rate shopping and your overall indebtedness is sensible compared to your income and other outgoings, or in applying for so many lines of credit, are you heading for a point when you won't be able to get any more, the 0% offers will dry up and you'll end up in trouble? You may be OK, but we've seen so many on here where apparent availiability of credit has led subsequently to misery.

jakesuk

fezboy wrote: »

Hi All,

In the last 6 months I have 5 searches on my file for various reasons, one was the credit card, one was for a new current account, another for a new ISA and the other for my mortgage.

In the last year I have 9 including the 5 from the last 6 months. these were for overdrafts, savings accounts and increasing credit limit on my card.

The ISA search would have been an ID / AML check rather than a credit search and will not negatively impact your credit report. Next to each search it will show the search type eg. unrecorded enquiry, credit report, current account, ID check, credit card.