Credit Check from Littlewoods Causing Problems

mrpotatohead

Hi guys,

Hope this is in the right forum!

Basically, I was stopped by a street rep from Littlewoods with a clipboard, who offered me 15% off my first order and stupidly, I took her up on her offer and opened up an account with Littlewoods - with the hope to use the discount on a PlayStation 3, and obviously they conducted a credit check.

At only 20 years old, I've got a reasonable credit history - no problems with everything on there, had 2 credit cards (being a student) and met minimum payments every time, most of the time more than minimum.

Anyway, Littlewoods refused me credit because unaware to me, my Mum has an account with them at the same address as I was trying to register for (my home address). I explained that this shouldn't matter, because I'm not applying for her - it's a separate account. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I couldn't be bothered with arguing with them to get the account approved - found the PlayStation cheaper elsewhere and paid on my debit card.

However, now after trying to move my Current Student Account from NatWest to Halifax, I was denied by them. Asking why, they said it was down to my Credit History.

I've requested a more up to date copy from Experian, so will be looking at that when it arrives - but I can only think of the problems with Littlewoods being the issue.

If this is the case, does anyone know if I was to write to Littlewood's Finance Department - are they likely to remove the credit check, on the grounds that I wasn't aware that:

a) It was against their company policy to register 2 accounts at the same address
and
b) The failed credit approval is at no fault of my own or related to my financial status

By the way, I have a disassociation from my Mum - and so anything relating to her credit history or the home address, should bear no relevance to my credit report.


Thanks for your, ever-useful advice guys!


- Joe

jonesMUFCforever

I think the problem is the disassociation.
These can be more trouble than they are worth.

Why have you done this - has she had credit problems?

I don't think Littlewoods have done anything wrong and therefore will not remove the credit check from your records.

I think there is a lot more you are not telling us here about your family.

s1h

are you sure im sure there is myself and another family member in my house with a flexibel account with littlewoods

MissEyre

I also know people who have the same address who have registered different accounts with Littlewoods...

As different banks assess applications differently, when they say it is your credit history, this could cover a lot of different things-moving house frequently (I know I did this as a student and it didn't look great to banks), low income, maybe a missed payment for something like a mobile phone, not having a landline registered to an address? If nothing from Littlewoods shows up when you get your Experian report, I would guess it is something which seems less important.

mrpotatohead

Hi guys,

On your suspicions, I double checked this and Littlewoods actually say that it's because I had apparently previously registered an account but was trying to open another one in the same name. That I did not realise.

I can understand why they would therefore decline, but anyway that is not the issue - as it is a genuine mistake that I was not aware that I already had an existing account that closed due to inactivity. I hadn't even placed any orders.

So the bad credit rating was basically earned because I had previously opened an account and forgot about it... I think it's a bit extreme to put a bad mark against my name just for that.

As for my Mum's history, she has had no bad credit history with Littlewoods. She is no longer able to get credit due to previous failure to make payments but this was after she opened an account with Littlewoods, and so not applicable and also due to the disassociation I applied for about 5 or 6 years ago, not relevant.

I'm going to wait for the copy of the credit report, and if it is due to Littlewoods, I would hope that I have suitable grounds to correct the bad rating on my report - because I think it's unjust and unfair to add this on, on the basis that I had made a duplicate application unaware of a previous account I had opened.


- Joe

PROLIANT

Hi, I have been approved for a littlewoods account and just to let you know that they use Equifax for the credit search and it is an automated decision if done online, you should appeal against this because your credit record should just show your data and not anyone else, if you think are associated financially to your mam I would get a copy of your report from Equifax and Experian and then check in the "Association" section to see if you are linked to anyone, if you are and you want that data removed just phone the CRA and tell them and they will do it, I have done this just last year and was sorted within a week or so, as long as you don’t have any joint accounts between you the disassociation is straight forward.

Hope this helps.

poppy_f1

mrpotatohead wrote: »

I'm going to wait for the copy of the credit report, and if it is due to Littlewoods, I would hope that I have suitable grounds to correct the bad rating on my report - because I think it's unjust and unfair to add this on, on the basis that I had made a duplicate application unaware of a previous account I had opened.


- Joe

its not there fault you accidently applied for a duplicate account so why should they remove the search which you have agreed to in the first place by applying

mrpotatohead

poppy_f1 wrote: »

its not there fault you accidently applied for a duplicate account so why should they remove the search which you have agreed to in the first place by applying

Agreed,

But also I don't think it's substantial grounds to impact on my credit rating - when it has NOTHING relating to my financial status or ability to keep up with payments AT ALL. It is just a genuine human error.


- Joe