"Back-up card" from Natwest?

kittenheap

Hi,
Hopefully this is in the right thread.

When I was a student I went into a Natwest branch to dosomething with my overdraft, and it all went fine but I was offered a “back upcard” for my student account. Thinking that this was a second debit card, in casethe other got lost, I said yes. (I thought that would be a really good idea forif I ever lost my original, not realising actually that that would be reallyunsafe, plus I’ve not lost a debit card/purse/etc yet…) Anyway, fast forward aweek or so and a credit card arrived in the post. I read the letter andimmediately cut the card up, there’s been debt in my family ever since I canremember and so far I’d been credit free, and I did not want to tempt fate.

A few months later I was incredibly skint and thought that acredit card would actually be quite helpful, so I got in touch with Natwest andapplied, then got rejected. After going in branch they said it was due to me “applying”for a credit card less than 6 months ago and it was standard practice.

My question is will this rejection show up on my creditrecord? And is there anything I can do if it will, as I was only offered a “back-up”card not a credit card? Alternatively, is this notion of calling a credit carda back-up standard and I was just a clueless student?

Hope someone can help, sorry for long post.

zuluwarrior31

The card you cut up, you could request again stating you lost it/snapped it etc. As for the way it was sold, unless you received a document on the day you were offered the card saying what you signed up for it would be very hard to prove you were mis-sold anything. Any application and subsequent decline will appear on your credit file but if you haven't used credit before or made applications it shouldn't have too much of a detrimental affect on your score

~Beanie~

If all you did was cut the card up, is the account still open? Cutting the card up would not close your credit card account, you would have to contact them to do that.

A search will show up on your credit file no-one will be able to see that you were declined. And yes, I think they were basically selling you a credit card and describing it as a 'back-up' to make it sound more attractive to you!

CLAPTON

kittenheap wrote: »

Hi,
Hopefully this is in the right thread.

When I was a student I went into a Natwest branch to dosomething with my overdraft, and it all went fine but I was offered a “back upcard” for my student account. Thinking that this was a second debit card, in casethe other got lost, I said yes. (I thought that would be a really good idea forif I ever lost my original, not realising actually that that would be reallyunsafe, plus I’ve not lost a debit card/purse/etc yet…) Anyway, fast forward aweek or so and a credit card arrived in the post. I read the letter andimmediately cut the card up, there’s been debt in my family ever since I canremember and so far I’d been credit free, and I did not want to tempt fate.

A few months later I was incredibly skint and thought that acredit card would actually be quite helpful, so I got in touch with Natwest andapplied, then got rejected. After going in branch they said it was due to me “applying”for a credit card less than 6 months ago and it was standard practice.

My question is will this rejection show up on my creditrecord? And is there anything I can do if it will, as I was only offered a “back-up”card not a credit card? Alternatively, is this notion of calling a credit carda back-up standard and I was just a clueless student?

Hope someone can help, sorry for long post.

when did all this happened?

it a good idea to get copies of all three of your credit files (either £2 each or make use of the free trials but make sure you cancel in time)


in general, an application for credit will show on your credit files : however it doesn't say whether or not it was unsuccessful or whether you accepted or rejected it.

why are you concerned?

Candyapple

You cut up your credit card due to not wanting to get into debt because your family has always been in debt, and then you state that you were ‘incredibly skint’ so thought it was a good time to take out a credit card. What changed your mindset?

Credit card debt is a slippery slope especially if you are a student, it’s easy to incur and not think about paying it back and soon interest charges accumulate snowballing your debt into mammoth amounts. If you do ask for a new card to be sent to you, be wise and make sure you clear your balance and don’t fall into the debt trap like so many millions of us who have been there before and end up paying for the mistakes of our youth much later in life.