Hi all,

Been reading the forum for months now and you give amazing advice. Wondered if anyone could answer the following questions for me please?

Do Barclays have an internal credit scoring system?

Does anyone have inside information on how to improve this score with them (i.e. is it dependant on amount going in versus money going out? staying in credit or staying well within your overdraft? etc)

Having used creditexpert.com for 18 months now, I've managed to get a good Experian score through changing some habits and it gives you tips to do this. The bank are a bit more secretive with how they measure how credit-worthy you are.

My partner's online banking always shows pre-approved offers such as loan amounts, increased overdraft facilities, etc. Mine does not do this which makes me wonder if they view me differently. My partner's account is a Current account Additions Plus. Mine is a Graduate Additions. I doubt this has anything to do with it though? Can anyone shed any light please?

I'm not after any credit from Barclays at the moment but it would be great to know how to improve my score with them should I need anything from them in the future.

Thank you

Hi,

This will be down to a few factors; what type of account you have, how long you have been with Barclay's (they will need to see at least 12 full months of account activity), your monthly income and expenditure etc.

You may not be eligible for additional services if; you have had charges on the account within the last six months, if you consistantly use a high proportion of your overdraft, if your outgoings are a high proportion of your net income etc.

Every bank, by law, has to ensure you can afford any borrowing. So making it look as though you have a reasonable amount of surplus cash after you've met your commitments will encourage their system to flag you for additional borrowing. Having savings with them which you regularly add to will also help.

If this still doesn't work, book an appointment with your account manager. It's in their interests to make the most of your business with them.

Rob

Thanks Rob for your answer to the question.

I have a similar problem. Despite having a sizeable monthly income in excess of £4k a month going into my Barclays account and having had the account for about 18months now. What baffles me is that i have never been given any pre-approved offer and i once applied for an overdraft and was turned down.

I'm interested in knowing (i) whether there's a particular balance that they expect you to leave in your current account in order for their system to flag you up as having excess cash & therefore credit worthy (ii) would anyone know what day of the month the system reads this balance.

I'm not currently looking to get any credit but i suspect i will be in about 3-6 months. Again, i don't think the problem is with my credit score which i know is above average.

Thanks