Loan eligibility/credit confusion

Drummn

Hi all,

Not totally sure this is the right area to post in but I'd be grateful for any advice. I do appreciate there's also probably not a straight answer as it relates to my credit history.

Basically I bought my first house almost a year ago with my partner (completed on 5th August, mortgage through Halifax, didn't use an independent broker) and have since been renovating it. Obviously I went through the usual credit history worries and panics while going through this process but we were approved without any issue really. My credit rating is supposedly good according to clearscore, have no negative factors listed on there, and I am on the electoral role at the new address. I assumed this would put me in a decent position for further finance later down the line.

In November of last year I applied for finance on some new furniture, was about £1000 I think so nothing crazy, but this was rejected by Hitachi personal finance. At the time when I tried to find out why I was told there were systems issues and they couldn't access that info so I moved on, and paid for the furniture another way and to be honest didn't think much else of it apart from that maybe it was too close to me taking out this mortgage and that was why they rejected it.

That is the first credit, apart from my mortgage, that I have applied for in years so I was a bit taken aback by it. Now, I've started looking into potential finance for a new car and spoke to my bank (Barclays) about a possible loan. They informed me that I had no pre approved limits for a loan and so it was then very unlikely that I would be approved for one should I apply. Although, when the lady I spoke to reviewed my accounts and my history, she was not sure why this would be the case as my cash flow is very good. I followed this up with a pre approval check for a 10k loan using Sainsbury's website, which uses a soft search to calculate things, and it said I didn't qualify for anything.

Does anyone know why there could be an issue here? If it was just the loan then as 10k is a lot of money maybe that could be a factor, but seeing as I have also had an issue with a pretty small finance request before on the furniture I'm now concerned as to why I'm not being considered for further finance. I earn £1600+ a month and my share of the mortgage is a little over £400 and after bills I usually have 50% of my monthly salary left as disposable income.

I have previously paid back thousands on credit cards over time, and currently have just a few hundred pounds on one with Mint, with a credit limit of over £3,000. I always pay this and other bills on time by direct debit and always well over the min payment credit card wise -
have done for years.

I know this is probably due to a lot of if's and and's but any guidance as to how I can improve things here would be appreciated. The affordability is there but something on people's systems is affecting things. Is it that I haven't had my mortgage for long, or that I've been at this address for under a year?

[Deleted User]

You need to check the data on all three of your files. Ignore the scores, just look to see if there are any negatives.

£10k is a reasonable ask on your salary, so that could be the cause in the absence of other factors. Your low credit card limit may also be an indicator that lenders are not inclined to advance large amounts to you.

Drummn

Many thanks for the response.

You would recommend accessing my file elsewhere? As mentioned clear score says there are no negative factors, but appreciate something might be showing elsewhere.

Can appreciate the 10k loan maybe being seen as too high, just seems strange that something much smaller was rejected, all be it last year. 3k isn't the biggest credit card limit for sure but I hadn't asked for this to be increased at any stage.

Really appreciate the insight here.

[Deleted User]

Experian and Noddle (Call Credit) are the other two CRAs.

Caz3121

Drummn wrote: »

just seems strange that something much smaller was rejected,

If you moved in August and applied in November it is possible that the electoral roll was not updated to all the CRAs when you applied

bolton_joe

Most likely you are hitting a credit policy rule rather than have a bad score. I'm shopping around gor a loan and many companies follow strict absolute rules on lending. e.g. presence on Electoral roll. address being yoo new can be a negative. ang bad history in last 3-6 years?

Drummn

Not that I'm aware of. For years I had reasonably high credit card balances split between 2 cards (although all within limits) and so didn't apply for anything while I was paying these off. Didn't miss a payment or anything though as far as I can remember, and there's nothing negative like that showing on the report I've seen. Although I'm definitely going to check out my report through some other agencies too as suggested.

Have had just the one card now for a couple of years, use it here and there but mainly just paying large chunks of it off.

As you guys say maybe the first credit app was too soon and this second one is considered too much?

Candyapple

What do the results come back as after entering your details here:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/eligibility/loans-calculator/

Drummn

Right so after taking the advice and checking my credit score with Noddle, I am completely shocked to find a CCJ was issued to me last November, at an address I last lived at 4 years ago. I have no idea how this information wasn't showing on clearscore, but anyway having done some digging it seems a previous parking fine debt of £100 that was being disputed, had then been bought last October and a CCJ issued in November.

I am in complete shock. This wasn't even my last address, but the one before that, and the car has been registered at my new address since we moved in.

Having read that the courts purely send the judgement to your last known address, this seems incredibly unfair, and a very heavy punishment for a debt that is still just listed at £150.

I knew something wasn't right

Candyapple

And this is exactly why we tell people that you need to check all 3 CRAs to get the complete picture.

Not all lenders will report to all 3 agencies, hence why the data at Clearscore was incomplete.

See if you can get the judgement set aside:
http://www.masonbullock.co.uk/how-to-set-aside-a-northampton-county-court-judgment/

Drummn

Absolutely, that is my intention.

We even communicated our new address at the time to them (which we've since moved from) and they were sending letters to us there, however the CCJ and subsequent court paperwork has still been issued to the old OLD address. That is surely an error on their part no? If it had gone to our most recent previous address it most likely would've been forwarded on, but sending it somewhere I haven't live for 4 years gave me no chance to deal with the paperwork.

When, as the owner of the vehicle, the car has been registered to me at a different address for a year, it seems very unfair that they have not made this check with the DVLA before issuing such serious action that dates back a few years. I of course have no doubt that they are not obliged to do so however.