Refused credit card - why?

[loggo]

I don't know if anyone can help me with what I feel is a fairly street forward question.
I am seeking to replace my credit card as Barclaycard have really peed me off lately but the websites I try tell me there is 0 chance of being accepted

I own a 600k house. Lived there for 5 years. No mortgage.
I have been married for 20 years
I pay my current card off monthly
My income is circus £50K Per annum
I have no mortgage or loans

The only thing I can see is that my age is 73. Is this the deciding point as the 3 credit reference agencies I have checked on all put me in the top 5% to 10% ?

[Muzzer79]

Possibly due to you having no credit history due to having no debt?

[snuffy]

loggo said:

My income is circus £50K Per annum

Could be your occupation? Maybe the don't lend to clowns?

[GregK2]

snuffy said:

loggo said:

My income is circus £50K Per annum

Could be your occupation? Maybe the don't lend to clowns?

[Monkeylegend]

loggo said:

I don't know if anyone can help me with what I feel is a fairly street forward question.
I am seeking to replace my credit card as Barclaycard have really peed me off lately but the websites I try tell me there is 0 chance of being accepted

I own a 600k house. Lived there for 5 years. No mortgage.
I have been married for 20 years
I pay my current card off monthly
My income is circus £50K Per annum
I have no mortgage or loans

The only thing I can see is that my age is 73. Is this the deciding point as the 3 credit reference agencies I have checked on all put me in the top 5% to 10% ?

They will not earn anything from you as you have no debt and pay your credit off each month.

You need to juggle things around a bit.

[Easternlight]

Muzzer79 said:

Possibly due to you having no credit history due to having no debt?

This
They don't like people who pay it off every month.

[loggo]

GregK2 said:

snuffy said:

loggo said:

My income is circus £50K Per annum

Could be your occupation? Maybe the don't lend to clowns?

I see myself as more of a juggular

[Monkeylegend]

loggo said:

GregK2 said:

snuffy said:

loggo said:

My income is circus £50K Per annum

Could be your occupation? Maybe the don't lend to clowns?

I see myself as more of a juggular

You are so vein.

[rossub]

Monkeylegend said:

You are so vein.

He probably thinks this thread is about him.

[loggo]

Monkeylegend said:

loggo said:

I don't know if anyone can help me with what I feel is a fairly street forward question.
I am seeking to replace my credit card as Barclaycard have really peed me off lately but the websites I try tell me there is 0 chance of being accepted

I own a 600k house. Lived there for 5 years. No mortgage.
I have been married for 20 years
I pay my current card off monthly
My income is circus £50K Per annum
I have no mortgage or loans

The only thing I can see is that my age is 73. Is this the deciding point as the 3 credit reference agencies I have checked on all put me in the top 5% to 10% ?

They will not earn anything from you as you have no debt and pay your credit off each month.

You need to juggle things around a bit.

I see what you are saying when you say they are earning nothing from me but if I have understood the situation correctly the merchant is charged about 1 or 1 and a half % on all the purchases I make.
As my transactions come to around 14K per annum I guess that's around £200 plus generated by purely electronic transactions that the bank is turning its back on ?

[Glosphil]

Don't think age is the problem, nor lack of debt.

I'm 77 & paid off our mortgage 22 years ago; no borrowing since. Pay off 3 credit cards every month. Cars bought for cash.

Have changed credit card providers a few times with no problems

[Simpo Two]

As far as the CC companies are concerned you're a bad risk - for making money from.

Thinking about it, how did I get my CCs?! In 30+ years I've only paid interest twice - once when the CC company screwed up, so they returned it, and once when a temporary boss said he'd pay it (expenses) and didn't

[georgefreeman918]

When I had issues, it was due to a £60 unpaid water invoice from 18 months prior from a house move that caused me not be accepted.

Interestingly it only showed up on 1/3 credit checks I did (Experian IIRC)

Might be worth running multiple checks to see if there is something you dont expect!

[Monkeylegend]

loggo said:

I see what you are saying when you say they are earning nothing from me but if I have understood the situation correctly the merchant is charged about 1 or 1 and a half % on all the purchases I make.
As my transactions come to around 14K per annum I guess that's around £200 plus generated by purely electronic transactions that the bank is turning its back on ?

They will make far more money by charging you high rates of interest on the outstanding balance not paid off at the end of each month which is what they hope for.

Can you not continue with your Barclays CC if you are unable to get one form anybody else?

I changed all my banking to Nationwide a few years ago and was and still am in the same position as you, no debt or mortgage, and paid off every month, and was expecting a refusal but they issued me one without a problem.

Could be worth asking the question.

[Sarnie]

loggo said:

I see what you are saying when you say they are earning nothing from me but if I have understood the situation correctly the merchant is charged about 1 or 1 and a half % on all the purchases I make.
As my transactions come to around 14K per annum I guess that's around £200 plus generated by purely electronic transactions that the bank is turning its back on ?

Lenders do not want to expose themselves to thousands of pounds of bad debt (potentially) to earn £200 a year (potentially)from you.

[NDA]

Muzzer79 said:

Possibly due to you having no credit history due to having no debt?

This.

Many years ago I couldn't get a £15 SIM card because of my credit rating. I found out that it was precisely because I'd never been overdrawn, never had a loan, paid off my card every month, had paid off my mortgage etc.

It doesn't matter if you bank at Coutts and have £10m in the bank.

The answer in my case was to get a credit card.

[clockworks]

I'm 67, own my house (no mortgage), had a small car loan to qualify for free servicing and extended warranty (now paid off) and a mobile phone contract. Pension and self-employment income is around £30k nett.

I've got 5 credit cards (only 2 are actually used), which I always pay off in full each month, 5 current accounts, and £30k in savings.

I regularly switch accounts/get new cards. Never had a problem.
The only time I've ever had a problem was getting a mobile contract. My postal address (as per the council tax bill) wasn't on the postcode database.

My Clearscore credit rating has always been in the 900's, and is currently a perfect 1000.

I agree - there must be a bad debt or judgement from the past lurking somewhere, quite possibly misapplied.

[Mr Squarekins]

Op, maybe run up your Barclaycard bill for a couple of months, then ask to transfer the outstanding balance to a new provider? They will probably be attracted to that.

Then pay off.

[NDA]

clockworks said:

I agree - there must be a bad debt or judgement from the past lurking somewhere, quite possibly misapplied.

i don't think it needs to be a bad debt.

If you have no history of borrowing (cards paid off, no loans, no overdrafts etc) you have a zero credit score. As above, it happened to me and I've never had anything lurking.

[loggo]

For all the input

As an update I have just run my experian rating and I score 983 out of 999.

Even with that m&s don't want to know me !

By the way I am using money saving experts "likelihood of being accepted" checker to run a few "what if" scenarios and if I change my employment from working part-time and receiving a pension too retired I am getting some 100% probability offers including Capital 1 and Virgin money so all is not completely lost !