Sainsburys Bank credit card product change not possible?

banski83

Hi there,

I've currently got a Sainsburys Bank credit card, had it for at least 3 or 4 years now, as Sainsburys is the main place I shop (after Aldi) so the Nectar points is a nice bonus. But, other than that, it's not really doing anything else for me, so I thought I'd try contacting them to see if I could request a product change and swap my card to a different one they currently offer, the Dual 17 Month card.

Got a response this afternoon saying the following:
"Unfortunately, we cannot do this. If you are interest in one of our cards on the website, you would need to close this account then wait 90 days before applying again."

Is this normal? Is a credit card product change not a thing in the UK? Or is it just Sainsburys Bank that don't do them? Seems a bit daft to make a customer do that and potentially lose them if they look elsewhere. Never missed a payment, card currently has a clean balance on it, so was surprised at the response.

marcia_

 Sounds normal to me, there will be criteria to get the other deals and they can only see if you meet them by filling in an application 

CliveOfIndia

Yep, standard practice.  Most banks offer a multitude of cards with different features, and there will be different acceptance criteria for each of them.  It would be highly unusual for a bank to simply switch you to a different product without performing the standard checks and due diligence processes - which would include a new application and credit search.

banski83

Fair enough, I just thought that, as they already know me as a customer with a relatively long history with them, it was a possibility. Thanks for the info.

[Deleted User]

Some issuers do and others don't. It's just their business model.