Accepted for Natwest credit card with a default?

BRtelg

Hi All,

Just wanted to share my recent experience when applying for a credit card, hopefully it might be of use to someone in a similar situation.

I have one default on my credit file, registered July 2013. Other than that, my credit history is good, I have had a personal loan over a 5 year term, and also an HP agreement for a car, both of which were paid monthly and have been settled at the beginning of 2015. I never missed any payments on those. I also have a store card, current balance of approx £30, and a credit account with NEXT.

Due to my default, I assumed I would not be accepted for any mainstream credit cards. As I bank with Natwest, I thought I would try an application for one of their credit cards ... and to my amazement, applied online, and was accepted straight away! I was offered a limit of £4500 and my card etc came about 10 days later.

If anyone can shed any light on how the default didn't seem to have too much of a negative effect on the application, I'd love to know? I'm not familiar on the criteria for such things.

Thanks in advance

chuckley

1 default is essentially an A* credit file. you're only blocked from mainstreams when you're at the multiple defauts and or CCJ status.

SnowTiger

BRtelg wrote: »

As I bank with Natwest, I thought I would try an application for one of their credit cards ... and to my amazement, applied online, and was accepted straight away! I was offered a limit of £4500 and my card etc came about 10 days later.

If anyone can shed any light on how the default didn't seem to have too much of a negative effect on the application, I'd love to know? I'm not familiar on the criteria for such things.

Your own back is sometimes more lenient, probably because they have lots of data about you that isn't available to other lenders.

I guess your new card comes with a £24 annual fee? Apparently it's waived if you have a Natwest Reward account (£3 a month). You may be able to make some or all of that back with rewards.

BRtelg

Chuckley - thanks, I didn't know that. I thought perhaps even having one default would drag me down & potentially stop me from being accepted for any big credit applications until it dropped off my file.

SnowTiger - I do have the £24 annual fee. That's useful to know thanks, I'll have to look into it. I've accumulated some cashback from using the card already

chattychappy

Was it a real default or simply a missed payment?

Certainly I agree that the odd missed payment is not an issue. A default is more serious, but perhaps given everything else is clean and time has passed, Natwest think you're a good bet regardless.

Ben8282

Of course we have no idea of the amount or type of the default or its current status if settled or not.