Tesco Bank - What is the Point of Having an Excellent Credit Rating

Nebulous2

OP - what credit limit were they offering you? 

£1200 perchance? 

That isn’t a limit. That is a figure they all use to demonstrate the typical cost of credit. Most credit cards don’t show you the limit until you have actually applied. 

mr_stripey

Woofiedog said:

I am reporting them all to the financial ombudsman. 

For what exactly? 
They can lend money (or not) to whoever they choose. 
They chose not to lend to you on this occasion.
But it is not a crime, or even against any code of conduct.

jjames1985

mr_stripey said:

Woofiedog said:

I am reporting them all to the financial ombudsman. 

For what exactly? 
They can lend money (or not) to whoever they choose. 
They chose not to lend to you on this occasion.
But it is not a crime, or even against any code of conduct.

People just don't understand the reality that they do nothing "wrong" but people don't want to do business with them.

OP is effectively someone who goes into a pub, drinks free tap water all the time and gets upset when they get asked to leave.  It's not your god-given right to drink in a pub and if you're unprofitable you might get asked to leave.
C'est la vie.

binaryuniverse

Given the current state of interest rates, and that you'll be charged a fee for the transfer, is it really financially prudent to get a BT card?

I'd pay it off, if I had the cash. That's what I'm currently doing with mine. Surely only a 0% fee card is going to be beneficial.

Woofiedog

It makes no financial sense at all for me or the Government to pay off my outstanding debt by using cash, if I can put it on a card for 24 month at 0%. That money I would otherwise pay to clear the debt could be earning me interest, or could be invested and the proceeds go toward paying off the loan at a later date. That is what responsible card tarting is about and what ML has often advocated himself.  Some successful investors would call that turning a liability into an asset.
Further more, if I pay off the entire debt, my savings goes down, which means that I can qualify for sponging off the taxpayer a lot sooner by claiming UC.  I haven' got that much saved up outside of a pension.
It seems to me that some of my detractors one here are just envious that I do look after my money and try to make it work for me instead of squandering it on things I don't need and being broke.
I realise that no one owes me credit. I never said they did. What I am saying is that I should qualify for a card because I have an excellent credit rating and that refusing me a card means that having a excellent CR is proving to be redundant. That is a factual observation, based on applications I have made so far, no a whinge as you all so unkindly put it. 
And yes, I will be taking this to the Ombudsman because it seems to me that the lenders are discriminating against me for being freelance. One who turned me down openly said that my income and expenditures are all they take into account when deciding; not what saving they have to clear off a loan. Surely, it should be based on my ability to pay it off. What they are doing is hoping I will default on the minimum payments, through losing work some months, so I end up paying interest. Instead, of admitting that they are trying to make out I am a poor risk by being freelance.

Woofiedog

jjames1985 said:

mr_stripey said:

Woofiedog said:

I am reporting them all to the financial ombudsman. 

For what exactly? 
They can lend money (or not) to whoever they choose. 
They chose not to lend to you on this occasion.
But it is not a crime, or even against any code of conduct.

People just don't understand the reality that they do nothing "wrong" but people don't want to do business with them.

OP is effectively someone who goes into a pub, drinks free tap water all the time and gets upset when they get asked to leave.  It's not your god-given right to drink in a pub and if you're unprofitable you might get asked to leave.
C'est la vie.

jjames1985 said:

mr_stripey said:

Woofiedog said:

I am reporting them all to the financial ombudsman. 

For what exactly? 
They can lend money (or not) to whoever they choose. 
They chose not to lend to you on this occasion.
But it is not a crime, or even against any code of conduct.

People just don't understand the reality that they do nothing "wrong" but people don't want to do business with them.

OP is effectively someone who goes into a pub, drinks free tap water all the time and gets upset when they get asked to leave.  It's not your god-given right to drink in a pub and if you're unprofitable you might get asked to leave.
C'est la vie.

I don't particularly want to shop in their Supermarket from now on either, as my application was for a Sainsbury card.

phillw

Woofiedog said:

That money I would otherwise pay to clear the debt could be earning me interest, or could be invested and the proceeds go toward paying off the loan at a later date.

It comes down to whether the balance transfer fee (often 3%) is more than you're getting in interest from your savings, for most people it's not.
If you can then that is great, except nobody is obligated to lend you money so that you can do it.
Tesco don't make their decision entirely on your credit file, so if you had a terrible one then you may not have been offered anything. You might not earn enough for them, or they may not have capacity to lend out much more at the moment.

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

The cost of the balance transfer will surely cost you more than you will earn in interest. How much is this debt?
I realise the stance has changed a little and having an emergency fund is essential, but generally speaking there is no point in having savings if you have debt.

[Deleted User]

Woofiedog said:

What I am saying is that I should qualify for a card because I have an excellent credit rating and that refusing me a card means that having a excellent CR is proving to be redundant. 

Why should a company lend you money because a company that doesn't lend money has given you a big number?

That's like saying Margot Robbie should go out with me because Julian Clary thinks I'm good looking.

(Obviously she should, but I do think she should get to make the decision herself.)

phillw

Deleted_User said:

That's like saying Margot Robbie should go out with me because Julian Clary thinks I'm good looking.

That happens quite often in dating, the trick is to make several people say they think you're good looking and then fear of missing out kicks in. It's basically a boiler room scam.