Loan refused no explanation

johnthedon

I've been with HBOS for 40 years and in this time had my mortgage, which has been paid off for years now, and several other loans at different times and always repaid as expected. I was looking for a car loan and clicked on the apply for loans part of the online banking and was instantly refused without even asking for any amount. I contacted the bank to ask why and no one  could answer so I asked for an investigation and got a phone call today saying we can't tell you the reason for commercial confidentiality. what do I do next?

comeandgo

Try another bank?

cymruchris

Use an eligbility checker on other providers websites? (Sainsburys/Tescos/Post office) to see what they say? If they all say 'no' then have a close look at your credit reference agency files to ensure everything is accurate, and that it's not showing any nasties. That's probably a good starting point.

johnthedon

Lcomeandgo said:

Try another bank?

I still want them to tell me what their reasoning was.

cymruchris

johnthedon said:

Lcomeandgo said:

Try another bank?

I still want them to tell me what their reasoning was.

They don't have to, and won't. It's all number crunching using their own criteria against their own scoring mechanism - for whatever reason as a customer (no matter your previous loyalty) at this snapshot in time you don't meet the criteria of being a customer they want to lend money to. All they'll do is refer you to the credit reference agencies to ensure your data is correct (As I've advised above).

johnthedon

cymruchris said:

Use an eligbility checker on other providers websites? (Sainsburys/Tescos/Post office) to see what they say? If they all say 'no' then have a close look at your credit reference agency files to ensure everything is accurate, and that it's not showing any nasties. That's probably a good starting point.

Experian was one of the agencies with HBOS and gave me an excellent. Just want to get to the bottom of the refusal 

cymruchris

johnthedon said:

cymruchris said:

Use an eligbility checker on other providers websites? (Sainsburys/Tescos/Post office) to see what they say? If they all say 'no' then have a close look at your credit reference agency files to ensure everything is accurate, and that it's not showing any nasties. That's probably a good starting point.

Experian was one of the agencies with HBOS and gave me an excellent. Just want to get to the bottom of the refusal 

You need to check all three - and not just look at the headline made-up score of 'excellent' - drill down into the data. Are the right accounts recorded, are all payments showing as up to date, are there any missed/late payments showing anywhere, are you on the electoral roll - of the three reference agencies it's common not to find every account you have on all three - but ensure the data is absolutely spot on. 

If then everything is absolutely perfect - then it can be other factors such as income (too low), age (getting on a bit), current levels of debt (too high), if you've had balances on credit cards whether you paid them in full, or minimum payments every month for the last 4 years (not managing), or even not ever having had enough credit to show a well managed history (as in no credit cards, a mortgage and one current account that you've never changed)

If after all of that you're still perfect, blemish free, you have positive history, are not 93, have a decent income, then the simple answer is - go somewhere else. The days of loyalty and reward for being a longstanding customer are long over. 

As I also mentioned - try the eligibility checkers for the big online lenders such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, AA, Post Office etc. (be aware of the APR's of course) and see what they say. If they say highly likely or even pre-approved - it just shows you the value of your longstanding loyalty. 

secla

As said they will never tell you and dont have to tell you. You just dont meet the current criteria which could change tomorrow.

Its nothing to be offended by or need to get to the bottom of, If your credit report is good and affordability is good you will find a lender just not HBOS

R_P_W

johnthedon said:

cymruchris said:

Use an eligbility checker on other providers websites? (Sainsburys/Tescos/Post office) to see what they say? If they all say 'no' then have a close look at your credit reference agency files to ensure everything is accurate, and that it's not showing any nasties. That's probably a good starting point.

Experian was one of the agencies with HBOS and gave me an excellent. Just want to get to the bottom of the refusal 

Asking the bank will continue to be a waste of your time, they don't have to give you a reason for their lending decisions and they won't do so.  Check your credit file with all of the main credit agencies to see if you have something on your file that could be making you less attractive to lenders.  At the end of the day they only have so much capital to lend.

LunaLater

At the moment you just don’t match the profile that they want to lend to. Maybe they are reducing their overall lending, maybe they are targeting a specific type of borrower, or maybe there’s just something in your history they aren’t keen on.

As others have said, they are not going to tell you.

born_again

johnthedon said:

cymruchris said:

Use an eligbility checker on other providers websites? (Sainsburys/Tescos/Post office) to see what they say? If they all say 'no' then have a close look at your credit reference agency files to ensure everything is accurate, and that it's not showing any nasties. That's probably a good starting point.

Experian was one of the agencies with HBOS and gave me an excellent. Just want to get to the bottom of the refusal 

Pointless wasting time. They will never tell you. Even if you complain. It's a internal business decision.

Figure showing by CRA's is not seen by the lenders. They make their decisions on internal scoring with them & eternal data from other banks (missed payments etc) Your income to available credit ratio. Finally their risk appetite at the time of applying.