Refused credit for Apple phone by Barclays

[Old_Skool_Fool]

So tried getting new phone from Apple website, got refused for monthly credit.

I'm on ESA, but always keep current account in +, haven't been overdrawn in many years. Do use my credit card, sometimes near to limit £1500 but never over it, then pay it off fairly quickly i.e. £100 / £200 at a time.

Haven't done a credit score check of ny kind for ages as never really needed to, or so I thought.

Whenever I get monthyl payments, always make sure they're paid, so don't understand.

The email says Barclays used Experian, Equifax Ltd, TransUnion, CIFAS wre used.

So how do I go about finding what's the issue is, and would it be specific to this transaction or something more general?

As always, any help/advice much appreciated.
OSF

[limpsfield]

Go to Experian and fill out the details to get your current credit score, is where I would start.

[Defcon5]

Discrepancies with addresses etc can scupper applications too.

As above do a few of the Experian/ClearScore type things and you may be able to work it out

[Old_Skool_Fool]

It's OK, no worries, all replies welcome.

I absolutely guarantee you there's nothing that can be said on here that's worse than what I get from social services / DWP....

Thank you for replying..
Regards
OSF

[Hammersia]

Defcon5 said:

Discrepancies with addresses etc can scupper applications too.

As above do a few of the Experian/ClearScore type things and you may be able to work it out

A shortened version of my name was enough to scupper a credit application first time around. Resubmitted and no problems.

[LimaDelta]

I've always been rejected by Apple for phone credit, despite never having any issues with any other purchase or mortgage (or phone company!). Not sure what they do differently? My employer is outside the UK so that doesn't help, but all other lenders seem to be unfazed.

[51mes]

I always get bounced almost immediately ...by klarna when I buy anything from the Google store for the 0% deal, and I'm not alone in this....

It's the only problem I've ever had with credit.

S.

[Old_Skool_Fool]

OK, so went and signed up for Experian, haven't done the 30 day free trial, just the normal check when signing up.

Came back as 999, which has left me a bit bemused.It's been a long time since I've been overrawn, always pay off my CC and monthly payemts (Things like which subscription).

I certainly don't live the life of riley, drive 25yr old shed, TV is 10 years old, PC about 15 years, stereo is 25 yeras old and CD player was £70 2nd hand last year.

I wasn't trying to get an expensive phone either, if was the iphone SE with 128gb storage, was £19.95 then basic apple care for £3.49 on top.

I've had a couple of monthly deals but got put off when one providor decided to make me a 2nd contract halfway through my existing one, without asking or telling me, and started deducting payments. In the end I asked my bank to do an indemnity claim, which they did and I got all my payments refunded and the 2nd contract was finally cancelled. After that I just did pay as you go for years until a friend gave me his old iphone5 last year and I signed up with plusnet. There was no problems then, went through fine for sim only deal..

Is there much benefit in the 30 day free trial for Experian??

Many thanks for all the replies and advice.
OSF

[Aiminghigh123]

I don’t think being overdrawn is a big deal.

When I lost my job during COVID I went from being able to get any credit to nothing in a month even though I had over £60k in savings that I was using to pay mortgage plus all other bills etc.

I never understand the whole getting credit. Tried to get a £15k HSBC loan other week and was denied. About 2 days later saw an AMEX deal. Applied and got a card with £13k limit.

[silentbrown]

Old_Skool_Fool said:

Is there much benefit in the 30 day free trial for Experian??

Probably not, as 999 from them is as good as it gets.

I've found Clearscore (free) to be a lot more useful. The Clearscore ratings do change as your life changes and isn't just a ridiculous 999 like Equifax seems to often give., (move house in last 2 years - rating drops, back on electoral roll, rating up again)

There's also targeted info about ways to improve your rating.

[monthou]

Old_Skool_Fool said:

Is there much benefit in the 30 day free trial for Experian??

If you stick 'MSE credit club' into google and register there you get free monthly experian-based reports.

[Sarnie]

Old_Skool_Fool said:

OK, so went and signed up for Experian, haven't done the 30 day free trial, just the normal check when signing up.

Came back as 999, which has left me a bit bemused.It's been a long time since I've been overrawn, always pay off my CC and monthly payemts (Things like which subscription).

I certainly don't live the life of riley, drive 25yr old shed, TV is 10 years old, PC about 15 years, stereo is 25 yeras old and CD player was £70 2nd hand last year.

I wasn't trying to get an expensive phone either, if was the iphone SE with 128gb storage, was £19.95 then basic apple care for £3.49 on top.

I've had a couple of monthly deals but got put off when one providor decided to make me a 2nd contract halfway through my existing one, without asking or telling me, and started deducting payments. In the end I asked my bank to do an indemnity claim, which they did and I got all my payments refunded and the 2nd contract was finally cancelled. After that I just did pay as you go for years until a friend gave me his old iphone5 last year and I signed up with plusnet. There was no problems then, went through fine for sim only deal..

Is there much benefit in the 30 day free trial for Experian??

Many thanks for all the replies and advice.
OSF

If you don't have any adverse credit history on your credit file, then the issue is that you are simply not passing the providers internal score card. This is where the lender sets out what they are happy to accept. As an example they will say that to be accepted you need to achieve over 100 points for example. You get points for every single thing you enter into their system so you'll get more points for being a home owner rather than a tenant, more points for being employed over self-employed, more points if you are on the electoral roll vs not being on it, more points for having low credit commitments etc etc........it's not an exact science but it sounds like you have minimal credit history which doesn't help (even though you would think it should) plus a few other factors that may go against you such the ESA potentially..........

To summarise, there is no clear definitive answer to this for you unfortunately. When you fail a credit score, the default response is to send you to check your credit file, which often doesn't give you an actual reason for the fail decision. If there is no adverse credit history, then the real reason is just that your overall profile doesn't meet their risk profile, for whatever reason.........

[Old_Skool_Fool]

Thanks for all the replies, very helpfull and has giving a much better understanding of these things.

Regards
OSF

[Ham_and_Jam]

Getting near your credit limit on a card can be an issue, regardless of paying off each month.

Some don’t like you going over 50% of your ageed limit.

If you can and are sensible increase the limit so that you can always stay under the 50%.

[Simpo Two]

I'm going to be boring and suggest that if money is tight, there are plenty of cheaper mobile phones to have. Mine was £90.

[TC7]

I use klarna all the time for materials on jobs over my company credit card as you know the payments been made in 30 days and not forgotten or put off and iv been declined by klarna for a 30 day later payment on an ironmongery site for few hundred quid but then accepted for an order that was over well over a thousand quid on the door supplier i use 10 mins later so shows it certainly depends on what parameters certain companies have set.

Might be a stretch paying for it over 3 instalments with klarna, but take a look at backmarket for an se as it'll save you a chunk of money over buying from Apple. Bought my wife a replacement se from them at xmas and it was as described, like new, when it arrived and about £150 less than apples refurbished offerings.

[105.4]

LimaDelta said:

I've always been rejected by Apple for phone credit, despite never having any issues with any other purchase or mortgage (or phone company!). Not sure what they do differently? My employer is outside the UK so that doesn't help, but all other lenders seem to be unfazed.

Whereas for me, I get rejected for all types of credit except for Apple, for three phones, an iMac and three Apple laptops.

I even get rejected for PayPal pay-in-three on an item worth £200, car insurance on the monthlies, the most basic credit cards, or any sort of bank overdraft, all with a credit score of 997.

I’ve no idea how such black magic works

[Deviation]

My mum was declined by Barclays finance for an iPhone, despite having a salary nearing 6 figures and having a Barclaycard which is used (and paid off) regularly.


She rang them and asked them to perform a non-automated check, as per GDPR rights as a data subject.


They still refused and said “there’s something on her account”, but couldn’t tell her what it was.



Still absolutely no clue what the issue was/is.