Applying for Mainstream Credit Card

Chub97

Hello all,

I've had a Capital One credit card for about 20 months now, in which time the limit has been increased from £200 to £700. I'm looking for a new card that I can hopefully use to make purchases, namely I'd like to be able pay off my car insurance with 0% interest.

I foolishly applied for an American Express card after their eligibility checker told me I was 95% eligible. Needless to say I was declined on grounds of not having enough credit history. This was a couple of months ago, but for whatever reason this never showed up on my credit report.

I don't know if this is relevant, but I did open a new current account last month which put a small dent in my credit report, which has since recovered.

I've done some looking around on both Experian and ClearScore, both of which say I have about a 90% chance of being accepted for a Barclaycard Platinum. However, I remain slightly skeptical as the same eligibility test shows that I am only 80% likely to be accepted for their Barclaycard Initial, and equally so according to the Experian credit matcher they are just about the only lenders that offer me a good chance of getting a card bar Capital One and Vanquis. Even cards like Marbles and Aqua on show a chance of 30% approval, why is this?

Sorry for such a long post, just looking for some advice on how I can proceed. Thanks for your time.

2ilent8cho

From my own experience over the last 8 months i would be trying for one of the Tesco 0% cards or low APR. I have 4 defaults still showing yet they have let me have 2 of their main stream credit cards. So they seem to me to be less fussy. If Tesco is showing in the Money Saving Expert eligibility checker as high % chance of acceptance i would say thats your best shot. I also opened a current account 2 months ago and last month got my second tesco credit card at 10.9% APR which is very low for somebody with my history.

sjb76

Barclaycard have their own eiligibility checker as well which i found to be more accurate. https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/eligibility-checker?ref=home-mainnav

Chub97

@2ilent8echo my friend who has a similar credit profile had no problem getting a Tesco card, but unfortunately my odds only show as 50/50 for pretty much all their cards except the Foundation which is showing 60%.

@sjb76 I did try the checker which did show 90% for the platinum but then I've heard some stories of people still getting rejected, and for some reason I have a lower percentage chance of being accepted for their Initial card?

Candyapple

Have you checked all 3 of your files?

The free versions to check your credit files are below:
Experian: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub
Equifax: https://www.clearscore.com
Call Credit: https://www.noddle.co.uk

Please list all credit card limits along with outstanding balances.

Do you have any other loans / overdraft / car finance etc?

Do you have any late payments / defaults / CCJs?

What is your annual salary?

Are you in employment or are you a student?

Are you on the electoral roll (does it show on all 3 files?)

Do you have any other closed / settled accounts in your history?

Do you have many other 'credit' accounts showing on your files such as bank account / mobile phone etc.? (does it show on all 3 files?)

Have you made any credit applications or hard searches in the last 12 months? If yes, how many?

Chub97

I've checked all three of my credit reports, all of which come back as 'good'. ClearScore has two negatives listed which are that the age of my oldest agreement isn't very old and that my largest available credit limit is too small. The same is reported with Experian.

I have one credit card with Capital One with a limit of £700, the balance at the last time of my statement was £86.

I don't currently have any other credit facilities open, however I do pay for my insurance monthly but this doesn't appear to show up anyway on any of my reports.

No history of late payments, defaults or CCJs.

Annual salary: £21,300 (Full-time)

All three agencies report that I am on the electoral roll.

I don't currently have any settled or closed accounts.

I do have one hard search for opening a new current account last month, this only shows on Experian. However, the overdraft doesn't appear to be reported. I did apply for a credit card over a month ago which was subsequently declined, however this never came back with a hard inquiry.

Thanks for the help!

Candyapple

OK I'm going to assume you are 19/20 (based on your username year) in which case you have little credit history for lenders to go on. There's not much you can do about this as time is your friend.

Do you have a mobile phone? Or a SIM only contract? That could be another thing to add that will be reported back to the CRAs.

If you have a 90% chance of being accepted for the Barclaycard Platinum then apply for it. One more search is not going to be anything in the grand scheme of things. Barclaycard are a good company to go for, they offer 0% balance transfer and money transfer monthly deals to all existing customers so it's also worth keeping that in mind.

Are you using your Cap 1 card in the correct manner? As in you are waiting for the statement to be produced first and then clearing it in full? Do you have lots of green zeros on your files?

Chub97

I do have a phone through work, so the contract isn't registered in my name. I may well give Barclays ago, although I've just read on the Barclays site that the Platinum card is recommended for customers aged over 21. All other requirements such as income are met, but it does make me wonder why my age wouldn't have been flagged up with the eligibility test. Is it still worth applying?

I have a direct debit set-up to clear my Capital One balance at the end of each month. I always stay within 20% of my limit.

Thanks again.

Candyapple

If you are not 21 yet then don't apply - it will only result in a wasted hard search. Amex used to operate the same 'over 21' policy so that could be a reason why you were declined.

You could always try for a 0% Tesco purchases card:
http://www.tescobank.com/credit-cards/purchases/apply.html

Tesco are known for being 'lenient' and give high limits. If you do apply, let us know how you got on.

Chub97

Thanks for all the help Candyapple.

I signed up to Credit Club here, where it listed my chance of getting a Tesco card as 50%. Which is fair enough, but I took another look at Barclays and saw that their rewards card was open to under 21s. I applied just now and was very surprised to see an instant approval. After logging in, the dashboard is showing that I have a limit of £5,000. Whether or not this is the official figure I don't know, I guess I'll just have to wait until the card arrives.

ForeverAwake

I'd apply for a couple of cards. A few searches isn't really a big deal. Just don't apply excessively and if rejected wait 3 months before trying again.