Tandem application

blackterror

Afternoon Good People,

I applied in mid November for a Tandem credit card, verified my identity, and was told after a phone call to Tandem in mid December to sit tight - they're running their checks.

Fast forward to early January I chased that up. After a 20 minute hold time on the phone, it turns out they'd lost the (digital) verification documents proving my ID that I'd sent to them via the app.
So I had to send these documents again. Not a massive drama, but given their 3 week processing times for applications its getting pretty silly (2 months after applying) at this point.

Another month goes by, and I phone again to check my application. I am told to sit tight, they're processing it, and I will receive the next steps in the post within 1 week.

Another month goes by, bringing me to the present day. I phone again, and after just a 15 minute hold time on the phone Tandem tell me that my details are being passed on. They apologise, and assure me they will be in touch. I explain that I've heard this before, and give my timeline of events as above, but the customer rep tells me I will hear from them via a phone call in the next 7 days.

I'm not holding my breath given their track record of really poor customer service.

My question is, has anyone else had to wait 4 months before? I'm getting absolutely nowhere, and my only real concern is that I just want an answer as to whether I've been accepted or rejected. If I'm rejected, fair enough. But I don't even trust that they'll inform me at this point, so I might just be left with a mysterious mark on my file at some time in the future. It's ridiculous.

If you've read til the end, Thanks a lot, I appreciate it. If you have any advice, even better!

[Deleted User]

There won't be a "mark" on your credit file - just the searches associated with the application, which will neither indicate an acceptance or rejection to other lenders.

Wait and see if they contact you within the timescale given and if not escalate as a complaint

System

Yet another Tandem woes post. They are straight up reckless. This outfit should be shut down!

Just walk away. Take your business elsewhere.

Miki

Called Tandem to ask what had happened to my cashback last month - they said it would appear on my next statement.
No cashback this month - they told me I had the "wrong" Tandem card despite there being no choice when applying!
In my opinion they are a rip off outfit.

[Deleted User]

Did you apply for the Journey card or the Cashback card?

If you’re declined for the Cashback card it will offer you the Journey card as an alternative during the application process.

niktheguru

I and my wife applied for a tandem card at the same time. Mine didn't need verification but took 2 months as there was some block during the application...."a computer glitch" they said which they manually had to override.

My wifes application was nearly identical to yours. We had to send the id docs thru the app, then delay after delay. told by customer rep after customer rep, not too long. Then one said, everything is done, you should get your card in the post within a week, then nothing, then after another month went bezerk and they said they would give £20 compensation and fast track it, then after a total of 4 months they sent a rejection with no explanation.....and no £20 compensation to be seen.

The application process for tandem is a farce. Once you have the card its actually a good account and I've used it here and abroad without any problems. The whole application process is a complete joke run by amateurs though.

Tandem_Bank

@Blackterror
Hello. I'm really sorry to hear about your application process. Frankly, that sounds like a terrible experience and not what we're trying to offer customers at all. While 90% of applicants get an instant accept or decline, for others who go down the route we call "refer" when we need more information to confirm your identity, we're aware that the application takes much longer, but in any case it should never take as long as it has taken with you. There are still some manual parts to the process which means that if we have an unusual number of refers in a given week, it can build up a bit of a backlog. But again, the longest we expect the application to take via this route is 3 weeks. Most applications take 5-10 minutes to get a decision, but this obviously hasn't happened for you.
Can you DM on our facebook page with your name and email and I'll look into what has happened in your case and make sure we get moving on it straight away.
Please accept my apologies - as a growing company it's sometimes difficult to get the balance right between being over and under resourced in certain areas, but there's really no excuse for not having given you a decision on your application one way or the other by now and I'd like to help get your application over the line if you'd still like me to.

Tandem_Bank

Miki wrote: »

Called Tandem to ask what had happened to my cashback last month - they said it would appear on my next statement.

Hi Miki.
Sorry that there seems to have been some confusion about your cashback and which type of card you got during your application. It would be very useful to hear from you exactly how you applied so that we can make sure the journey is clearer between the two cards that we offer and that the same mistake doesn't happen again.

If you'd like me to follow up on your cashback problem, please get in touch on our facebook page (send a message to the page) and I'll raise your case with customer service and make sure we get it sorted.

I'm sorry this hasn't been a good experience for you so far, but it's very important to us to improve and resolve any mistakes we've made, so please do get in touch.

Thanks

blackterror

Tandem_Bank wrote: »

@Blackterror
Hello. I'm really sorry to hear about your application process. Frankly, that sounds like a terrible experience and not what we're trying to offer customers at all. While 90% of applicants get an instant accept or decline, for others who go down the route we call "refer" when we need more information to confirm your identity, we're aware that the application takes much longer, but in any case it should never take as long as it has taken with you. There are still some manual parts to the process which means that if we have an unusual number of refers in a given week, it can build up a bit of a backlog. But again, the longest we expect the application to take via this route is 3 weeks. Most applications take 5-10 minutes to get a decision, but this obviously hasn't happened for you.
Can you DM on our facebook page with your name and email and I'll look into what has happened in your case and make sure we get moving on it straight away.
Please accept my apologies - as a growing company it's sometimes difficult to get the balance right between being over and under resourced in certain areas, but there's really no excuse for not having given you a decision on your application one way or the other by now and I'd like to help get your application over the line if you'd still like me to.

Thanks for getting in touch via these forums, and giving an explanation of sorts. Clearly my case is somewhat an anomaly. Unfortunately, I am not on facebook, but I'm prepared to reactivate my account just to DM your page, which I have done as I want this application to progress. I'll see how it goes from here..