Declined due to length of employment

monochome_blue

So I was declined for a Lloyd's credit card yesterday. I called them up to ask why (there isn't any obvious reason) and although they said they couldn't give me a definitive answer, the guy I spoke to said that the length of my current employment could have been a factor (I started a new job at the start of the year so I had entered only 1 month in the "hoe long have you worked here question").

That's all fair enough, I just wondered if anyone had any idea what the minimum length of employment is? Obviously I'm sure it varies by bank, but as I don't want to waste applications I'd rather know if I should wait six months or a couple of years before applying for anything again!

Any advice appreciated.

jonesMUFCforever

If the banks let everybody know their criteria for issuing cards it would be tempting to fill in applications with a few white lies to get approved.

DCFC79

Id give it 6 months and apply again.

Ben8282

I believe the reason could well be true. I'm not sure how long you should wait; long enough to show stability and that the employment is permanent.

Westminster

Each company / circumstance varies.

I was in my current job 2 weeks when I got approved for 0% money transfer cards from MBNA (12k limit) and Virgin (8k limit).

This was only a couple of weeks ago.

Mahsroh

I'm only speculating here, but I would imagine many lenders would have a minimum 3 month requirement, as 99% of employers put employees through a 3 month probationary period.

That said, most people probably change jobs AFTER getting credit (be it a card, loan or mortgage).... So who knows.

phona

In 2013 I got a new CC and I'd been in my job for one day.
It was my first job after leaving university and I knew I'd fare better with an income than without, so I held off until I started the job. The question asked for my start date, rather than number of months.

Don't try to guess how and why companies make the credit decisions they do. It's a secret, nobody knows. That way lies madness.

20aday

Slightly different circumstances to you OP but a couple of years ago I applied for a Lloyds Bank Choice Rewards card.

Was declined just after a month of opening a current account with them and left it six months. Tried again and I was successful.

So if you were to try again I'd wait until then.

Halifax are part of the Lloyds Group and offer an eligibility check: http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/eligibility-checker/

Could be worth trying that then to see what it says... They may well have different criteria compared to Lloyds in terms of acceptance but if the soft search yields a higher "score" out of ten I'd imagine Lloyds would look at you favourably too?

System

It's only going to make a difference if you were already borderline.

Paul_1977

3 months minimum.

But I have applied for cards before, and where it asks "how long etc", I just put 0, and was accepted.

But I did have a current account with the bank.

splatt30

Try the eligibility checker on here? I started a new job in Jan (and moved house end of November) and was accepted for a Barclaycard in Jan and have just been accepted for a Sainsburys credit card (both 0% for purchases to aid cash flow for house improvements.) Both were 95% chance of being accepted.