Are Barclaycard applications just adverts for Equifax?

MichaelSha

I have a good credit rating, and yet barclaycard has rejected every application I made with them over the years. The only thing I get from them is a rejection letter saying I should pay Equifax for a credit report to find out why I was rejected.

The free credit report on Credit Karma shows there are no issues and I'm in good standing. Seems like a waste of time ever applying to barclaycard.

Thrugelmir

Good credit rating is subjective. As you need to meet the lenders own internal criteria. While there are no apparent issues. What actual issues are influencing their decision?  

MichaelSha

They won't say, just "these factors MIGHT influence our decision" followed by an advert for Equifax.

cx6

You could try asking for your personal data via SAR. Probably won't help, but you never know what might be in there.

dr_adidas01

MichaelSha said:

I have a good credit rating, and yet barclaycard has rejected every application I made with them over the years. The only thing I get from them is a rejection letter saying I should pay Equifax for a credit report to find out why I was rejected.

The free credit report on Credit Karma shows there are no issues and I'm in good standing. Seems like a waste of time ever applying to barclaycard.

That’s because Barclaycard use Equifax as there CRA when doing hard searches, hence why they say to check your Equifax report.  

It maybe worth signing up to ClearScore who use Equifax data to see it there is anything on your report that shouldn’t be on it. ClearScore is free so you won’t have to pay to see the data Equifax have on you. 

Credit Karma is actually Trans-Union and is not used by quite a few Financial organisations when checking your credit worthiness. 

Also not all lenders report to all the CRAs, some may only report account conduct to Equifax Or Equifax and Experian or may only report to Experian or all 3. 

Also your good credit rating means nothing as the magic number you see isn’t used by any lender, they have there own internal scoring methods they use to asses an application for credit against. 

It’s also possible that your not the type of customer they want to do business with, there’s also the possibility that your Debt to Income ratio is to high and maybe declined on that basis. 

Lending has become more strict over the last few years also. 

MichaelSha

dr_adidas01 said:

It’s also possible that your not the type of customer they want to do business with, there’s also the possibility that your Debt to Income ratio is to high and maybe declined on that basis. 

I have no debt, my mortgage repayment is < £100 per month, and have a six figure salary, Lloyds just approved a card with a £15k limit. 

As credit card companies make money from every transaction seems odd they would not want a low risk customer, but maybe they rather make more money from those less able to pay.

I'll check out ClearScore and see if there is anything there.

MichaelSha

dr_adidas01 said:

It maybe worth signing up to ClearScore who use Equifax data to see it there is anything on your report that shouldn’t be on it. ClearScore is free so you won’t have to pay to see the data Equifax have on you. 

ClearScore says they couldn't find a file with Equifax. But on the Credit Karma report, it shows that Barclays Bank conducted soft searches on my account at the time of my application.

Shanwick

If Clearscore says they can't find your Equifax file it probably means that your Equifax file is either empty or thin (few accounts). If thin then Clearscore doesn't have enough info to verify your identity online. That is probably why Barclaycard did not approve the application - not enough information held at Equifax on which to make a positive decision.

MichaelSha

Shanwick said:

If Clearscore says they can't find your Equifax file it probably means that your Equifax file is either empty or thin (few accounts). If thin then Clearscore doesn't have enough info to verify your identity online. That is probably why Barclaycard did not approve the application - not enough information held at Equifax on which to make a positive decision.

That makes no sense, as I've had a mortgage, and many credit cards at this address for over a decade. If there is an error with Equifax how do I go about fixing that?

[Deleted User]

It makes lots of sense.

Not all lenders report to all CRAs, so it's perfectly possible for you to have a thin file.

If you think your lenders report to Equifax but are not showing, raise a dispute with Equifax.

Shanwick

Rather than guessing request your Equifax file from Equifax. You can either make a request for a statutory copy or try to register for the Equifax 30 day trial and remember to cancel. Equifax will sometime verify for online access on thin files when Clearscore will not.