Cap One no fee BT offer to April 1st 08

ad_man

Could I ask if anyone applied for the cap 1 no fee 0% BT to April 1st card as I did recently. It's still mentioned on Martin's suggestions but to me it looks like the deal has been taken away. I checked with the 3 main agencies just before applying and confirmed high scores with all (top 80% - I've never missed any payments etc). I also used to have a Cap 1 Platinum card with 9.8k limit, which I cancelled earlier this year. When they sent me the cancellation confirmation letter, they ended by requesting that I 'think of them if I ever need another card' In short, I was rejected but worse than that, was offered (what I can only describe as) a sub-prime credit card - 2.5k highest limit, ridiculous interest rates for balance transfer plus 3% fee. Advice from Experian is to request they remove the search from my file - they agreed that to have offered me a 'credit repair' card was wrong - especially as I met the requirements they asked for re: the no fee card. So, the question is: are Cap 1 enticing people tp apply for v attractive deals, then rejecting the application and instead attempting to have people sign up to a quite different account? How many people I wonder got the 0% fee free card vs those rejected?

ad_man

re: 'top 80%' - I mean my scores were higher than 80% of UK consumers applying for credit.

YorkshireBoy

If you search the forum over recent weeks you'll see that a great many people have been declined these Capital One credit cards. When lenders launch products such as these they are often, and unsurprisingly, heavily over-subscribed. The lenders can then afford to 'cherry pick' applicants so long as they maintain the regulated 66% acceptance rate for the product applied for (33% will be offered an inferior product/rate as you have been).

You say you thought you met their application criteria. Is it possible, when viewing your credit files, to see...

1. Credit card(s) listed with 5 years history showing, and

2. A currently active credit card showing >£5K credit limit, and

3. Less than £10K of credit card debt?

The fact that you were offered a 'credit-builder' product could mean they saw something they didn't like from your application details. After all, if you were only 'marginal', they would have offered you one of their slightly inferior products, ie the 'until August 2008' BT cards with the 1.7%/3% fee.

Regarding the credit 'score' from Experian, as you have found it's largely meaningless and, in my opinion, a waste of money. In short, it would only be of any use if Experian themselves offered credit cards...but they don't!

Finally, the advice you got from Experian regarding removing the search is poor! "You applied for a product, but failed the lenders credit scoring criteria, and so the search has every right to stay on your file" is what Capital One will tell you.

ad_man

Many thanks for your input YorkshireBoy - much appreciated. The answer is yes, to all 3 questions on viewing credit files. The day I received the rejection letter - some 3 days or so after applying - I immediately applied for a Nat West Platinum 0% for 13 months card and got it. This, despite the fact Cap 1 had left a search just a few days before.

Agree, the credit agency scores are mostly worthless - but at least it's an indication and I could not see anything on any of my files that would indicate a problem. Quite the opposite. I did complain pretty heavily to Cap I 3 months after cancelling the previous Platinum card as they had not instructed any of the credit reference agencies that it had been 'settled'. In fact Equifax was showing that I was still paying it off even after it had been cancelled. Maybe they had that on record and were simply being vindictive - although I doubt it but then again who knows how these people operate.