0% chance of getting any travel credit card?! 1 August 2022 at 11:48PM in Credit cards 10 replies 242 views

mmrk

Hi forum,

I was using the MSE Eligibility Checker for the two top travel credit cards for overseas spending. My Experian score is above 900 currently, no adverse events logged. The checker says I have a 0% chance of getting _any_ travel credit card (as per the overview mail with all the other credit card offers), though, and now I'm very confused. Is this a glitch? Is there something Experian doesn't know about? I went over the questions again but don't see anything wrong? Are there any obvious lender bear traps I walked into?

mmrk

Looking at the Barclaycard "You can apply if" points, I check all boxes except maybe "You have at least four years' experience of managing credit". Uh, I never had a credit card before, to my knowledge, I always used cash or debit cards. Might this be it? If so, how do you manage credit if you can't get a credit card?

elsien

There are other forms of credit - mobile phone bill for example, or buy now pay later. Ever used anything like that? 

NoodleDoodleMan

Have you tried applying directly with the credit card bank ?

[Deleted User]

Lenders never see the gimmick "score" so what Experian think your rating is, is completely irrelevant - in this case, your score is high because there is no data on you.

Credit reports would include things like a monthly phone contract, loans etc, it is possible though that if you have such a thing, it was only reported to say Equifax (check at Clear Score for free) or Trans Union (Credit Karma) hence Experian have no knowledge of you.

Try one of the sub prime cards like 118 or even Chase bank account (albeit that is debit card)

Malkytheheed

mmrk said:

Hi forum,

I was using the MSE Eligibility Checker for the two top travel credit cards for overseas spending. My Experian score is above 900 currently, no adverse events logged. The checker says I have a 0% chance of getting _any_ travel credit card (as per the overview mail with all the other credit card offers), though, and now I'm very confused. Is this a glitch? Is there something Experian doesn't know about? I went over the questions again but don't see anything wrong? Are there any obvious lender bear traps I walked into?

I've found the MSE eligibility checker to be poor. Try a checker on the cards own website. That will be more accurate. 

jbrassy

Malkytheheed said:

mmrk said:

Hi forum,

I was using the MSE Eligibility Checker for the two top travel credit cards for overseas spending. My Experian score is above 900 currently, no adverse events logged. The checker says I have a 0% chance of getting _any_ travel credit card (as per the overview mail with all the other credit card offers), though, and now I'm very confused. Is this a glitch? Is there something Experian doesn't know about? I went over the questions again but don't see anything wrong? Are there any obvious lender bear traps I walked into?

I've found the MSE eligibility checker to be poor. Try a checker on the cards own website. That will be more accurate. 

Was going to say exactly this. Try the eligibility checkers on Barclaycard and Halifax's websites. 

If these again show as low probabilities of getting the cards, I would sign up to Experian, Clear Score, and Credit Karma to see if there are any issues with your credit file. For example, are you on the electoral roll? Are there any errors on your file?

It's not a complete disaster if you can't get one of those credit cards right now. Chase Bank and Starling Bank are both excellent when it comes to travel debit cards. The only thing you don't get with debit cards is section 70 protection. 

mmrk

Thanks everyone for chiming in I tried the eligibility checkers on the lender sites directly and got the same result, so I suppose there was no glitch I signed up for the other two credit file agencies and there seems to be no issue except that I have no credit history. The credit brokers do show me normal credit card offers that I'm eligible for, so I'm not a lost cause I will look at other options then, plus ways to build a history. Thanks again!

Marchitiello

As another user mentioned above, Chase would be a very good option for imminent travel if you cannot get a Travel Credit Card. It will have the same, no forex fee, MasterCard exchange rate as Clarity and Santander Travel cards, but in addition you also get 1% on most holiday spend.

if you do apply, let us know in the relevant thread in the Banking forum.

In any case, I would apply for a standard credit card if it looks like you are eligible for, so you could start building up your credit history. 

MrFrugalFever

I believe the 118 CC is a zero fees card (worth checking out in more detail) but if customer service is a big factor for you I’m not sure they come up trumps.

Check out Aqua too, they did something like no fee spending abroad. 

There are cards out there you just have to go looking

[Deleted User]

Do you have some kind of regular income and where does your income get paid into?