Some, lets say theories, into potential problems obtaining credit cards....

Electoral Register:

Contrary to popular belief, being included on the voters roll does not really help you obtain credit per se, It's just that banks who you aren't already a customer of use this to verify you are who you say you are if you have little or no previous credit history. These are known as 'know your customer' checks, which nowadays, banks in the UK must complete by law prior to offering you credit or financial products. There are other ways for banks to verify you.

If you are declined a credit card, then the lender will be able to tell you if it’s because of credit or verification purposes, if it is because they cannot verify you (and especially if it’s one of the major banks) then you can usually appeal this decision by way of supplying a passport, driving licence along with a bank statement or utility bill.

If you already have a UK bank account, applying for a credit card from your own bank (any of the different cards it issues) is a lot easier to pass these checks, since they know you already.

Also, the electoral roll that banks use is a database that the reference agencies Experian, Equifax, Call Credit, etc. obtain from the government. Applying to be on the voters roll will not mean the banks will know that you are on the voters roll instantly, because the credit reference agencies will only update their own databases a few times per year (at most), so depending on which CRA(s) your bank uses you still may have to wait six months before they have this information.

Credit Score:

Issuers will 'score' you based on the information provided on your application form, as well as the information about past credit (anything not settled fully within the last 6 years) that the credit reference agencies hold. If you hold a bank account with the lender in question and quote those bank details on the form, then the running of that account may be used to help determine your score as well.

The online services that CRA’s have that give you your own personal credit score are quite often not a true reflection, since the credit reference agencies may not have access to all of the information a large financial institution might, as well as the fact that each lender score their applications differently – don’t read too much into your ‘online’ credit score.

Current Accounts:

Lots of people seem to think that if they hold a current account it should show on their credit report. This is not the case. Banks will only report current accounts to CRA's if the account has an overdraft facility (which in essence is another form of credit). If your credit report doesn’t show your current account, then this should be the reason why (although not always, see below).

Addresses:

Something that has been a bugbear of mine for some years now is the way that financial institutions-slash-credit reference agencies seem to handle your address if you live in a block of flats. This can cause real problems that I find amazing, since it is actually causing not only banks, but in my experience, even mobile phone companies to have almost lost out on business!!!

I’ll try to explain. Say you live in a larger block of flats, lets say 90 flats covering two different postal codes.

This fictitious address is –

50 The Flats,

Any Road,

Any Town,

Wessex

WE1 1EW

Now, when you apply for a card (or phone) most, if not all companies will see that you live in a block and will request info from the credit reference agencies of you at the following address:

Flat Number 50

House Name The Flats

House number

Road name Any Road

Area

Town Any Town

County Wessex

Postcode WE1 1EW

However all too often, no info is returned by the Credit Reference Agencies, and you are declined. What if you already have credit? Why was there nothing found?

Tell them to try this....

Flat Number

House Name

House number 50

Road name The Flats

Area Any Road

Town Any town

County Wessex

Postcode WE1 1EW

This will probably allow your full credit history to be obtained, and increase your chances no end. This happened to me on three occasions, and all three times I had to tell the banks (and phone company) to 're-format' my address, and resulting in an overturned decision.

This, potentially, could also allow people to hide a bad credit history, true, and that’s another reason I have such a problem with it. I don’t know where the fault lies could be either with the CRA’s, lenders or maybe some company that produces the software...

I’ve typed quite a bit now so I guess I’m going so call it a night.

One other thing... Balance Transfers between entities of the same bank

If you are applying for a credit card to do a balance transfer from your existing card that is now being charged interest (aren’t we all!) you cannot transfer the balance between two issuers within the same bank, can you? Try anyway.

They won’t do it if you talk to a person over the phone, but try putting it on the application form in the B/T section. Their systems will probably do the transfer automatically for you, just because the computers don’t care. I know of at least one of the larger banks that have this ‘workaround’...!