Apple iPhone upgrade program - failed credit check

ATL01

Today my credit check failed when applying for the iPhone upgrade program, which is done through a loan with Barclays. Since I got home, I have requested a copy of my Experian credit report (which is the provider they use) and updated my address on the electoral roll. I was ineligible for the free MSE credit check service for some reason.

I am wondering - has this happened to anyone else with Apple? I am a recent graduate and still in my student overdraft, but without any credit cards or debts other than my overdraft (as far as I know!!) The account details I provided are my student account details, the bank of which I have been with since I was born. I have a second current account, which I pay council tax, Spotify and rent out of, and never use the overdraft in. Should I have used these bank details instead/does it matter? Could I have been rejected simply for not having any credit?

Secondly, I got a little confused in reading the advice on MSE. It advises to keep all your addresses in accounts consistent but the guy in the Apple store told me I should change all my bank addresses to my current address. As I live in London and have moved a couple times in the last few years - my bank accounts are linked to my parents house in Scotland where I lived for the majority of my life. Should I keep it this way or update to current address and does this affect my rating in any way? Would it matter than my bank account address and my electoral roll are different?

My name is quite complicated and some bills in the past I have abbreviated my first name and only used one of my last names. Does this matter? Similarly, if say the 'Flat C' has been missed out of an address, but the number and postcode are correct, do these errors or misspellings have any affect on my rating?

LAST THING - if I get my results and try to fix my rating, how long should I wait before trying to get the iPhone again? I really need a new phone and of course I can afford the £34 a month.

Any help much much appreciated! Thank you!

Chappaz

I'll probably applying for the Apple upgrade program at some point this year.

However, I've always suspected that it's not the easiest phone contract to be approved for. It's technically an interest-free loan provided by Barclays, and interest-free loans are usually reserved for those with good credit ratings.

It's probably easier than any normal loan, but a fair bit harder than a traditional phone contract.

Anyway, if you've never had any credit cards, loans or other types of finance, then you were probably failed due to a lack of credit history. No history can sometimes be as bad as poor history, because they have no way of telling how risky or trustworthy you are as a borrower.

If you don't have any proper history of borrowing money and paying it back, then you need to start doing that. Not only will it help with the Apple application, but it will also set you up for the far future when you take out a mortgage in X number of years. The sooner you start, the better.

You should also wait at least a few months before applying again. Ideally 5 or 6. That's a while, but until you fix the likely reason for the rejection, the same thing will happen again.

What's actually on your Experian credit report? Any open or closed accounts?

DCFC79

Get yourself down to Argos or onto Amazon and buy a phone for about £150, loads of phones for sale.