Help! Totally Money - Credit Searches

ohemgee

Back in April we got an Agreement in Principle from Halifax, subject to 2 years' accounts (I'm self-employed).

Went back in today and everything was going well....until I failed the credit search at the end. My credit score is in the 900s - no CCJs, low credit use etc, so printed off copies and asked Mortgage Advisor to take a look and advise if they could see any red flags.

It immediately became obvious - Totally Money 'Credit Card Quotation' searches. Lots of them. I'm on the Totally Money email list and they send emails with subject lines like 'You've been pre-approved for these cards' and 'Your borrowing power has gone up'.... Of course, being the inquisitive freak I am, I always click the link to see.....without realising it could have any adverse effect (as I wasn't doing any applications).

Halifax have advised us to wait 3 months and try again.

Feeling so, so, so upset right now, and of course DH is pretty furious with me too.

Anyone experienced anything similar? Any advice welcome.

LawAbiding

If it says "quotation" searches, these do not usually affect your report.

I too have a load of these

You need to obtain the 3 credit reports from all 3 agencies:

Equifax = free through clearscore
Experian = free through MSE Credit Club
TransUnion = free through CreditKarma

Until you've viewed all three, you will not know what caused the decline.

Ensure all three match up.

ohemgee

Thanks LawAbiding. Yep, have checked / printed reports from all 3. All have high scores and no red flags, other than those searches.

Mortgage Advisor said it's because so many searches in such a short period is flagged on the system as being 'desperate for credit'....

LawAbiding

So these searches, do these appear on all three?

Please let me know where these are and I'll compare to mine

LawAbiding

From ClearScore:

Soft searches (also known as soft checks or quotations searches) ... These types of credit checks are not visible to prospective lenders and only you can see them. You can have unlimited soft searches on your credit report without it having any impact on your credit report or score

LawAbiding

I think you need a better Mortgage Advisor

If your history is clean have you considered direct lender?

I have applied with RBS just this week and I have settled defaults but meet they criteria

[Deleted User]

Agreed.

If you have a mortgage advisor who believes in credit scores and doesn't know the difference between hard and soft searches, you definitely need to find someone else, or do it yourself.

ohemgee

@LawAbiding, yep, searches on all 3.

On the Equifax report, it's at the end, under Current Address. Table 1. Credit Applications shows none. Table 2. Other Searches is where they're all listed as 'Credit Quotation'.

The Equifax Report also has searches at the end. Again, Totally Money is on there as 'Quotation - Credit Card Quotation'.

TransUnion, it's 4.1 Other's Searches: Identity Check for Credit

LawAbiding

Yep all of those are soft checks and would have no impact on your report.

I assume electrol roll for all 3 match?

What is your credit utilization?

ohemgee

MA definitely knows difference between soft and hard searches. She was genuinely baffled when the computer said no.

In fact, when we first sat down, we did a joint application with DH and I.....passed credit scoring / check, but amount offered was too low for our needs.

She then advised we take DH off the application... ran the numbers, mortgage available went up, so went through process, only to fail at the end with the credit check.

LawAbiding

No adverse history at all?

Even if you think it's not adverse or shouldn't have an impact, please advise