Nationwide Soft Search - possible issues?

[Deleted User]

Anyone got any experience with Nationwide soft search? Particularly after bankruptcy.

I spoke to a very helpful person from appeals yesterday.

Long story short, I applied last weekend - provisionally accepted for £1,250. Applied and said I only wanted £500 - was then declined after it contacted CRA and they checked CRA data.

My argument was that decline should have been manual, not automatic, since I have notice of corrections on file.

They say that their £1,250 offer was based purely on my salary and that it 'didn't know' I was ex-bankrupt until it did a hard search on my file - EVEN THOUGH my FlexBasic was opened AFTER discharge, they are saying they don't hold that data and the credit card app was a new search which 'revealed' the bankruptcy and so the relatively low £1,250 limit was then downgraded to zero.

That seems to defeat the whole idea of a soft search????

She then spoke to a manager, who said that the reasons for my decline were Bankrupcy discharged within 6 months, and poor Flex account performance - I queried this as I've never had any issues with FlexBasic (it's only been open 6 weeks).

Thinking after I got off the phone that 'Flex Account performance' may be related to my defaulted account from a few years back - but surely it wouldn't (or shouldn't!) have provisionally offered £1,250 in that case?!

And Soft Search not picking up bankruptcy seems odd? I'm waiting for Experian to see exactly what's on there, I know Equifax is almost clear.

She did say that I'll probably show as 'poor' on Experian, but something along the lines of 'I don't look like that to them - and once my outstanding defaults are settled to try after 6 months' - just seems strange they can offer £1,250 based on their internal data (bearing in mind they only credit scored me 6 weeks ago), then decline apparently based on Bankruptcy, when they should have on their internal systems I'm ex bankrupt!?

Cobalt77

When you open any Basic bank account, all the provider does is verify your identity (reason: Basic accounts have no credit facilities, and so no credit check is needed)

This can either be done visually (e.g. bring passport/driving license & utility bill to a branch) or sometimes electronically (e.g. when you make an application online) So, the Nationwide staff were correct. You won't have been credit checked for your Flex Account.

Equally, having a "notice of correction" on your CRA files is generally pretty pointless unless you've been the victim of identity theft or something has happened to affect your credit rating which is 100% not your fault (e.g. perhaps you've been confused in the past with someone who has a similar name?)

This is about the only time any "notice of correction" ever has any real chance of working in your favour, as it simply draws a human underwriter's attention to an independently verifiable factual issue which might otherwise have been overlooked.

In the vast majority of cases, the entire underwriting approval process is done electronically. Each lender will use their own software containing their own unique set of "rules" to assess any application - these "rules" are highly confidential and even the branch staff won't know the exact underwriting criteria (although, after doing it enough times, they can usually figure out the key factors)

If you get either declined or marked as a "referral" by the underwriting software, then it may be possible to have your case escalated higher up the "food chain" to an actual human underwriter. All the strengths and weaknesses are then considered objectively, and this underwriter has the power to over-rule the software decision. This is usually the only time when "notices of correction" are even looked at - and if you've added one along the lines of "my BR wasn't really my fault, it was my ex-partners" or similar, then it may count against you if a human underwriter gets the impression you are in denial.

However, for any underwriting referral to happen, the branch staff will need to "support" your application with reasons why they feel it should be granted. This is probably why they mentioned "poor Flex account performance" to you as a partial reason for the decline, as it would be a valid reason for them not going for a human underwriting review.

So, in all fairness to the Nationwide staff, it does look like they've handled things correctly.

But, being in a similar position to you, it's still bl.oody annoying

[Deleted User]

My notice of correction is that there are a couple of defaulted accounts which clearly should be settled/partially settled - a human would appreciate that, a computer would just see it that I've been bankrupt, come out of bankruptcy, and looks like I've gone and defaulted more accounts. A long shot I know, but I'd rather a human look than a computer anyway (that's the only reason I put them on there while I wait for the ICO to rule).

The poor flex performance is what struck me - because it hasn't been 'poor'. Nothing bounced etc, always had a credit balance.

If you take 'poor' to mean 'not brilliant' (due to the length of time it's been open) then I'd totally accept that. But if you take poor to mean I've done something wrong (e.g. bounced D/Ds or overdrawn) that's where I have the issue - THIS account has been fine. So maybe it was on about my old old account, OR it just means they don't have enough data (yet).

Being a basic account & not credit checked makes sense - I'm sure it said something along the lines of "we'll look at your credit file to ensure you actually need it... e.g. you are in Financial Difficulty or have defaults/CCJs/Bankruptcy" - It was just a self declaration that I met their FlexBasic criteria, I assumed they got my file to check up on that, but I guess not.

Is the whole point of a soft search not that it pulls your file (including bankruptcy marker) and THEN offers the limit? That's what I found odd - even if they didn't have I was ex-BR, the soft search should have picked it up before they initially suggested the £1,250?

I'll wait 6 months for searches to drop off, and see if they will upgrade me to the full current account (one of the benefits of FlexBasic is they will review your account after 6 months and then 'regularly' to see if you could have a full current account). If they upgrade to a full current account that'd be a good indicator for a card I guess