Credit card application refused

alfaetrin

My niece, who is Mexican, now lives and works in London. She has applied for a UK credit card from HSBC, but has been refused, despite now earning a decent salary.

The refusal no doubt stems from the fact that the bills for her (jointly held) credit cards in Mexico don't get paid off in full every month, as the other party is struggling financially.

Are there any companies which might nevertheless issue her a card with a modest limit? As well as the convenience aspect of a credit card, she wants to start building a credit history in the UK.

Hoenir

alfaetrin said:

My niece, who is Mexican, now lives and works in London. She has applied for a UK credit card from HSBC, but has been refused, despite now earning a decent salary.

HSBC are most conservative of UK banks. Decent salary alone probably won't suffice. Build credit history with utility bills , electoral roll , homeowner etc. 

born_again

alfaetrin said:

My niece, who is Mexican, now lives and works in London. She has applied for a UK credit card from HSBC, but has been refused, despite now earning a decent salary.

The refusal no doubt stems from the fact that the bills for her (jointly held) credit cards in Mexico don't get paid off in full every month, as the other party is struggling financially.

Are there any companies which might nevertheless issue her a card with a modest limit? As well as the convenience aspect of a credit card, she wants to start building a credit history in the UK.

They will have no knowledge of this.
They will only look at her UK history.
So how long has she been in the UK?

lr1277

Simplest way to add to your credit history is to get a mobile phone SIM on a pay monthly contract i.e. not a PAYG.
Can your niece get on the electoral roll if she can't vote here? I don't know but worth finding out.
She could try a credit builder card from the like of Vanquis or Capital One. There are others and I don't know the range of possibilities.

CliveOfIndia

alfaetrin said:

The refusal no doubt stems from the fact that the bills for her (jointly held) credit cards in Mexico don't get paid off in full every month, as the other party is struggling financially.

Her Mexican cards won't have reported in to the UK CRAs, so this won't be a factor.

How long has she been a UK resident?  Lack of address history can be a negative factor in the eyes of many mainstream lenders.  Being on the Electoral Roll is a big advantage (not sure if she's eligible to register to vote?)

Aside from that, with very little UK credit history she will struggle to get accepted by most of the mainstream lenders.  She could try one of the credit-builder cards ( https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/credit-builder/ ) - but anything that builds up a credit history (mobile phone contracts, utility bills, etc.) will help - it's not a quick fix, but once she's got a bit of history under her belt she should find she's eligible for more mainstream cards.

MEM62

alfaetrin said:

My niece, who is Mexican, now lives and works in London. 

Temporarily or does she have ILR?

The former will be an issue.  

retiredbanker1

Unless she has been resident in UK for a minimum of 3 years most lenders will auto decline her.

lr1277

There is one almost worldwide company that may let you transfer your credit facility and that is American Express (Amex).

If you are in country where Amex directly offers cards (i.e. not through a bank), and you are moving abroad, Amex may transfer your credit facility to your new country of residence.

Caveats:

I don't know how long you need to have been with Amex nor the payment history required to allow the transfer.

As I said above I believe they will only transfer to/from where they directly offer cards and cards are not provided by 3rd parties like banks.

You mentioned your niece has a card with another party. Are there such things as joint cards in Mexico? If your niece and the other party got an Amex card in Mexico with your niece being the principal card holder, after some time she might and I say i might be able to transfer it to the UK. But it would mean having a spotless payment history.

You'll have to talk to your niece as to whether this approach is worth exploring.

But this transfer might get around such requirements like residency requirements and the need to be on the electorall roll. But I am not sure about this last statement so might be worth exploring.

Also there is the added complications is that Amex is not accepted in as many places as Visa and Mastercard.

born_again

Sadly Op has not been back since posting
Last seen Dec 20, 2023

Jami74

Is there ever really an urgency to get a credit card to build history? Especially when there is bad credit held elsewhere but also a 'decent salary'. With a decent salary then bigger purchases can be saved for, credit history can be built with things like electoral rolls and phone/broadband contracts and if someone cannot get a credit card for whatever reason, surely they'd struggle to get a mortgage anyway.

alfaetrin

Just to say thanks for all the replies, and apologies for the long absence. Various issues combined to distract me from this particular problem.

Update:
As my niece's salary (she is a petroleum engineer) gets paid into her HSBC account, she now at least has a debit card. A UK credit card is still not being issued but, as time goes on, no doubt her credit score is slowly rising. Also, she stil can't get a phone contract, so she uses pay as you go. It was the beginning of October 2023 when she moved to the UK (London).

Thanks again for the helpful insights and the replies.