Sudden decline in Noddle rating

themanfromamarillo

Hi folks. A couple of months ago I applied for a Santander 123 account and got turned down because of a "low credit score". I was pretty shocked by this as I'd never been turned down for credit before, my Noddle rating was 5/5 and my Experian score was 980+ (no debt beyond a credit card paid off every month, never missed a paymeny on anything). I decided that there must be something in my file spooking banks so I wrote to all the credit agencies making sure they had my electoral roll info (I'd moved in the previous 6 months) and I cancelled a credit card I'd had for 12 years but had recently stopped using so I would have a settled credit account on the file. I kept a Lloyds credit card I've had for 4 months.

Now my Noddle rating has gone down to 3/5 :eek:

I'm wondering why my rating is so much lower. My old card appears as a settled account that I held for 12 years, I've never missed any payment on any card and my electoral roll info is now added to my file. My current credit card has a balance of £600-700 per month (although I typically spend £400pm on day to day expenses and work travel) with a limit of £2000. I pay the full statement amount every month but the way the billing works means it takes about 28 days for the direct debit to pay off the account. I would pay off the amount with a direct transfer but I'd need a Lloyds (my card provider) current account to do that.

I'd really like to have one of these high interest current accounts (ideally a 123 but I think I'm going to try a Club Lloyds application instead) but it seems like my credit file isn't good enough. I was thinking of waiting till Lloyds had 6 months of credit card data on me and then applying for a Club Lloyds. Any advice on what is wrong with my file?

Malmo

The scores are irrelevant, lenders do not use these agency generated consumer scores. They are simply a marketing feature, so ignore them.

It could be length of residence at your current address or you may not have been registered on the electoral roll at the time of application.

YorkshireBoy

themanfromamarillo wrote: »

I cancelled a credit card I'd had for 12 years

Bad move! Your average account age is now much lower than it was.

I would pay off the amount with a direct transfer but I'd need a Lloyds (my card provider) current account to do that.

No you wouldn't. Your Lloyds credit card statement carries all the payment details you need to pay from any current account.

andyfromotley

You are (understandably) conflating two things.

The credit score of Santander ( a company which will actually provide you with credit). Their scorecard for that account will take into account a whole host of factors, including stuff from your application, the desired profile of an account customer, and info from CRA's amongst other things, typically at least 20 factors will be used to score you. This score is important because it decides if you get the product.

The Credit score of a CRA (which will never provide you with credit or indeed any product EXCEPT... its own credit score.) This is made up from the information it holds about you. Other than giving a very general view of your credit history (which can be crude misleading and inaccurate) this score has no purpose but to convince you to pay to see it and 'manage' it.

Although they go by the same name, i hope you can see that these two Credit Scores are very different beasts indeed.

DCFC79

Santander couldn't have rejected you because of your low credit score as they don't see your score, maybe they referred to the in house scoring system scored you low.

20aday

I'd hazard a guess that your "score" dropped because you'd settled a really old account (therefore bringing the average age of your accounts down, as YorkshireBoy states.)

Not only that you've moved recently. Potential lenders like to see stability; give it a bit longer and you'll find yourself more likely to be accepted.

As for paying your Lloyds Credit Card I'm assuming you can register for Online Banking with them (even if you don't hold a Current Account presently) and view your Credit Card statements online, along with the details to set up Faster Payments.

themanfromamarillo

Hi sorry, I should've made I clear I understood that Santander will use their own scoring system.

I hadn't realised that my average account lifetime mattered, I'd thought that a settled, long-term account would be a good thing. As far as I can tell it'll be impossible for me to get credit products for a while yet. I tried the Noddle credit card elligibility checker and was told I wasn't able to get any cards :eek:

Would waiting for 2 months or so and then applying of a Club Lloyds current account be a reasonable idea? I'd have 6 months of history of having a credit card with them by then and only one credit search in the past 6 months. I'd also try to keep my card usage below 25%. I don't even want an overdraft so the whole credit check for a current account is daft.

I assume applying for a current account and being rejected wouldn't lead to me getting my credit card taken away from me.

I assume there's no way applying for a credit c

Malmo

Perhaps review your chances of being successful in your application for a credit card by using a MSE Credit Card Eligibility tool, such as these ones. The tools only perform a type of "soft" search on your credit file, so the search won't be visible to anyone other than you.

themanfromamarillo

Yeah, I get a reasonable result for the loan calculator. The credit card checker doesn't work, I don't exist apparently.

Typhoon2000

themanfromamarillo wrote: »

The credit card checker doesn't work, I don't exist apparently.

Might be the reason why you got rejected.

themanfromamarillo

It was the same before I applied for the Lloyds card so I don't think me missing from whatever system MSE uses has a big effect.