No debts, paying on time but get declined for Credit Cards

jumperabv3

Kristiannevan wrote: »

Great Ideas!! But need to discuss something else.

In that case just start a new thread.

jumperabv3

user1168934 wrote: »

You are absolutely correct. It will take around 2 months, try not to make any more applications during this time.


No. I wouldn't do that. Reducing the credit limit will have an adverse effect on your credit history because when you will apply for another card shortly afterwards the lender will be able to see that your existing lender has reduced the limit and that will create a doubt on your credit wortiness. They will not know that it was indeed you who asked them to do it.
I think you will be better of closing your credit card instead of asking the provider to reduce your credit limit.
You made a good call closing the other two ununsed credit card accounts.

To clarify, 50% is a rule of thumb. For instance I have several credit cards with similar limits to yours and the total limit was just over my 50%. I applied for an HSBC card last week, which is considered by most as a very difficult card to get, and it was approved with £6000 limit.



An active account is the one where you make a payment month on month. As advised make the payments only when the statement has been issued and not before. It will most certainly help your credit history.


Also try to space things out .... what I mean by that is that all of a sudden you are now closing several credit cards .... next time plan for it .... close one, give it a couple of month to settle down, close another, apply for a card and then close the one you are not using .... etc etc.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all of your advices, they are very helpful.

SeduLOUs

You have 10 credit cards? - what is the available limit on all of these cards?

Think from the viewpoint of a lender. You already have credit cards available and could get yourself into a lot of debt overnight if you so wished. If you aren't utilising the credit cards at the moment, then why exactly do you need another one?

If you aren't using any of the cards you have, they will suspect that you don't actually need the money and are only using and applying the cards for the rewards - that's not really in their interests as you won't earn them any money and could very well be a reason for you getting declined.

I personally think 10 credit cards is too many but there is no precise right answer. It depends on the lender. I personally try to only have 2-3 active credit cards at a time, and try to utilise about 20-30% of the credit available.

Finally, if you apply for too many cards within a short space of time you can start to appear desperate, and it can mean an instant no from some lenders. Again there are no hard and fast rules, but I try to only apply for one card every 3-6 months.

Candyapple

user1168934 wrote: »

No. I wouldn't do that. Reducing the credit limit will have an adverse effect on your credit history because when you will apply for another card shortly afterwards the lender will be able to see that your existing lender has reduced the limit and that will create a doubt on your credit wortiness.
I think you will be better of closing your credit card instead of asking the provider to reduce your credit limit.

I disagree with the above. It will only temporarily affect your credit history if you reduce the limit, as in a couple of months, but no more than that. Also, don't just close the card(s) instead, that is bad advice especially without knowing what you may use them for, how old the accounts are etc.

You have a Clarity card so assuming you use it for overseas, are you really spending anywhere near the £6k limit? This could be halved as £3k is more than enough for most people when travelling.

As for the MBNA one, they allow you to split the limit across 2 cards. You should appeal the decline and ask them if they would be willing to do this.

Out of interest, was it this card you were going for?
https://www.mbna.co.uk/compare-credit-cards/low-rate-credit-cards/everyday-plus/

jumperabv3

Candyapple wrote: »

1. Do you have your bank account(s) showing on your credit files?
2. Any mobile phone providers?
3. Are you on the electoral roll?
4. How many applications for credit have you made over the last year?
5. List each card you have, what your limit is and what your outstanding balance is
6. Same as above but with overdrafts
7. Same as above but with loans
8. Have you obtained your credit file from CallCredit(Noddle) and Experian also?

1. Yes, I do have Barclays, Metrobank and Halifax showing there ... but honestly my Metrobank has 0 GBP in it, I barely use it, does it do any harm if I keep it open?

2. Yes, Three mobile, I pay them with direct debit.

3. No, there was an issue with my address, I wrote to Equifax about it so they linked the address but it still shows I'm not on the electoral roll even though I received a confirmation that I am registered on it from the council itself ... not sure what else I can do about it? However MBNA told me when I used the "linked address" with the application it shows as 'address verified' and it's fine.

4. I made multiple attempts for Creation Everyday, actually lots of attempts - I think it ruined my credit score :(:( so I guess just like real-life relationships I just need to give it time for all this to "heal" as currently all these attempts are still recorded? (most of these 'many attempts' were made over 6 months ago though!)

5. I have 3 cards:

• Halifax Clarity - Credit Limit: 6000 GBP
• British Airways AMEX - Credit Limit: 9000 GBP
• MBNA AAdvantage - Credit Limit: 6500 GBP

6. I have only one overdraft facility with Halifax for 1000 GBP as far as I'm aware, I think maybe with Barclays it's 50 GBP - is this ok or should I "get rid" of it?

7. No loans whatsoever, but I have applied for one loan for 1000 GBP with Halifax and had 14 days to "cancel" it so just paid them back the loan plus 0.78 GBP and it was cancelled ... then I asked for 5000 GBP loan and they started asking too many questions on the phone and I told them it's fine and I would just use my credit card instead so I cancelled this loan - I'm sure this is an extremely bad record of having a loan declined even though I asked for it to be declined - right?

8. Only from Experian ... should I get it from CallCredit as well, will it be worth getting it from them as well?

jumperabv3

SeduLOUs wrote: »

You have 10 credit cards? - what is the available limit on all of these cards?

See one post above please.
And I don't have 10 Credit Cards, only 3 ... I have 10 Credit Agreements in total ... which includes 3 Credit Cards, 3 Bank Accounts, One Mobile Company, One Pension Fund ... and there are 2 other (credit cards) that I cancelled yesterday.

SeduLOUs wrote: »

Finally, if you apply for too many cards within a short space of time you can start to appear desperate, and it can mean an instant no from some lenders. Again there are no hard and fast rules, but I try to only apply for one card every 3-6 months.

Yes, how do I fix this?
Only give it time I guess and NOT apply to anything at all? This is the only "remedy"?

jumperabv3

Candyapple wrote: »

I disagree with the above. It will only temporarily affect your credit history if you reduce the limit, as in a couple of months, but no more than that. Also, don't just close the card(s) instead, that is bad advice especially without knowing what you may use them for, how old the accounts are etc.

You have a Clarity card so assuming you use it for overseas, are you really spending anywhere near the £6k limit? This could be halved as £3k is more than enough for most people when travelling.

I very rarely use the Halifax with Neteller and then I deposit around 5,000 GBP - 6,000 GBP for investment purposes ... it doesn't happen very often but it's a good thing I have this credit limit with them ... the thing is I usually pay what I spend next day ... !! so I think this is where the problem lies .... I can always also deposit money with the card using Skrill / Neteller, intentionally not pay it off the debt until it's posted and only then pay it - that's the way to "build" your credit?

However I do not need that large limit with the MBNA (6,500 GBP) or the BA Amex (9,000 GBP) ... honestly this is a huge limit, I don't need that much ...

So practically speaking what should I do? Reduce the limit or not? And if so reduce it both with BA Amex & MBNA to let's say 2,000 GBP each - will that help me to get new Credit Cards or not help me in the long term? That's my main question.

Candyapple wrote: »

As for the MBNA one, they allow you to split the limit across 2 cards. You should appeal the decline and ask them if they would be willing to do this.

Out of interest, was it this card you were going for?
https://www.mbna.co.uk/compare-credit-cards/low-rate-credit-cards/everyday-plus/

Yes, I tried asking MBNA to split the limit but they can only do that once the application is Approved, that's what they told me ... so unfortunately they couldn't do that for me now.

And yes, haha, that's the card I wanted to go for. :D:D

molerat

You have available credit of £21.5K and little history of managing credit, what is your salary ?

SeduLOUs

Was all the loan cancelling very recently? If so I wouldn't apply for anything else at all for at least 3 months, preferably 6.

If you get turned down by a card (Creation Everyday as the example) then don't bother applying again to that lender for at least 6 months. Many lenders actually tell you not to bother applying for 6 months if you have been rejected, they won't even look at your file again to see if anything has actually changed, just instant no.

Reducing limits can have a bit of a negative impact in the short term, but if the plan is to not apply for anything else for the next 3-6 months then it's probably best to get your affairs in order now - half the limit on some of your cards if you don't need them to be so high. If you have any old dormant accounts then look at closing them (the only exception to this is if the account you're closing is a long standing account and the one you are leaving open are only a year or two old).

You haven't got any real nasty stuff on there, and you've been accepted for a loan fairly recently which suggests it's not all bad news, and it probably does just boil down to some over-zealous applications.

jumperabv3

molerat wrote: »

You have available credit of £21.5K and little history of managing credit, what is your salary ?

My current salary before tax is about £57,600 - I think in my applications I only put £40,000 - because only recently I got a raise in my salary in my work so I didn't include that neither, but I should have put £45,000 at least but I always put less than what I get because after tax you are not left with a lot.