Hard/Soft Credit Search for Virgin Money Current Account

SJshah

Deleted_User said:

SJshah said:

Thanks all for the replies. That answers my question perfectly

I'll avoid this switching deal, it's not worth the hard Experian credit search hit for me.

What is the "hit" you are talking about? The mythical score by any chance?
Losing a bonus / savings rate seems a bit daft if you're doing it because of a wish not to have a change on a number only you see - I can't see any threads by you about moving home for example which a proper search might be more of a concern for

Got a re-mortgage due soon since my fixed rate is ending... I've got 2 credit card hard searches on my Experian file within the last 3 months and 1 credit card hard search on Equifax. I don't care about the "score", just the effect of too many searches within a short period and being accepted on a competitive rate mortgage. A 0.2% interest rate difference on a £350,000 mortgage makes a bigger difference than a few bottles of cheap wine and some pocket change earned in current account interest!!

Looking into it, they are able to distinguish between "credit card", "current account", "telecommunications", etc. hard searches so I doubt they would care about a one-off current account search.

colsten said:

I apply of current accounts all the time (over a 15 so far this year) and I never ask for an overdraft when applying for current accounts but just about all banks carry out a hard search. However, only Experian shows a complete-ish search history. I have no idea why the others don't, and I also have no idea which of the CRAs a given bank uses to check. All I know is what I can see on my credit agency reports:

CreditKarma: shows just a couple of searches - TSB, BoS, not VM, and not the many others I have opened accounts with this year. CreditKarma has VM/Clydesdale as soft searches.

Experian: shows many searches - TSB, RBS, Natwest, Ulster, and also VM under their Clydesdale Bank / Clydesdale Bank plc alias


Equifax: shows a few: Ulster, RBS, Natwest, Metro


As has already been mentioned, the occasional search for a current account application doesn't really matter though. If, on the other hand, you take it to the extreme as I do, you have to accept some limitations. For instance, I would currently only be accepted for "credit score building" credit cards now, such as the ones from Aqua. I would probably also find it difficult to get accepted for a loan or a mortgage for as long as these searches show on any of the CRAs. As I don't want/need any of these, it doesn't matter how many hard searches I have. Also, my current account applications are still being accepted.- only did another succesful one this afternoon.

Taking this into account I'm going to apply. Thanks for the info @colsten, really helpful!

[Deleted User]

There is a big difference between moving to a new current account (which lots of people do) and extending credit (like taking out a new card) in terms of getting a mortgage

SJshah

So I applied for the current account, the process ended up in a "technical error" at the end of it. I called Virgin Money which ended up being a waste of time since they said the application went through but I need to wait for them to get back to me.

Updated my credit report and found they did 4 consecutive hard searches on my Experian, though I only went through the application process once.


Experian score went down from 999 to 945 which I know isn't the deciding factor for lenders, though its still disappointing. 

Not looking good so far from Virgin / Clydesdale so far!!
I'm just a sitting duck waiting on them to get back to me.

colsten

SJshah said:

So I applied for the current account, the process ended up in a "technical error" at the end of it. I called Virgin Money which ended up being a waste of time since they said the application went through but I need to wait for them to get back to me.

Updated my credit report and found they did 4 consecutive hard searches on my Experian, though I only went through the application process once.


Experian score went down from 999 to 945 which I know isn't the deciding factor for lenders, though its still disappointing. 

Not looking good so far from Virgin / Clydesdale so far!!
I'm just a sitting duck waiting on them to get back to me.

You could complain to them and request they remove 3 of the searches

SJshah

colsten said:

You could complain to them and request they remove 3 of the searches

I've got to wait up to 60 days for it to reflect in the credit report. I'm just hoping it gets sorted by the time I need to make my remortgage application. 

Funny, my Experian "score" has gone up a bit from last week.


As for the current account application, I've received an apology call about the issue which was nice of them. Better service than I was expecting.

MovingForwards

Your credit score is only seen by you, lenders have their own internal methods for credit scoring, part of that relates to being on the electoral roll, having a job and reasonable income, part of it is how you run your accounts and any financial agreements, part is a mystery only known to financial institutions.

Stop wasting your time and emotions on something which isn't real.

SJshah

MovingForwards said:

Your credit score is only seen by you, lenders have their own internal methods for credit scoring, part of that relates to being on the electoral roll, having a job and reasonable income, part of it is how you run your accounts and any financial agreements, part is a mystery only known to financial institutions.

Stop wasting your time and emotions on something which isn't real.

As I've mentioned previously in this thread, I don't care about the score. What I do care about is how the hard searches will affect my ability to obtain credit at the best rates.

Some lenders may even use a similar algorithm to Experian's credit score, you never know what factors individual lenders look at, as you have stated yourself.

So don't tell me not to waste my time on something that will clearly affect me.