Virgin Money - misleading "pre-approval" & "instant decision"

JCCS

Hi, i'd appreciate some advice if anyone has time or to know if anyone has had this before with Virgin Money, sorry if this is covered in another thread!

To try and be brief - I don't often apply for credit, I have a mortgage and a barclaycard CC I have had for about 12 years. I wanted a balance transfer card to move over the Barclaycard balance and for various reasons, needed a fast decision. Looked at various options with Experian and clearscore and soft searches showed various options at 95% likelihood of approval. I realise that is not 100%! I picked Virgin purely on brand recognition as all other things between options were essentially equal and because it promised an instant decision.

I went through their own separate pre search and it came back - pre-approved - "you will definitely get a card if you apply with us". I then filled out application and triple checked the wording and it was clear that it said I would get an instant decision. On that basis i made the final application. Result came back to wait 7 days. That meant i wasn't able to go ahead with a commitment i was making with my partner which i wont bore you with but essentially that delay made a big impact.

I called to complain about the misleading application,the call centre handler was surprised looking at the page and acknowledged their wording was wrong and it shouldn't say I'd def be granted an instant decision and it was misleading. He referred me to complaints team, said i would get a letter with case handlers details i could talk it through with and go from there. No letter came but i got a voicemail 5 days later and when i called back an hour later to explain all the above, i was told a decision had already been made against my complaint - the one i hadn't had an opportunity to explain - and that it was now closed. I was very frustrated and their responses were script-like and very unhelpful. I was told "we said we would give you an instant decision on your application and our instant decision in this case was you needed to wait longer for a decision"...... So i asked to withdraw my application for credit and i'll refer their handling of the complaint on to the ombudsman as i do think it is unfairly misleading.

I perhaps should have waited for the decision rather than withdrawing the application, but my experience with them made me so wary i am ultimately not sad i don't do business with them now. However i now have a search for credit on my file I'm sure and no account to match to it and i am still in need of a balance transfer card - how long would you advise waiting before i apply for another bearing in mind i need one as soon as poss but don't want to accrue multiple searches that stop me ultimately getting one?

And has anyone else had this experience with Virgin Money? Any advice gratefully received

Nebulous2

It's happened twice to me with Virgin. The second was given as pre-approved, the first wasn't. Both ultimately approved with decent limits.

Some posters on here have said that it is more likely to go through if you apply during office hours rather than at weekends.

Any type of credit can be delayed if it is referred to an underwriter for a decision. The same thing happens with personal loans. You're better to apply a bit ahead if getting money by a certain time is important to you.

If you haven't applied for anything else recently then another application should be okay. I'd stop there however, even if you don't get what you want.

[Deleted User]

Nobody is pre-amp pre-approved.

Just as eligibility checkers don't guarantee acceptance

JCCS

Thankyou - ultimately i think of course its fair enough if their procedure is that further checks can need to be made but they should be clear upfront on that being a possibility i think and on the application I made it was very misleading, almost deliberately so you'd think by looking at it.

[Deleted User]

JCCS wrote: »

almost deliberately so you'd think by looking at it.

Unlikely.

You may have noticed that applicants get very annoyed when they find it's not instant and end up posting negatively on social media.

That wouldn't be part of their strategy.

JCCS

Yes i see your point - i'm not on social media often and have not come across this before or seen others in the situation - but if that isn't their policy but they state on the application form it is (it was on mine anyway) then it must be deliberate to some degree (whatever reason that may be for) - as if that many people post negatively they must be aware of it?

Nebulous2

JCCS wrote: »

Yes i see your point - i'm not on social media often and have not come across this before or seen others in the situation - but if that isn't their policy but they state on the application form it is (it was on mine anyway) then it must be deliberate to some degree (whatever reason that may be for) - as if that many people post negatively they must be aware of it?

There are three options; approve, decline or refer for further checks.

Some of the people they think will be approved on the basis of a soft check will be referred once they have additional information about them from their application and hard check.

[Deleted User]

JCCS wrote: »

Yes i see your point - i'm not on social media often and have not come across this before or seen others in the situation - but if that isn't their policy but they state on the application form it is (it was on mine anyway) then it must be deliberate to some degree (whatever reason that may be for) - as if that many people post negatively they must be aware of it?

It's just your normal mis match between marketing, operations and customer services.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that companies are joined up internally!

JCCS

Thanks, yes seems like it, I rarely open new accounts / take up offers of any kind so I'm less familiar with that, but learning fast!