Halifax Clarity card refused

WaxiesDargle

I applied for, and received a Halifax credit card in January purely to pay for the flight and deposit for my holiday to Peru in July, this was paid off as soon the statement arrived. I asked on this site the best way to get money in Peru and the answer came back the Halifax Clarity credit card.

I go into a Branch today and have to say the lady there was excellent, she took me in to a private room, did all the necessary calls for me to swap my card for the clarity.


The first person she spoke to said it was no problem and gave her a reference number but she had to speak with someone else. When she explained to this second person it came back that it has been declined.


After she put the phone down I asked why and she said she has no idea as the Halifax don't know, its probably something to do with my credit status.


I've been with the Halifax 30 years, have two more payments on my mortgage and never defaulted at any time during the mortgage period. I've had credit cards with them before and have never defaulted on payments.


It just seems wrong that they can refuse without an explanation...and if my credit status was okay in January when I got my credit card, why not now? has anyone else had a similar experience?


Cheers

[Deleted User]

They may have changed their criteria since January. Or Clarity may have a different scoring system.

They won't tell you the precise reason as it opens the system up to abuse and would reveal their scoring systems.

Candyapple

Have you obtained all 3 copies of your credit report? If not, do that first to see if anything is amiss.

Failing that, try appealing.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5146984

tripled

Given they've only just issued you a card, perhaps it's simply that they won't give you another one for a few months?

awolo1

WaxiesDargle wrote: »

I applied for, and received a Halifax credit card in January purely to pay for the flight and deposit for my holiday to Peru in July, this was paid off as soon the statement arrived. I asked on this site the best way to get money in Peru and the answer came back the Halifax Clarity credit card.

I go into a Branch today and have to say the lady there was excellent, she took me in to a private room, did all the necessary calls for me to swap my card for the clarity.


The first person she spoke to said it was no problem and gave her a reference number but she had to speak with someone else. When she explained to this second person it came back that it has been declined.


After she put the phone down I asked why and she said she has no idea as the Halifax don't know, its probably something to do with my credit status.


I've been with the Halifax 30 years, have two more payments on my mortgage and never defaulted at any time during the mortgage period. I've had credit cards with them before and have never defaulted on payments.


It just seems wrong that they can refuse without an explanation...and if my credit status was okay in January when I got my credit card, why not now? has anyone else had a similar experience?


Cheers

They don't have to give you anything, they use run of the mill credit scoring systems (it's a retail bank) mixed with their own models of what kind of customers they want to accept.

They may be currently be being very strict and want customers with no debt

They may want customers with lots of debt who make them money

Appeal.

grumbler

IIRC, reportedly you can't swap Halifax CC to another Halifax CC. You have to close the old card first, then wait 6(?) months and apply for a new one.

If this is correct, the lady you spoke to wasn't competent enough despite being 'excellent'.

WaxiesDargle

I went into my own branch yesterday and explained everything to a staff member who said she was unsure why I was refused, maybe it was confused at the other branch with applying for another card and not swapping it
(although I was there when this was explained correctly by the excellent lady on the phone the first time)

Anyway she went online yesterday and we did it again and this time it was granted and the Clarity card is on its way...I can still use the one I have til it arrives and the new one is the same PIN number

Thanks for all your replies

awolo1

WaxiesDargle wrote: »

I went into my own branch yesterday and explained everything to a staff member who said she was unsure why I was refused, maybe it was confused at the other branch with applying for another card and not swapping it
(although I was there when this was explained correctly by the excellent lady on the phone the first time)

Anyway she went online yesterday and we did it again and this time it was granted and the Clarity card is on its way...I can still use the one I have til it arrives and the new one is the same PIN number

Thanks for all your replies

in 30 days, check your credit report and make sure you have don't have three footprints from the application checks.
It wouldn't surprise me if you did.
You should only have one footprint if this happens and you can request that the others are removed. Otherwise it may look like youre desperate for credit.

Halifax did this to me once.

barry_the_bear

grumbler wrote: »

IIRC, reportedly you can't swap Halifax CC to another Halifax CC. You have to close the old card first, then wait 6(?) months and apply for a new one.

If this is correct, the lady you spoke to wasn't competent enough despite being 'excellent'.

The lady was competent.


You can definitely swap from your Halifax CC to a Halifax Clarity CC. I did this myself on January 19th - it was a new policy Halifax introduced this year starting on January 19th, I did it on the first day it was possible because I wanted the card before I went away.