MSE Eligibility Checker - Credit Cards

MysteryCredit

Good Evening,

I have been following MSE forum postings for a couple of years but have never really had much to contribute, but I have a little something now so felt now is the time to give some feedback / information in my experience.

Now firstly this certainly is not a post to criticse the MSE eligibility checker (credit cards) because I am sure it works for people and the concept of it is fantastic.

But in my own personal experience I have had odd results and wondered how well it works for others.

For example, I have used it over the last couple of years and it updates with a new percentage of you have a look usually once a month or slightly longer.

I have followed a few of times the MSE eligibility checker for follows...... MBNA 90%, Sainsburys 80%, Post Office 70%, AMEX 70%...... All declined.....

However on the flip side..... Tesco 30%, Lloyds 20%, Barclaycard 0%, Creation No Score Available...... All Accepted with very respectful credit limits.....

Others experiences would be really interesting to hear.

Oh and it's lovely to finally join :beer:

elliesmemory1

I'd be interested to know how people got on with this too. I've used it out of interest. Didn't apply for any thing on the back of it, but do wonder how accurate it is.

safaridan

Has worked for me perfectly, applied for 2 cards through it in the last 2 years, both said 95% and both accepted me instantly.

It reflected my credit standing at the time as well. The first time round was with Aqua as I was on the back end of coming out of a poor standing. and I scored 20% or less for 'mainstream cards'

Back in May of this year I had completely sorted my credit rating out, went on again and now have a 0% MBNA card for 24 months, and had plenty of options. Again all done through the site.

If I had some comments I think a little common sense is to be applied...often card companies will not release information on criteria to 3rd party sites e.g. TESCO card.

The only way to build up this information for MSE is to get feedback on % deemed vs. accpetance/refusal rate. It does state this for all cards, the more people use it the more accurate it becomes.

Would NOT use it for loans, as a point of experience, your lender can always soft search you and give you an indication of acceptance. You should always go through a proper procedure with the lender for loans....

Personally it has been excellent and I commend the developers, but it is not the be all and end all.

MysteryCredit

That's really good to hear that it's worked accurately for you. Can others share there own experiences too?

Superscrooge

I've used the eligibility checker several times and it has seemed accurate for me.

Every card I've applied for I've been accepted. But I've only applied for those where I had a greater than 50% chance of being accepted.

However, a rejection wouldn't prove the eligibility checker was inaccurate. A 95% chance of acceptance still means you have a 5% chance of rejection.

The only time anyone would be able to say for definite the eligibility checker was inaccurate for them is if it said 100% chance of acceptance and they were rejected, or 0% chance of acceptance and they were accepted.

MysteryCredit

Thanks for your feedback. My experiences seem odd. I also did have 0% and accepted with £9,000 credit limit.

nb0825

I can confirm what OP has said. Just applied for credit card with 24 months 0% purhcases @ Lloyds bank. Eligibility checker said 20% chance of acceptance, but was accepted.

[Deleted User]

I applied for a 30% and got turned down, just to throw a spanner in the works

I think they're generally quite good - afterall it is the company that make the final decision not the checker.

Although MSE don't check Cap1, but another site (totallymoney) do. Not sure why. Assume it's to do with commission that Cap1 pay (or don't) to MSE.

Capital One are one of the cards which give pre-approval, so it's definitely in customer's interests to have that included in their search - if you're pre-approved it's better than having to balance out 95, 90, 80, 30% etc!!!

An example of why I think having as many pre-approved checks on there as possible - I was pre-approved with Cap1, if I'd only checked MSE I'd never have known. Running that well, it's a massive step to me improving my file.

Aqua do pre-approved, not sure if any others do?

MysteryCredit

Some interesting results here. I would like to add that aswell as MSE eligibility checker saying 0%, that also in fact the Barclaycard eligibility checker said I would not get a card.

So I guess it's taking the information with a pinch of salt.

solentsusie

I was given a 0% chance of acceptance on the MSE checker for a 0% Halifax card but on their site it stated I had a 95% chance of acceptance and I was accepted.

On the flip side it always comes up with a 90% chance of being accepted for a Marbles card but if I do their soft search it says I won't be accepted.