Rejection on balance transfer offer

Suttill12

i have been offered 2 seperate 0% balance transfer deals from credit cards i hold. When i tried to take them up i was rejected.No explanation was offered / available. When i followed up my standing with Equifax, i show up with a score of 599 which appears to be excellent. All payments show up to date - also nothing else unusual on the record. When i spoke to Equifax about it, they said the only thing that they could think might affect the matter was a failed payment 4 years ago on an account that was sorted immediately.
Anybody else got experience of this and whether this can be addressed/ changed? 

MinuteNoodles

Did you mean 599 or 999 because 599 isn't 999 which is their top score. Their score as you're finding out though is meaningless and it becomes even more meaningless when you find out that even a bankrupt still not discharged can get a 999 score.

Who offered you the 0% transfer deal, the card companies or the credit reference agencies because if it was the CRAs they're not the ones doing the lending so what they say about acceptance isn't worth a toss.

In regards to the missed payment on your file there's nothing that can be done about that.

At the moment lenders are tightening up lending left, right and centre so are looking over applications with even more vigour and attention to the minutae than they usually do. I'm guessing you need a BT card because you're carrying a chunk of credit card debt on a current 0% deal about to expire. It is most likely the amount you owe and the level of your income, the income:debt ratio, that they've decided they're not happy about. When a card company give a 0% deal they do it in the assumption that many people do a BT then start spending on the card they've just cleared so will be increasing their debt over time rather than reducing it. They therefore do calculations of affordability based not only on existing debt but that with the addition of any lending they'd be giving you on top.

This is a timely lesson that the best way to use 0% BT or CC purchase deals is to set up a direct debit so that the debt is cleared by the time the 0% comes to an end rather than making minimal payments in the expectation you'll be able to do a BT at the end. Too many do the latter and find themselves 2/3 years later with thousands of pounds on a credit card with nowhere for it to go and suddenly paying 18% or more APR on that balance.

D3xt3r5L4b

It’s down to the lender. You just don’t fit their lending criteria for that particular offer. Nothing the CRA’s can do to change that. 

Suttill12

Both BT offers came to switch onto  cards i already have (Halifax and MBNA), where there is still substantial credit available. Without even asking where the funds would be being moved from, the rejection was instant  after giving the card number and security over the phone without even asking how much was involved.
I am guessing that there is no way of debating this with them.

D3xt3r5L4b

You can ask for a manual review.
But they may still reject it.