Santander eligibility and number of cards held

daivid

I checked my eligibility for Santander's 0% no fee BT card and was declined - there are many good reasons this could be and I realise I will never know which it was…

..however, one of the questions was how many card do you have? To which I answered 7+. I am wondering if this is a hard no for them or just a part of the decision? I'd be interested to hear if anyone has been accepted recently for this card and had 7 or more CCs?

retiredbanker1

Either way you have to answer truthfully.

It might have made a difference or not - only Santander knows.

Everybody's circumstances will be different so your question is immaterial if you don't mind me saying.

If YOU think it was part of the reason for the decline can you close some of the cards down?

Volcane

I would say it is not a definitive reason as I had more than seven when I was accepted in 2022.

However I had banked with them for over a decade and also rules may have changed.

adamp87

Volcane said:

I would say it is not a definitive reason as I had more than seven when I was accepted in 2022.

However I had banked with them for over a decade and also rules may have changed.

Thing is that’s subjective. It could be your profile or credit amounts matched what the criteria they looked for in 2022.

OP might have different amounts/limits or profile and/or Santander could have just tightened up their criteria it’s impossible to know really.

Altior

I've been receiving direct BT offers from Santander, have my mortgage with them, and current account/ CCs in the past, going all the way back to the AN days. However I am a big stoozer and this question has put me off going through with the application.

The 'machine' will identify how many cards you have anyway, when it does its thing. However my honest answer would be 10+ with/without balances. Would I lend to someone who said that they already had over 10 CCs? Probably not! I like to have a few back up options anyway so I will keep Santander on the subs bench for now, maybe until the next round. 

Hoenir

daivid said:

 To which I answered 7+. I am wondering if this is a hard no for them or just a part of the decision? 

The total amount of credit facility that's already available to you and your usage of it will be a factor in their decision making. The lender has access to this data. The concern from an underwriting perspective will be why are you applying for even more credit facility. 

daivid

Volcane said:

I would say it is not a definitive reason as I had more than seven when I was accepted in 2022.

However I had banked with them for over a decade and also rules may have changed.

I'm pretty sure I've had success in the past but wondered if it has changed. I've had previous incarnations of the Santander card 3 times and typically have around 10 so think I've been successful with 7+. I also hold my mortgage with them and a current account. 2022 is a year more recent than I last took out a card with them, so thanks for sharing that.

daivid

Thanks to all that have inputted. As already said I realise I will never know the reason for my ineligibility, though if people had recently been accepted with 7+ would suggest it's not a hard no.

I realise I need to be honest, no point not as it's all there for them to see… It's a stoozing question (though the stoozing board doesn’t get much traffic), so I'm trying to make my best guess of how optimise the ongoing stoozing. I have one card ending it's 0% in May - hence starting to look for a BT now, to get under 7 I'd need to close my best mule cards or repay some 0% early, I will just keep an eye on what is about and pay off in May if nothing becomes available.

Hoenir

daivid said:

Volcane said:

I would say it is not a definitive reason as I had more than seven when I was accepted in 2022.

However I had banked with them for over a decade and also rules may have changed.

I'm pretty sure I've had success in the past but wondered if it has changed. I've had previous incarnations of the Santander card 3 times and typically have around 10 so think I've been successful with 7+. I also hold my mortgage with them and a current account. 2022 is a year more recent than I last took out a card with them, so thanks for sharing that.

Each card has an individual credit limit. Number held alone has no bearing. We are also in 2024 now. Criteria can change overnight. As the macro picture changes. Obviously now higher interest rates are going to start to bite. Who is going to be personally impacted is yet unknown. Be a while before the fog lifts again. 

WillPS

Hoenir said:

daivid said:

Volcane said:

I would say it is not a definitive reason as I had more than seven when I was accepted in 2022.

However I had banked with them for over a decade and also rules may have changed.

I'm pretty sure I've had success in the past but wondered if it has changed. I've had previous incarnations of the Santander card 3 times and typically have around 10 so think I've been successful with 7+. I also hold my mortgage with them and a current account. 2022 is a year more recent than I last took out a card with them, so thanks for sharing that.

Each card has an individual credit limit. Number held alone has no bearing. 

Why would they ask the question if it has no bearing? In fact, they'd have no right to ask such a thing under GDPR if that were the case.

daivid

Having checked periodically this week the eligibity was ‘preapproved’ and I now have the 0% no fee card. No change to number of cards, but a few hard searches have dropped off my report, and my other stoozing cards have been paid down a little (fixed payment just above the min).