General Banking/Credit Questions

xlnc99

eskbanker wrote: »

As with the other banks since GDPR was introduced, HSBC publish details of their use of personal data online,

On the other hand, the most pragmatic approach will almost undoubtedly be to accept that you're unlikely to be able to return to HSBC and to simply stick to the rest of the market, within which there's a massive amount of choice....

This is something that i am not sure i can live with. I may want to take out a service in the future and i think it is harsh they will penalise me for a £400 overdraft that was paid (alebit late and after account was closed and passed on). It is all about choice. The intresting read from all the threads is that we are all making assumptions at this point. No-one know for certain if this blacklist does indeed exist. Barclays for example have issued accounts to many people who have been defaulted or still owe money to them. I realise each bank is different but i refuse to believe that a bank will not deal with you again due to some bad history. Infact when i spoke to HSBC customer service she assured me they wont take your history into consideration just your credit file as it is. (maybe she was talking rubbish). It would be nice to get some clarity on these issues for all the people in similar situation


As mentioned earlier, I think the key thing is to identify what information you're looking for and what you'd do with it when you get it. It's obviously easy to say that you want to know whatever they've got, but that doesn't really help, so having an idea of where you ultimately want to go with it should allow you to frame your request appropriately. If responses do come back as gibberish then you have the right to seek clarification if not reasonably self-evident, so if, for example, data is codified in some way then you have the right to have the meaning explained.

I guess the main question is - What is the information one is to ask for when requesting a SAR from a bank? That is where i am confused, surely most people want everything on file, so how would you go about asking that

xlnc99

!!! wrote: »

They can refuse you at anytime without reason and hold you on an internal “blacklist” for as long as they wish. Just like any other business can.

You’re not privy to the banks lending criteria.

And one search is not harmful as the myths online make out.

CitiBank certainly won’t take someone with any kind of adverse history. That I know for a fact.

I believe from the threads that this internal blacklist is a myth at the moment. No-one knows for certain if it exist. Many other people have been to banks where they owe money to and have been accepted. I refuse to believe a serious CIFAS or fraud marker can only be held for 6 years and yet a small £100 non payment will effect you for the rest of your life with a bank. IT just doesnt add up to me. In terms of CITI bank, i get the same impression as you. I am sure they will not accept me but i just recall reading a post on here saying they will accept anyone for a current account, which surprised me.

nicetomeetyou

I very recently upgraded my nationwide flex-basic to a full flex-account online, They did do a credit check. I wasn't hopeful in getting upgraded as I have poor credit although I was accepted for a vanquis credit card recently. I have had the flex-basic since 2011 and for me it was a good account, same as the flex-account really.

xlnc99

nicetomeetyou wrote: »

I very recently upgraded my nationwide flex-basic to a full flex-account online, They did do a credit check. I wasn't hopeful in getting upgraded as I have poor credit although I was accepted for a vanquis credit card recently. I have had the flex-basic since 2011 and for me it was a good account, same as the flex-account really.

Thanks for your reply. How long did you have your basic account before you upgraded to your flex? When you mean online, did you get an offer or something when you logged on or did you decided to just try to apply for a new current account with nationwide. I am assuming you kept your nationwide basic in good standing order, i have heard this helps (using it on a regular basis, DD etc)

I just read the final bit of your post so you had the basic since 2011 and only upgraded recently in 2019. Any reason you just did it now? HAve you tried previously

From what i read on the thread they said its best to go in branch to upgrade rather then online. Not sure if thats true

xlnc99

Also did you have any issues with your flex basic at paying at petrol pumps. I believe only barclays and nationwide allow this on their basic accounts

eskbanker

xlnc99 wrote: »

This is something that i am not sure i can live with. I may want to take out a service in the future and i think it is harsh they will penalise me for a £400 overdraft that was paid (alebit late and after account was closed and passed on). It is all about choice. The intresting read from all the threads is that we are all making assumptions at this point. No-one know for certain if this blacklist does indeed exist. Barclays for example have issued accounts to many people who have been defaulted or still owe money to them. I realise each bank is different but i refuse to believe that a bank will not deal with you again due to some bad history. Infact when i spoke to HSBC customer service she assured me they wont take your history into consideration just your credit file as it is. (maybe she was talking rubbish). It would be nice to get some clarity on these issues for all the people in similar situation

There's no point in looking for clarity for everyone since, as you say, different banks will take different approaches (without publicising them) and the individual circumstances will vary too, plus the banks aren't obliged to give full reasons for rejecting applications anyway. The emotive term 'blacklist' is unhelpful but it's hardly unreasonable for a bank to decide not to offer services to someone who has previously breached terms and conditions to the extent that debt collectors had to be invoked - you can refuse to believe that if you like, but just see where that gets you!

xlnc99 wrote: »

I guess the main question is - What is the information one is to ask for when requesting a SAR from a bank? That is where i am confused, surely most people want everything on file, so how would you go about asking that

But my point remains: what do you want to do with the information? If, for example, you wish to embark on a futile exercise of claiming that they're wrong to retain data about your default, then you'd ask them for what data they hold pertaining to that default, together with how long they intend to retain it for and how they'd use it. You could even ask them to delete it (not via SAR though) in order to generate a response about why they won't....

nicetomeetyou

Yes I had the flex-basic since 2011. At that time I have a debt relief order and wanted a debit card so this was the best account I could find. I wasn't using the account that much, Only had £400 a month paid into it which I always spent, didn't have any direct debits set up. I haven't been great with money and in 2016 got into some debt and have some defaults on my file. I sorted this afterwards bit it ruined my credit file again.

In March just gone I was checking my ClearScore credit file and it suggested I might be eligible for a vanquis credit card so I applied and got accepted so thought I might try my luck and getting a proper current account and applied online and got accepted straight away. I was surprised as my ClearScore credit score is still pretty low (currently 234) but showing no court judgements, bankruptcies or Individual Voluntary Arrangements.

xlnc99

I agree with your sentiments regarding the 'blacklist' issue and i agree its not unreasonable for a bank to refuse service for someone who has breached their terms and conditions. My main point is really how long do they punish you for? No-one really has the answer. I am confident it will not be a life time ban from my research on this matter and from experience. A CIFAS record goes away after six years and that is the biggest no-no in terms of financial serivices/credit. So will a £100 late payment be enough to warrant a blacklist for life from a a bank? I just cant imagine so. I will be looking into this more further in detail but as it stands i dont believe a lifetime punishment exists from a bank unless it is something very drastic but again even CIFAS get removed after 6 years and ive read people who have been back to the banks that gave them the CIFAS originally after it was removed! It would be nice to get people on here who work in a bank or have done to get more information.

In regards to the SAR, i dont particularly have a reason for obtaining it rather then to see what information a bank as about me. Infact, one bank in particular shut my account down without warning years ago. I found out later this was because a dispute in a transaction i had with someone in which i sold a phone too. They claimed i did not send the phone and kept their money, which was all lies. I only found about this after and i checked my CFIAS record and the bank did not make any record so i did not purse this further and already had other banks at the time. Thinking about this now, maybe a SAR would be good to shed light in this matter? What this information be on it? Should i be making a complaint about this matter to the bank as it never occured to me then but now after reading various posts maybe that have internally blacklisted me. They did not mark a CIFAS against me which is what i presume would have happened if they thought i committed fraud. What are your thoughts?

[Deleted User]

You can safely ignore the score.

Upgrading a bank account differs from person to person and bank to bank.

xlnc99

nicetomeetyou wrote: »

Yes I had the flex-basic since 2011. At that time I have a debt relief order and wanted a debit card so this was the best account I could find. I wasn't using the account that much, Only had £400 a month paid into it which I always spent, didn't have any direct debits set up. I haven't been great with money and in 2016 got into some debt and have some defaults on my file. I sorted this afterwards bit it ruined my credit file again.

In March just gone I was checking my ClearScore credit file and it suggested I might be eligible for a vanquis credit card so I applied and got accepted so thought I might try my luck and getting a proper current account and applied online and got accepted straight away. I was surprised as my ClearScore credit score is still pretty low (currently 234) but showing no court judgements, bankruptcies or Individual Voluntary Arrangements.

Brilliant, well done on the CC and bank account. I will try the same but i got CCJS so will wait a while.So it was a seperate application for the current nationwide not through your online banking or anything. Did they ask you if you had a nationwide account or have got one, because i am sure they do when applying. They must have linked your accounts together. I can assume that maybe part of what you got upgraded.