Rejected when trying to open current accounts

Moomin123

I have been trying to utilise several of the switching bonuses on the MSE site.

Guess I made the mistake of trying to do it all at once... I have now been rejected by both Nationwide and M&S. My credit score used to be good, but has now dropped to poor. The only thing that has changed really is all of those soft searches.

Do you have any advise? Will it go away after 6 months? Can I do anything to improve my score quicker? I want to continue with my account switching project (:

molerat

Too many credit searches will hinder you, they are probably getting spooked by you wanting to open several current accounts at once. Soft searches won't hurt you, it is hard searches for bank accounts. Wait 6 months for them to drop off. Don't worry about the score, it is the data on your file that counts.

ValiantSon

molerat wrote: »

Too many credit searches will hinder you, they are probably getting spooked by you wanting to open several current accounts at once.

Possibly true, but not necessarily so. The decision to offer an account or not is partly based on a credit search, but not exclusively. It is entirely possible to have a number of searches in a short space of time and still be offered an account because, in the round, you appear as an attractive customer to that particular bank or building society, i.e. they think that they stand a good chance of making money out of you. The information you provide in the application helps them to make such a decision, so your total monthly outgoings, gross income, residential status etc. are all important too. It shouldn't be assumed that the credit searches are the cause of rejection, but rather that in the round you are not an attractive customer to them at present.

YorkshireBoy

Moomin123 wrote: »

I have been trying to utilise several of the switching bonuses on the MSE site.

Guess I made the mistake of trying to do it all at once... I have now been rejected by both Nationwide and M&S. My credit score used to be good, but has now dropped to poor. The only thing that has changed really is all of those soft searches.

Do you have any advise? Will it go away after 6 months? Can I do anything to improve my score quicker? I want to continue with my account switching project (:

Did you get accepted for some before those two rejections? If so, which ones?

3 years ago I had an application frenzy (primarily due the YB/CB offer at the time, meaning 18 current accounts were opened in 3 months or so, but also 4 or 5 stoozing cards), but only had one rejection, HSBC. I just waited the requisite 6 months and was accepted at the second time of asking.

Mchambers

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Did you get accepted for some before those two rejections? If so, which ones?

3 years ago I had an application frenzy (primarily due the YB/CB offer at the time, meaning 18 current accounts were opened in 3 months or so, but also 4 or 5 stoozing cards), but only had one rejection, HSBC. I just waited the requisite 6 months and was accepted at the second time of asking.

You did not use HSBC porkies by any chance ?

YorkshireBoy

Mchambers wrote: »

You did not use HSBC porkies by any chance ?

Correct, I didn't. Only an idiot would do that, wouldn't they?

Mchambers

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Correct, I didn't. Only an idiot would do that, wouldn't they?

Prove it..............

EachPenny

ValiantSon wrote: »

The information you provide in the application helps them to make such a decision, so your total monthly outgoings, gross income, residential status etc. are all important too. It shouldn't be assumed that the credit searches are the cause of rejection, but rather that in the round you are not an attractive customer to them at present.

One of the OP's rejections was from Nationwide though, and experience suggests they are the least likely to reject an application for those sorts of reasons. The priority for them at the moment would appear to be maintaining their position as the bank/building society with the highest number net gains from switching.

ValiantSon

EachPenny wrote: »

One of the OP's rejections was from Nationwide though, and experience suggests they are the least likely to reject an application for those sorts of reasons. The priority for them at the moment would appear to be maintaining their position as the bank/building society with the highest number net gains from switching.

Perhaps, but that is speculation. My point was actually more about not assuming that a rejection is down to a credit search alone. People become obsessed with this and ignore the fact that the credit search is only one aspect of the decision and includes other criteria. Someone else with the same recent search activity could expect to be approved given their different position in other aspects. The focus on credit searches is simplistic.

EachPenny

ValiantSon wrote: »

Perhaps, but that is speculation. My point was actually more about not assuming that a rejection is down to a credit search alone. People become obsessed with this and ignore the fact that the credit search is only one aspect of the decision and includes other criteria. Someone else with the same recent search activity could expect to be approved given their different position in other aspects. The focus on credit searches is simplistic.

Everything posted in response to the OP's situation will be speculation though, unless someone on the forum happens to work for Nationwide's current account decisions team.

You are correct that people shouldn't assume rejection is down to a credit search alone, but as I said, experience with Nationwide suggests that the alternative factors you mention are unlikely to have resulted in a decline unless there is something very significant the OP hasn't yet mentioned.

In the absence of any other information, the best advice to the OP is to work on the basis that multiple credit applications have been flagged up, and therefore wait for the suggested 6 months before trying again. This is the only practical thing they can do, as it is unlikely they will be able to significantly increase their income, sigificantly reduce their outgoings, or become an owner-occupier in that timescale.

ValiantSon

EachPenny wrote: »

Everything posted in response to the OP's situation will be speculation though, unless someone on the forum happens to work for Nationwide's current account decisions team.

You are correct that people shouldn't assume rejection is down to a credit search alone, but as I said, experience with Nationwide suggests that the alternative factors you mention are unlikely to have resulted in a decline unless there is something very significant the OP hasn't yet mentioned.

In the absence of any other information, the best advice to the OP is to work on the basis that multiple credit applications have been flagged up, and therefore wait for the suggested 6 months before trying again. This is the only practical thing they can do, as it is unlikely they will be able to significantly increase their income, sigificantly reduce their outgoings, or become an owner-occupier in that timescale.

None of which is a counter to my original post!