Halifax not using a proper credit check on me?

Jlawson118

GingerBob wrote: »

The operators of that maddest of all the mad systems in the world - the student loan system - expect students to work as well as study. The loan simply doesn't cover the cost of living if you're a student.

There's people who get around £7000 per year from student finance alone, but because my step-dad is so against filling in his income details, I get the absolute bare minimum. My first year wasn't too bad but I still struggled. I got a £2000 scholarship for good college grades and I used to have to borrow from it but I put it back. Then I partially used it towards buying a car in the Summer time and I started university in the second year with next to zero in the bank.

I was struggling after that, and student finance refused to help me because of my step-dad refusing the form. I posted a thread on here asking for advice but most people just suggested to ditch the car although I need it as buses are unreliable.

So to stick at my studies and actually get there, I need a job. Because student finance don't care who drops out of university if they can't afford it. Plus at least earning my own money then I don't have to pay as much back!

Jlawson118

copperclock wrote: »

Are there any other credit cards that are good for using abroad?

I did have the Lloyds Avios one last year but with a very low limit. I closed it down when I realised that the £24 a year wasn't worth it for me, and I received terrible customer service when I was travelling and they ended up cancelling the wrong cards.

I like the idea of the clarity card, it's free and offers cash withdrawals for much lower than a standard credit card

Candyapple

I can see a lot of problems in your post.

1. Firstly you're not earning £20k from 1 employment, it's £13k.

2. If you are aged 20, yes someone older will score higher with most lenders than someone who will at most have a couple of years credit history. It's life, nothing you can do about it. The same way homeowners score higher over those renting, couples who are married instead of co-habitating. It's all down to risk assessment and lenders like to see stability. They will never tell you what specific criteria you need to have in order to qualify for their products because then everyone would just lie in order to obtain said financial products.

3. Be very careful what figures you are entering for your salary/employment details because if your real salary is only £13k and you've been putting down £20k, this discrepancy will flag up on the various fraud systems (National Hunter, CIFAS etc.) and you may find yourself ending up with a CIFAS marker for application fraud.

4. Is your Halifax bank account a student one? Or just a normal current account? You won't be eligible for the Clarity card if they have you classed as a student regardless of what the staff tell you.

5. If your current account is a normal one, you need to go back in the branch and ask them what cards/loans etc you are eligible for. They should be able to tell you this on their screens. This is their pre-approved offers and should be able to tell you any credit limits they will offer you also.

6. Even though you may have lived at your address for 15+ years, any institution will only take into consideration from when you are aged 18, so to them, only 2 years.

7. So let's look at it again the reasons why you are failing. Aged 20, £13k income, lived at address for 2 years, very very short credit history data.

8. Other factors likely to affect you; lying on applications, student status, low income, lots of hard searches. If you've made lots of false soft search applications with Halifax also, this will most definitely go against you as they have likely flagged you on their own systems for fraud, in which case you will need to send a subject access request. The same way people think by entering false details on car insurance quotes because they are soft searches don't do any harm until they get the price they want by tweaking info, those searches and data are all recorded on a database and if you had an accident, the info is cross matched with info from the soft searches too in case of fraud.

copperclock

Candyapple wrote: »

...

If you've made lots of false soft search applications with Halifax also, this will most definitely go against you as they have likely flagged you on their own systems for fraud, in which case you will need to send a subject access request. The same way people think by entering false details on car insurance quotes because they are soft searches don't do any harm until they get the price they want by tweaking info, those searches and data are all recorded on a database and if you had an accident, the info is cross matched with info from the soft searches too in case of fraud.

Not to hijack thread, but I made loads of searches on a home insurance comparison thing yesterday. I was looking at the difference in quotes with and without accidental damage, and seeing if the price would change if my OH's name was first or mine. Is that a bad thing to do, or is it only when you change details that shouldn't change (like whether you have a burglar alarm or something)?

GingerBob_3

Candyapple wrote: »

I can see a lot of problems in your post.

1. Firstly you're not earning £20k from 1 employment, it's £13k.

2. If you are aged 20, yes someone older will score higher with most lenders than someone who will at most have a couple of years credit history. It's life, nothing you can do about it. The same way homeowners score higher over those renting, couples who are married instead of co-habitating. It's all down to risk assessment and lenders like to see stability. They will never tell you what specific criteria you need to have in order to qualify for their products because then everyone would just lie in order to obtain said financial products.

3. Be very careful what figures you are entering for your salary/employment details because if your real salary is only £13k and you've been putting down £20k, this discrepancy will flag up on the various fraud systems (National Hunter, CIFAS etc.) and you may find yourself ending up with a CIFAS marker for application fraud.

4. Is your Halifax bank account a student one? Or just a normal current account? You won't be eligible for the Clarity card if they have you classed as a student regardless of what the staff tell you.

5. If your current account is a normal one, you need to go back in the branch and ask them what cards/loans etc you are eligible for. They should be able to tell you this on their screens. This is their pre-approved offers and should be able to tell you any credit limits they will offer you also.

6. Even though you may have lived at your address for 15+ years, any institution will only take into consideration from when you are aged 18, so to them, only 2 years.

7. So let's look at it again the reasons why you are failing. Aged 20, £13k income, lived at address for 2 years, very very short credit history data.

8. Other factors likely to affect you; lying on applications, student status, low income, lots of hard searches. If you've made lots of false soft search applications with Halifax also, this will most definitely go against you as they have likely flagged you on their own systems for fraud, in which case you will need to send a subject access request. The same way people think by entering false details on car insurance quotes because they are soft searches don't do any harm until they get the price they want by tweaking info, those searches and data are all recorded on a database and if you had an accident, the info is cross matched with info from the soft searches too in case of fraud.

All good stuff, but you combat this one by putting bogus identification data in - false name, nearby address, similar DoB. And don't forget to clear cookies each time you go for a test quote; car insurance, airline fare or whatever. Admittedly this could be difficult with credit card applications, so use a so-called 'soft search' facility, perhaps not direct with a provider, but with correct data.

GingerBob_3

copperclock wrote: »

Not to hijack thread, but I made loads of searches on a home insurance comparison thing yesterday. I was looking at the difference in quotes with and without accidental damage, and seeing if the price would change if my OH's name was first or mine. Is that a bad thing to do, or is it only when you change details that shouldn't change (like whether you have a burglar alarm or something)?

Use bogus, but realistic, data for this one - see post above.

Sncjw

Also have you declared on application your a student or that you work part time. Is the 13k not per annum pro rota.

Superscrooge

Jlawson118 wrote: »

So I ran the soft search. Adding my earnings, DOB, entered that I've lived in the same house for over 15 years and it came up that I was 50% likely to be accepted for the card. So I changed the year of birth from 1996, to 1990, keeping all of the other information the same and I was 80% likely to be accepted.
I then tried 1997 where it came up completely that I just wasn't eligible.

It's the same reason as why a 20yrs old is likely to pay more for car insurance than a 30yrs old. They represent a higher risk.

CC providers factor in the additional risk associated with different age groups

A4445

I have to creation everyday credit card to use abroad. 12.9% no fees take out cash and 0% fees on overseas transactions. They have an eligibility checker to see if you will be accepted.

YorkshireBoy

Jlawson118 wrote: »

But my argument is that I've never been in debt, I never spend more than I have in the bank

Didn't you get a £1K overdraft facility added to your FD current account a short while ago due to some bills you had to pay? Seem to remember you took that because it was cheaper than a loan. Maybe you forgot? Or maybe not, because you seemed so chuffed with it at the time.

If my memory is better than yours (;)), then that means you were both "in debt" and spent more than you had in the bank didn't you?

So add (recent) overdraft facility usage to all the other things in Candyapple's list above, and use of an overdraft facility generally says you're not managing your day-to-day finances very well.