Marked Down by Credit Reference Agencies for Cash Withdrawls on Specialist Travel Credit Card

Pooh_Bear

For many years I have had a Santander Zero specialist travel credit card. I've used it all around the world - hotel bills, restaurants, shopping, etc - without charges and it has worked very well.

From time to time, it is withdrawn from new applicants, sometimes for several years, but my card has always remained valid and available to use.

Occassionally, I use it to withdraw local currency from an ATM as this is the cheapest way to get local currency.

In the past, this has never shown up on my credit report. Recently, over the last couple of years, it is showing up on my credit report and I'm marked down for withdrawing cash on a credit card. This doesn't especially concern me, as it's a fairly minor hit and recovers within a few months.

I am wodering why this has started happening? I'm sure that until a couple of years ago, withdrawing cash on the Santander Zero specialist travel credit card didn't impact my credit report.

Is this change because the Santander Zero card is now no longer available to new customers and the credit reference agencies see it a just another credit card?

Or is it because the credit reference agencies have changed their analyses and mark down all cash withdrawls on credit cards whether they are specialist travel cards or not.

CliveOfIndia

Cash withdrawals usually are recorded on your credit report, but it's only when it happens regularly that it starts to become an issue.

Pooh_Bear said:

Recently, over the last couple of years, it is showing up on my credit report and I'm marked down for withdrawing cash on a credit card.

Since the CRA doesn't lend you money, it matters not one jot how they view cash withdrawals - and you can certainly ignore the meaningless score they give you, which is not even visible to lenders..  A lender will see the withdrawal and make up their own mind.  And like I say, occasion withdrawals - especially when abroad - will cause them no concern at all.

flaneurs_lobster

The type of card (name, branding) should be irrelevant, the credit reference agencies are only concerned with a cash withdrawal that attracts interest from that point onwards, in other words a new unsecured loan.

Re "marking down" - your "score" changing has no relevance or visibility to anyone other than yourself, and can be ignored.

If you want to have the ability to draw cash from ATMs abroad without attracting immediate interest or fees then other cards are available that offer this facility eg the Barclaycard Reward Visa credit card. 

MyRealNameToo

Pooh_Bear said:

For many years I have had a Santander Zero specialist travel credit card. I've used it all around the world - hotel bills, restaurants, shopping, etc - without charges and it has worked very well.

From time to time, it is withdrawn from new applicants, sometimes for several years, but my card has always remained valid and available to use.

Occassionally, I use it to withdraw local currency from an ATM as this is the cheapest way to get local currency.

In the past, this has never shown up on my credit report. Recently, over the last couple of years, it is showing up on my credit report and I'm marked down for withdrawing cash on a credit card. This doesn't especially concern me, as it's a fairly minor hit and recovers within a few months.

I am wodering why this has started happening? I'm sure that until a couple of years ago, withdrawing cash on the Santander Zero specialist travel credit card didn't impact my credit report.

Is this change because the Santander Zero card is now no longer available to new customers and the credit reference agencies see it a just another credit card?

Or is it because the credit reference agencies have changed their analyses and mark down all cash withdrawls on credit cards whether they are specialist travel cards or not.

CRAs just hold facts, it's up to others who actually are going to decide if to lend to you or not what they make of the data. A credit card is just a credit card as far as a CRA is concerned, it won't differentiate between one with perks and one without etc. It is simply recording that you have taken cash out of a credit card. It will be up to the next lender to decide if that means they won't lend to you or not. 

flaneurs_lobster said:

The type of card (name, branding) should be irrelevant, the credit reference agencies are only concerned with a cash withdrawal that attracts interest from that point onwards, in other words a new unsecured loan.

Any evidence to support that? To the best of my knowledge a cash withdrawal marker was applied when any cash was withdrawn and no secondary consideration of if its interest bearing or not. 

I have taken cash out on a chargecard, that gets reported as a credit card, which obviously has no interest applied because there is no interest in chargecards and it was marked on the CRA at the time. 

flaneurs_lobster

MyRealNameToo said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

The type of card (name, branding) should be irrelevant, the credit reference agencies are only concerned with a cash withdrawal that attracts interest from that point onwards, in other words a new unsecured loan.

Any evidence to support that? To the best of my knowledge a cash withdrawal marker was applied when any cash was withdrawn and no secondary consideration of if its interest bearing or not. 

I have taken cash out on a chargecard, that gets reported as a credit card, which obviously has no interest applied because there is no interest in chargecards and it was marked on the CRA at the time. 

Not personally, no. A recent thread discussed travel credit cards, the zero fee/interest cards discussed there record ATM withdrawals as purchases, so no ambiguity in reporting to CRAs.

It will always be at the mercy of exactly how different card providers choose to categorise the spend, hence the recent discussion here about different credit cards' treatment of gift card purchases (cash purchase or no) from the same retailer.