Sainsbury's Credit card account 'under review', please help.

greg1283

Good morning, I’m really hoping you can offer me some advice as we are at a bit of a loss as to what to do next.

My girlfriend I have been saving and are now ready to apply for a mortgage. Each month we log in to are credit card accounts to check that the account is OK as we now have the balances at zero.

My girlfriend attempted to log into hers last Saturday and the account was locked online. She phoned Sainsbury’s bank who said the account is ‘under review’ and would not give her any further information at all.

Furthermore as we could not get any information at all from Sainsbury’s we waited for her new Experian report to be produced so we could check the account on there. The account appears to have disappeared completely from the credit report. This is a concern as she does not have a large credit history and this is a long standing account that was in good order. I am not sure if this happens as a matter of course with an account ‘under review’.

She has tried speaking to Sainsbury’s but they will not give her any information at all, I also spoke to money advice who could not offer any advice, we are very concerned and not sure what to do. We know no reason for this to have happened.

[Deleted User]

You'll need to wait for them to finish their investigations. They won't tip you off as to the issue.

Was the account being used, or was it dormant?

greg1283

The account had been being used up until three months ago as she got the balance to zero in preparation for our mortgage application.

Do you have any idea on the timescale of this sort of thing or if there is anything else we should be doing?

[Deleted User]

Just check that it doesn't appear on your other credit files.

And while it doesn't sound particularly ominous, you could check CIFAS while you're waiting.

Presumably the card doesn't work either - or is it just account access which is blocked?

Is she still using other cards (which she should be, if you have a mortgage application coming up)?

greg1283

It does currently appear on Noddle and on Equifax, but a new report has not been generated for these since it happened. On Equifax it also says 'an account will be removed from your next report'
They have stopped use of the card completely as far as we know.

When you say it doesn't sound ominous, are there instances then where this could be something that isn't that serious? Just concerned this may set us back in getting the mortgage.

How do we check CIFAS?

Thanks again

[Deleted User]

greg1283 wrote: »

They have stopped use of the card completely as far as we know.

How far is that? Has she had it declined for a transaction?

It could be just an early dormancy closure. Rare, but not unheard of. Or it could be more serious.

The Equifax comment is unlikely to relate to this account.

Be upfront with your broker, and make sure you do up to date checks of your files.

greg1283

No she hasn't attempted to use the card since this happened . We asked if the card could be used in any way (in case it was fraud) they said that it could not.

If it's an early dormancy closure, they surely should't remove the whole account history, that seems very unfair?

Yes we will give all of the information to the broker. Will the CIFA information appear on the credit file?

[Deleted User]

greg1283 wrote: »

If it's an early dormancy closure, they surely should't remove the whole account history, that seems very unfair?

That's why I don't believe they will. It will stay there for 6 years.

greg1283

So it could just not be visible temporarily whilst this review is taking place do you think?

msallen

Have you tried asking Experian? This might be a glitch in their system with "under review" accounts, or if not they should at least know what typically happens in such cases.

agrinnall

greg1283 wrote: »

How do we check CIFAS?

You need to submit a Data Subject Access Request.


https://www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us/subject-access-request