Declined Application for Halifax Clarity Card

beefturnmail

My application for a Halifax Clarity card (for spending abroad) was declined today. I was a bit confused as my credit record is pretty much perfect and I was 'guaranteed' on the MSE pre-application check. Then I realised I am switching my Halifax Reward current account out tomorrow (to get the Natwest incentive) - wonder if that was the reason, - I applied for the Barclaycard Platinum straight after (a no-no I know, but as I said my credit rating is pretty mcuh perfect) and was accepted, so must be something specific to Halifax.

YorkshireBoy

beefturnmail wrote: »

My application for a Halifax Clarity card (for spending abroad) was declined today.


I was 'guaranteed' on the MSE pre-application check.

Declined on the Halifax eligibility checker?...or did you skip that based on the MSE 'guarantee' of acceptance?

PeacefulWaters

Switching banks = recent credit search. That won't help.

MSE eligibility checker isn't the same as Halifax underwriting.

binaryuniverse

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Switching banks = recent credit search. That won't help.

I've done 2 bank switches, in the last month. I applied for Halifax Clarity and MBNA cards, last weekend. Got them both with immediate decision.

It's a lottery. Take for example First Direct, who seem notoriously hard to get in to (and took me 3 attempts). Friend of mine has a pretty poor credit history. Got accepted.

Sncjw

Mse checker doesn’t garuntee anything as you hvs seen.

It is likely due to the recent credit searches you hve taken

beefturnmail

Sncjw wrote: »

Mse checker doesn’t garuntee anything as you hvs seen.

It is likely due to the recent credit searches you hve taken

Yeah - only one in the last year though (for the Natwest current account) and I didn't ask for an overdraft with that.

I'm wondering if it is due to Halifax profiling me and realising they probably wouldn't be making any money out of me from the credit card - my history with them is a switch to their Halifax reward current account back in 2013 (collecting an incentive), which I have been simply milking for the £5\£3 per month reward payment since then (i.e. not using it as a current account), before now switching it out to Natwest.

My wife has done the same with Halifax, so I will leave it a few weeks, then get her to apply and see if she is similarly declined.

beefturnmail

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Declined on the Halifax eligibility checker?...or did you skip that based on the MSE 'guarantee' of acceptance?

Declined on full application I think, so it will hit my credit file, but not too concerned as I'm not due to make a major credit application (e.g. a mortgage) anytime soon

[Deleted User]

It would have hit your credit file in any case, as a search.

Candyapple

Clarity card seems a strange one as this forum is littered with threads about being declined for it. There was one thread where the OP appealed the decline in writing and was then accepted - you could try that.

For most Halifax customers the easiest way of checking whether you will get a card from Halifax is to go into a branch and ask them to see what you are eligible for on their screens. You are given an internal score and on their system it shows all the offers that you have been guaranteed/pre-approved to be given and also the credit limit.

beefturnmail

Deleted_User wrote: »

It would have hit your credit file in any case, as a search.

Do applications simply show as a search, or is there an indication of whether it was declined\accepted?

[Deleted User]

Just a search - the result isn't recorded.

You could argue that a lender may suspect a decline if a corresponding account isn't opened, but that wouldn't always be the case, and in my experience, they tend not to make that correlation.