0% Card Turned Down despite Great Credit Rating

[DRFC1879]

My current 0% deal is due to end on 1st December. According to Clearscore (I know it's not the oracle but should be a reasonable guide) my credit rating is well above the national and local averages. I've just applied for an 18 month balance transfer card with Santander as they had zero fee and a £20 Amazon voucher promo, effectively meaning they'd be paying me £20 for the privilege of managing ~£3k of credit but they've turned me down.

I'm guessing that it may be due to having three addresses in recent years (the family home with the ex-wife, stop-gap flat for a bit and the new house). Anyone else had a similar experience/any recommendations please?

EDIT: Just noticed the random lack of capitalisation on "despite" in the thread title. Makes my teeth itch but nowt I can do now!

[Sarnie]

It's purely down to your address history..........check your Equifax or Experian credit files to see if the electoral roll data shows you at your current address........

[bunchofkeys]

I tried Santander recently too, the 26 month 0% interest purchase card, but was turned down (with an 70% chance of approval).
999 on Experian and just shy of 500 on Clearscore, about 80 above the national average; very odd and now i have a bloody pointless search on my credit record.

Edited by bunchofkeys on Monday 16th November 17:50

[Sheepshanks]

Certainly the "youngsters" at work are always complaining their address changes hamper credit applications - and that's not a new thing, it's been a common theme for years. Some can't opt of company cars because they can't get approved for leases.

[anonymous-user]

Right now lenders are generally getting a bit more picky

You might have got an approval back in Jan / Feb, but just slipped down a notch on their scoring system by now

[PHlL]

A high street bank I contracted for, on some of their 0% products and highly competitive normal credit cards, if someone looked to be a sure thing that they'd make every payment, they would quite often get declined as it wasn't in the banks interest to take them on as a customer as they simply wont make any money. A bank is a business at the end of they day.

Some scorecards will look for exactly this, of people rolling from 0% on each providers, starting with a new lender when an existing card ends.

This being said, I've never personally applied with said bank, and will always take out a 0% when making larger purchase to ease cash flow, touch wood haven't ever been declined myself.

This was circa 7 years ago now, things might have changed.

[steve_bmw]

I just got a great deal on a TSB credit card, 0% on balance transfers and 0% purchases for 20 months with a £6400 limit.

I only moved a few hundred from the old post office card as my 0% was ending.

Give TSB a go.

[VR99]

Sorry to thread hijack and maybe a silly question but if I currently have a 0% cc with Santander that ends in around 7/8 months from now can I apply for another Santander 0% cc that is currently on offer? Aside from my credit worthiness, any other issues with doing that?
The reason I want to apply now is just in case the availability of the 0% deals drys up even more as we enter the new year.

[bunchofkeys]

VR99 said:

Sorry to thread hijack and maybe a silly question but if I currently have a 0% cc with Santander that ends in around 7/8 months from now can I apply for another Santander 0% cc that is currently on offer? Aside from my credit worthiness, any other issues with doing that?
The reason I want to apply now is just in case the availability of the 0% deals drys up even more as we enter the new year.

Unless Santander allows the account holder to have two cards, then i don't think you can.

Although i think Tesco Bank does allow this.

[Mr Whippy]

steve_bmw said:

I just got a great deal on a TSB credit card, 0% on balance transfers and 0% purchases for 20 months with a £6400 limit.

I only moved a few hundred from the old post office card as my 0% was ending.

Give TSB a go.

That's it, they're just hoping 1 in 10 (as an example) loads up and then can't move and ends up paying £££ in interest.

The 0% systems are like a gambler for the lenders... some debtors pay out, some don't.

In the current economic climate I'd expect lenders aren't going to lend to people they won't make money from... they'll want to save their 0% stuff to get in people likely to end up paying them out.

[DRFC1879]

Thanks all. I'm definitely on the electoral roll here so I thought that might have helped. I guess the fact that I'm looking to switch from one 0% card that I've never used for any spending to another one for the same purpose and I've paid everything bang on time suggests to them that they'd make no money out of me so no point granting me the card. I'll try TSB.

[foiled]

Lots of reports of Santander turning down people with good credit histories, it may simply be because they know they wont make any money from you

[MrChips]

I’m quite glad I applied for a new card in Feb. 0% for 24m with zero fee and an automatic 17k limit. It’s a bit odd as I’ve had around 6 cards over the recent 10yrs but always either paid off within the 0% period, or transferred out before the period ended.
So in theory I’m terrible for the bank so I wonder if they’ve changed their algorithm to move away from similar folks?

[uuf361]

I think this is Santander thing. I've never thought much of them, but when the rates were good I applied for the 1-2-3 current account and my application was rejected. They refused to tell me why other than having an overdraft (which I did not ask for nor want) might be the cause.

Perfect credit, low gearing, no debt other than mortgages so it was nonsense. Vowed never to entertain using them ever again - they had one chance and blew it.

[pavarotti1980]

Jasey_ said:

Just tried the pre approval for santander got 0% chance of getting the card.

Same address for 15 years, no mortgage, current credit cards paid monthly.

They clearly are only after people they can squeeze more money out of.

I have banked with them for years. No overdraft, little bit of credit at the time with card and car finance. Pre-approval was high and still got rejected for 0%.

[Evanivitch]

Jasey_ said:

Just tried the pre approval for santander got 0% chance of getting the card.

Same address for 15 years, no mortgage, current credit cards paid monthly.

They clearly are only after people they can squeeze more money out of.

Where's the money for them? Transaction fees at best.

[VR99]

bunchofkeys said:

VR99 said:

Sorry to thread hijack and maybe a silly question but if I currently have a 0% cc with Santander that ends in around 7/8 months from now can I apply for another Santander 0% cc that is currently on offer? Aside from my credit worthiness, any other issues with doing that?
The reason I want to apply now is just in case the availability of the 0% deals drys up even more as we enter the new year.

Unless Santander allows the account holder to have two cards, then i don't think you can.

Although i think Tesco Bank does allow this.

Cheers, what's annoying is over the last few years Santander have been reducing the overall credit limits available and I think this is the general trend across all providers for 0% Cc's. However my utilisation % has gone up even though my balance is constantly being reduced so from a credit rating perspective not so good even though my payments have always been met in a timely manner etc

[bunchofkeys]

Turns out that both Halifax and Lloyds were happy to give me a card each, 0% on purchases, for 17 months, I've now doubled my available credit in one day. £12k on each card automatically.
Neither of these cards popped up in Clearscore, Credit Karma or Experian; which I've lost faith in.
If anything, the cards that did appear, and with 80% chance of approval, turned me down. Absolute rubbish, as I will have a number of searches on my record now, thankfully I got what I needed.

Edited by bunchofkeys on Thursday 26th November 00:53

[Powerfully Built PSC Director - Outside IR35]

bunchofkeys said:

Turns out that both Halifax and Lloyds were happy to give me a card each, 0% on purchases, for 17 months, I've now doubled my available credit in one day. £12k on each card automatically.
Neither of these cards popped up in Clearscore, Credit Karma or Experian; which I've lost faith in.
If anything, the cards that did appear, and with 80% chance of approval, turned me down. Absolute rubbish, as I will have a number of searches on my record now, thankfully I got what I needed.

Edited by bunchofkeys on Thursday 26th November 00:53

Good shout on Lloyds. After utter crap limits from TSB (4.5k) and M&S (3.5k), I’ve just applied to Lloyds and got 14k on 17 months 0%. I’m really not sure why the above gave me such st limits when my credit utilisation is less than 5%, homeowner without mortgage, been here for over 6 years and no missed payments etc.