Repeatedly refused credit but no idea why

ericthelobster

Posting on behalf of a relative.

She's just been rejected for a mobile phone contract; and earlier in the year was turned down for a new current bank account. They won't tell her why.

The weird thing is she has a good job (earning £32K), is mid-20s, has no debt, no CCJs, is on the electoral roll, and has absolutely no history of doing anything bad. The only thing which could count against her is the fact that she's never held a credit card. She's checked her rating on Experian CreditExpert, and it comes up smelling of roses - green ticks everywhere, and although it mentions the lack of any credit, it gives her 992 points out of 999.

So why is she being rejected, and what on earth can she do about it?

All her previous addresses are listed by Experian. If she was being associated with some previous resident of one of them (which includes a student flat), would that be reflected in the credit score, or would it be obvious?

sarah_in_glasgow

Why have Experian got any details about her?

[Deleted User]

Sounds like lack of history, so she's seen as high risk. It's a shame Experian won't give her credit if they rate her so highly.

Has she checked her other files? If there is nothing negative on them, I suggest she starts to build history with a sub prime card.

Dobbibill

ericthelobster wrote: »

She's just been rejected for a mobile phone contract; and earlier in the year was turned down for a new current bank account. They won't tell her why.

What type of bank account does she have at the moment, current account or basic account?

Is she financially linked to anyone on her CR?

She should be able to get a sim only contract with a provider which will build up her worthiness with that company before going for a full contract with a handset.

HTH

ericthelobster

Dobbibill wrote: »

What type of bank account does she have at the moment, current account or basic account?

Standard current account.

Is she financially linked to anyone on her CR?

No, no individuals are named - would they be? One of my queries was whether she could be being linked to a previous occupier without realising it?

She should be able to get a sim only contract with a provider which will build up her worthiness with that company before going for a full contract with a handset.

Hmm. Yes, except she was only applying for a SIM-only contract! (Virgin).

As someone else mentioned it's probably worth her going for a sub prime credit card; however I can't help feeling there's something else afoot here....

Hazzinho

I would advise checking the other 2 CRA's as they could be quite different. Use clearscore for Equifax and Noddle for Callcredit as they are both free for life, it does appear to be a lack of credit that will be the issue.

tomxlisa

Do sim only contracts still report to credit agencies, as I am getting one soon and in the process of building a credit history?.

alchemist.1

tomxlisa wrote: »

Do sim only contracts still report to credit agencies, as I am getting one soon and in the process of building a credit history?.

Yes and they do a credit check.

Dobbibill

ericthelobster wrote: »

Standard current account.

Has she asked her own bank about a credit card?

No, no individuals are named - would they be? One of my queries was whether she could be being linked to a previous occupier without realising it?

It would show a link if she had a joint account with someone, living together does not show a link unless they were both named on utilities that report to the CRA's. They would be named though.

Hmm. Yes, except she was only applying for a SIM-only contract! (Virgin).

Oh dear, sorry to hear that.

As someone else mentioned it's probably worth her going for a sub prime credit card; however I can't help feeling there's something else afoot here....

Does anything show up on the CIFAS section of the report?

Check all 3 CRA's as suggested.

This is the link for ClearScore, which is provided by Equifax and this for Noddle, which provides Call Credit as stated above.

I hope you can get to the bottom of it.

DB

teffers

Get statutory £2 copies of all 3x credit reports (as has been mentioned).

Read through them all, ignore the 'scores' given by the CRAs and look at the actual reports.

There is likely to be something on there as mobile/sim only are usually one of the more forgiving applications in terms of adverse history.

Then there's the Hunter database ...


Good luck :-)

chrisjdw

Having never had credit before it will be difficult to begin with, but there is something underlying if she is getting knocked back for a current account or phone contract.