Credit approved then cancelled

Malcomilko

I opened an account with Very to take advantage of an offer the had on electrical goods. 

I was approved for a credit limit of £250 and made an order via the website. Due to eligibility with regard to the offer it did not get accepted. I then called customer services who put the order through at full price (-£293) and then passed me on to another department who then manually applied the discount which would have taken me down -£235. I checked my account and the discount had been applied twice and the balance on my account was now -£188 which was an error on the part of Very. The product was dispatched and I tracked my order and awaited delivery.

I then received a phone call to inform me that following further credit checks that Very were closing my account. They stated that if I received the goods that I would have to pay for them but if I didn't recieve them then my account would just be closed. I kept tracking the order and once it arrived by Royal Mail it updated to "parcel being returned to warehouse customer has moved" I called Royal mail and they cannot explain why this happened.

I then checked my Very account which showed a balance of -£105 which was a complete mystery as to where this came from. I called them and they confirmed that the did not have any concerns about fraudulent activity and the account closure directly related to my credit status.

I have tried to look at the terms and conditions and don't think that Very acted in accordance with them.

I get that they made an error and I shouldn't have been offered the product at this price but it was dispatched and I wouldn't have minded getting the product adjusted and paying the offer price of £235 if they had asked. I feel that they made an error and then acted heavy handed to atone for this error but maybe someone can advise if this is just standard practise? 

I accepted the credit agreement based on no impact to my already nit great credit score and the whole thing has left me with a "hard search" attached to my credit report and worse credit than when I started. 

I also wondered if making a complaint is worthwhile?any help/guidance would be welcome.

PRAISETHESUN

Every credit application, regardless if you are successful or not, will leave a hard search on your credit file. It is an accurate representation of what has happened so there are no grounds to ask for it to be removed - a complaint would be a waste of everyone's time. It's unclear from your post if you have been charged for goods not received? If so then you can complain about that.

MaryNB

Malcomilko said:

I accepted the credit agreement based on no impact to my already nit great credit score and the whole thing has left me with a "hard search" attached to my credit report and worse credit than when I started. 

I also wondered if making a complaint is worthwhile?any help/guidance would be welcome.

Your credit score isn't important, the information on your credit report is. A single hard search won't have too much of an impact and after 6 months the impact will be negligible. The issue arises when someone has multiple hard searches in a short space of time. 

Have you checked your three credit reports to see what could be impacting on your credit worthiness? 

Malcomilko

No I was never charged. it just seemed to me that they made a pricing error, dispatched the goods and then called me to inform me that they were closing my account.

It all seemed quite strange.

In 2.2 of the T's &C's it states "your order will be accepted by us when we dispatch the goods to you.

And 4.7 relates to stopping an order if fraudulent activity is detected. This was confirmed that it was not the case.

I just wondered if they acted appropriately and if they breached their own T's & C's or acted in a lawful manner in relation to consumer rights?

HeinzVarieties

Malcomilko said:

I opened an account with Very to take advantage of an offer the had on electrical goods. 

I was approved for a credit limit of £250 and made an order via the website. Due to eligibility with regard to the offer it did not get accepted. I then called customer services who put the order through at full price (-£293) and then passed me on to another department who then manually applied the discount which would have taken me down -£235. I checked my account and the discount had been applied twice and the balance on my account was now -£188 which was an error on the part of Very. The product was dispatched and I tracked my order and awaited delivery.

I then received a phone call to inform me that following further credit checks that Very were closing my account. They stated that if I received the goods that I would have to pay for them but if I didn't recieve them then my account would just be closed. I kept tracking the order and once it arrived by Royal Mail it updated to "parcel being returned to warehouse customer has moved" I called Royal mail and they cannot explain why this happened.

I then checked my Very account which showed a balance of -£105 which was a complete mystery as to where this came from. I called them and they confirmed that the did not have any concerns about fraudulent activity and the account closure directly related to my credit status.

I have tried to look at the terms and conditions and don't think that Very acted in accordance with them.

I get that they made an error and I shouldn't have been offered the product at this price but it was dispatched and I wouldn't have minded getting the product adjusted and paying the offer price of £235 if they had asked. I feel that they made an error and then acted heavy handed to atone for this error but maybe someone can advise if this is just standard practise? 

I accepted the credit agreement based on no impact to my already nit great credit score and the whole thing has left me with a "hard search" attached to my credit report and worse credit than when I started. 

I also wondered if making a complaint is worthwhile?any help/guidance would be welcome.

Aside from the fact that your score is meaningless, there was no scenario where there would be no impact on your score/file. As soon as you hit the apply button you were going to take a hit, regardless of the outcome.

There seems little point in complaining on that basis.

You could complain asking why the credit facility was revoked although you may just get a wishy-washy "business reasons" type response anyway.

If it were me I'd just move on, it's probably not worth the time and effort to maybe get bunged £20-£30.

MaryNB

PRAISETHESUN said:

Every credit application, regardless if you are successful or not, will leave a hard search on your credit file. It is an accurate representation of what has happened so there are no grounds to ask for it to be removed - a complaint would be a waste of everyone's time. It's unclear from your post if you have been charged for goods not received? If so then you can complain about that.

I presume the OP may have been misled by Very's claim to do a soft check to see if they'll be accepted before applying. Very gave a positive result leading to the OP applying for a credit account which then resulted the hard check (which I guess they weren't expecting). The hard search would have been in place whether the application was successful or not but now OP has a hard search and lost the credit account. Although applying for credit just for a discount if their credit history isn't great to begin with may have not been the best call. 

HeinzVarieties

Malcomilko said:

No I was never charged. it just seemed to me that they made a pricing error, dispatched the goods and then called me to inform me that they were closing my account.

It all seemed quite strange.

In 2.2 of the T's &C's it states "your order will be accepted by us when we dispatch the goods to you.

And 4.7 relates to stopping an order if fraudulent activity is detected. This was confirmed that it was not the case.

I just wondered if they acted appropriately and if they breached their own T's & C's or acted in a lawful manner in relation to consumer rights?

Unless you're willing to go to court then it doesn't really matter.

And with Very, I'd fully expect them to give you the middle finger if you try and complain on this basis so it'll be a waste of everyone's time unless you are willing to take it all the way to court.

Malcomilko

MaryNB said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

Every credit application, regardless if you are successful or not, will leave a hard search on your credit file. It is an accurate representation of what has happened so there are no grounds to ask for it to be removed - a complaint would be a waste of everyone's time. It's unclear from your post if you have been charged for goods not received? If so then you can complain about that.

I presume the OP may have been misled by Very's claim to do a soft check to see if they'll be accepted before applying. Very gave a positive result leading to the OP applying for a credit account which then resulted the hard check (which I guess they weren't expecting). The hard search would have been in place whether the application was successful or not but now OP has a hard search and lost the credit account. Although applying for credit just for a discount if their credit history isn't great to begin with may have not been the best call. 

Yes this is the case and ideally I would have been able to afford to buy the item paid for in full but my circumstances means that I was attracted to the offer as a present for my child. I am in full time employment and was sure that if spread over 3 payments I could afford it. I am trying to repair my credit rating and was just worried as the "hard search" appeared as a future negative on my upcoming report.

In hindsight, definitely not the best call!

MaryNB

Malcomilko said:

MaryNB said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

Every credit application, regardless if you are successful or not, will leave a hard search on your credit file. It is an accurate representation of what has happened so there are no grounds to ask for it to be removed - a complaint would be a waste of everyone's time. It's unclear from your post if you have been charged for goods not received? If so then you can complain about that.

I presume the OP may have been misled by Very's claim to do a soft check to see if they'll be accepted before applying. Very gave a positive result leading to the OP applying for a credit account which then resulted the hard check (which I guess they weren't expecting). The hard search would have been in place whether the application was successful or not but now OP has a hard search and lost the credit account. Although applying for credit just for a discount if their credit history isn't great to begin with may have not been the best call. 

Yes this is the case and ideally I would have been able to afford to buy the item paid for in full but my circumstances means that I was attracted to the offer as a present for my child. I am in full time employment and was sure that if spread over 3 payments I could afford it. I am trying to repair my credit rating and was just worried as the "hard search" appeared as a future negative on my upcoming report.

In hindsight, definitely not the best call!

If you haven't done it already, check your three credit files. Never pay for access, never pay for anything that promises to "boost your score". Lenders don't see that score. They look at your report and do their own internal scoring that you don't see. Every lender had their own criteria so the concept of a universal score doesn't work. Your history is important, not the score/rating. 

Experian - use MSE credit club
Equifax - use Clearscore
Transunion - use Credit Karma.

Get on the electoral register if you aren't already on it at your current address. Avoid your overdraft if you can, it should only be used for emergencies. A credit card is a better way to use credit. If you have a credit card pay it off in full every month once your receive your statement. If you cannot afford to do that, at an absolute minimum have a DD set up to pay the minimum payment. Don't take out cash using your credit card regularly, doesn't look good. The odd time won't hurt.  

The odd missed payment isn't too bad. Defaults and CCJs are bad.

The occasional hard search won't hurt. Numerous hard searches in a short space of time aren't good. They make it look like you are desperate for credit. The impact is usually negligible after 6 months and they drop off your file usually after a year. 

Savings account and rent don't count towards your credit history (unless you have signed up to  a scheme that reports your rental payments to a credit rating agencies which is rare). Some utility companies report, but not all. A positive current account balance isn't reported, your current account only becomes relevant if you go into your overdraft. If you're not in your overdraft your current account balance on your report will be £0. 

sourcrates

Very have form for this kind of thing, well shop direct in general actually.

You cannot dictate to Very how the account will be opened or run, they have standard procedures, which they will adhere too.

As others have pointed out, the hard credit check was always going to happen regardless, you say yourself your credit file is less than perfect, it used to be anyone who could breathe was granted a catalogue account with a massive credit limit, now it appears even shop direct are getting picky about who they do business with.

As for Royal Mail, there are again standard procedures in place for companies to stop delivery on an item, and have it returned.