Why Would I Be Turned Down For A Credit Card I Wonder?

[ferlew]

Been with the same bank almost 50 years, never had HP, bills always paid in full and on time.
Home owner with no mortgage, credit score of 999.
And yet, when I applied to my bank for a Credit card (just to use for larger purchase protection) I was turned down. Wrote back and asked for an explanation - nothing. Did the credit score thingy, with the above result
What other reason could they have to reuse, any ideas please?

[douglas9401]

Age maybe?

[ToraToraTora]

Are you in the UK? none of our agencies go up to 999, what score do you get here? https://www.clearscore.com/
Do you have a credit card now?
I suspect it's because you have no credit record of making payments.

[ubasses]

Your problem is that you have had no HP or Mortgage and I am assuming no other loans. Part of making lending decisions and the credit scoring process is seeing that you have a good repayment history. There really is no such thing as a 'credit score', all lenders use their own assessment system and only look to the credit reference agencies for any adverse inormation.

[Deskdiary]

It is bizarre isn’t it?

My only borrowings are what’s left on my mortgage, and when I changed provider a couple of years ago they were “concerned” that I didn’t have any credit card debt, or a car loan, or any finance on anything.

[woofgang]

I would have said because you have no credit history....except you have a good credit score....you might try signing up for Clear Score, which is free and offers pre approved credit card deals

[Llanfair]

Could it be because you don't have enough money going into your account each month? Some banks have a minimum amount.

[THECORBYLOON]

TORATOTORA, my score on Experian is also 999.

[THECORBYLOON]

TORATORATORA even...

[Buenchico]

Banks only issue credit cards to people whom they think they can make some money out of; it's not in their interest to issue credit cards to people whom they suspect will always pay their balances off in full, thus never having to pay any interest. So you have no 'value' to a bank in respect of offering you a credit card.

If you're sure that you'll always be paying off your balance in full each month (so that it doesn't matter how outrageous the interest charges are, as you'll never pay them anyway), you can almost certainly get a credit card from one of the companies that specialise in helping people build up a good credit history. Such companies mainly serve the needs of people who've had trouble paying back loans in the past but they can also help 'perfect payers' too, such as yourself.

The biggest players in that market are probably Capital One
https://www.capitalone.co.uk
and Vanquis
https://www.vanquis.co.uk
It's almost impossible to get refused by those two companies!

Also remember that nearly every time you purchase anything on Amazon you're offered it at a lower price (with typically £20 off) if you accept the option to sign up for an Amazon Platinum Mastercard, which (just in case it might ever matter to you) has a much lower interest rate than either of the above. Even if you're not planning on buying anything from Amazon at the moment, you can still get a £20 gift card, just for signing up and, once again, it's highly unlikely that your application would be refused:
Amazon.com User Recommendation

If you're considering any 'third party' credit card (i.e. one that's not issued by your bank), it's important to check that it doesn't have any annual fee attached to it. (None of the above do).

[JimF]

Mine too.

[JimF]

Steer well clear of Capital One:
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/capital-one-fined-for-inadequate-data-82796/

[Buenchico]

PS: As has already been pointed out, 'real' credit scores (from any of the UK's main credit reference agencies) don't go up to 999. I strongly suspect that '999' is just a code used to mean "nothing is known about this applicant's credit history", which is what one would expect to see if you've never had credit.

[JimF]

"nothing is known about this applicant's credit history"

Again, that is simply not true. My credit score is linked to my full credit report which contains loads of information on various accounts, including credit cards.

[Hopkirk]

A simple error in your application?

[Hymie]

As Buenchico points out, you may have been rejected because the credit card company is unlikely to make loads of money from you charging their exorbitant interest rates. But they will gain something (a small percentage) from each purchase you make, so you would not be a total loss to them.

[Buenchico]

It seems that Experian's scores DO go up to 999:
https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/money-matters/credit-score-basics/what-is-a-good-or-average-credit-score#:~:text=Their%20scores%20range%20from%200,credit-score.html)

[ToraToraTora]

TCL, fair enough is that the max? I used clearscore, (equifax) and that goes up to 700 but I've never heard of anyone close to that.

[DTCwordfan]

ask to see the manager and threaten to leave the bank if he/she doesn't cough up...

also have you tried Amex?

[Buenchico]

^^^ Many companies don't accept Amex these days, DTC, due to the massively high charges they make. For example, you used to be able to use Amex to buy tickets at railway stations but the train operating companies refused to pay the commission charges levied by Amex, which are FAR higher than those charged by Barclaycard and Visa. At around the same time the 'Amex accepted here' signs started disappearing from a lot of shop windows and many online retailers no longer accept Amex payments either.

[douglas9401]

"...goes up to 700 but I've never heard of anyone close to that."

Do you receive regular bulletins on applicants and if so, how can I subscribe?