credit rating best you can get but declined credit?

Dennis, how do you have a credit card balance of -£400?!?

Haha!

This is a 'perception' thing and related to Accounting principles. I don't view my credit cards in the 'normal' way as such. I think of a credit card much the same way as an 'overdraft' works. Zero is the 'balance'. If you have a 'minus' amount it means you 'owe' money to put the balance to zero. Credit card companies 'usually' don't allow you to go into 'positive' amounts as they make no money! so to me, any balance owed on a credit card is a 'minus' balance.

I agree with VictoriaS - things are never really simple, Credit Ratings being potentially a real complex scenario. Some lending institutions have different lending criteria to the next, offers and special discounts/promotions occur, they might want to boost their customer base, they may want to reduce new customers etc etc.

I currently have a 'bad' credit rating, i know why and it's a risk I had to take. I've had a perfect high rated credit rating for well over 10 years prior to that. I'm taking active measures to 'fix' my rating. Yet, only 3 weeks ago, I was 'Auto Approved for a Platinum Credit Card with a ludicrous £10,000 limit !! I was shocked! I got the card anyway (it's just gonna be kept alongside 4 other cards I hardly ever use) - I won't say which lender it was -suffice that it was from one of the big 5 banks.

Balmerhon, keep using and paying your other credit card as per normal - I think within a 'certain' time frame you'll see your credit rating change, if you monitor it - and hopefully you'll see the lender offer you a gold or platinum card - at that point you may want to try another card application to see if your credit rating has improved enough to match their criteria and for them to give you a card - stick with the 'normal' type (dont apply for a gold or platinum basically) to increase your cahnces of acceptance.

With the current larger picture of the economic credit crunch/squeeze - it may be prudent to 'hold off' applying for credit if you know your borderline now - I think lending criteria is going to get tightened somewhat in the near future so rather than risk putting too many applications through for credit now, let things settle and hopefully improve. Unless of course, your personal situation requirements mean that you can't wait etc..

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Dennis, as I don't know what it is about my credit rating that has made them turn me down, I can't do anything to change or address it yet. Aside from the one late payment which we clearly hope to not repeat, I have what appears to be an excellent rating on my report (97.1). Hence this whole post! Clearly I'm doing something right. But if it's a question of the electoral roll or something like that, obviously I can't change that.

The problem is, I haven't had time to ring them to see what the deal is. We've got a lot going on right now. I'm hoping to ring Tuesday as I'm out most of the day tomorrow.

nc73, it's really not this simple.  I have in the past missed one payment, I am self employed, I have not had a regular salary going into my account for several years, but I have had no problem in getting TWO credit cards with credit limits for much higher than I requested.  My credit rating is lower than balmerhon's, but still I get offered cards.

Balmerhon - my first card after going self employed was with MBNA.  I'd recommend trying them. I only applied to get a free hat, I didn't actually expect to be approved at all, and they had no problem with my previous missed payment.

Vicky

Of course you can get credit with late payments, just depends on how old that late payment history is.  Some banks are more lenient than others.  I've had late payments but it was ages ago and still get too much credit. 

So for the OP, the system is more alike than you think between the US and UK.

i had a similiar experience to balmerhons.  i've been here several years- all (3) of my credit reports are good- but i was refused an account at Nationwide (even though I have a credit card with them) and then i was refused a credit card account with Chase.  (i have an UK amex & visa already).  both have quite high limits.  both places said it had to do with me not being on the electroral roll.  why that figures now but didn't in the past- no idea.

I was just pissed off by Amex because they told me over the phone when i put in my application for the BA miles card (i've had a delta skymiles amex since 2002 which i was cancelling to move over to this) they told me the standard percentage rate was 15.9% or something close. Well, when I got the card its a freaking 19.9%. I'm never using that! Ridiculous the rates are here. :/

Another tip on UK credit cards.

In the UK, they count the date that payment was received as the date that they process the payment, not the date that you sent the payment.

So for example, if you post a cheque, the payment isn't considered received until the cheque clears at their end, so could incur interest or a late fee even if you posted it before the deadline. So you need to take into account processing time. Probably best to just pay online.

(Was told this by the folks at Amex.)

Another tip on UK credit cards.

In the UK, they count the date that payment was received as the date that they process the payment, not the date that you sent the payment.

So for example, if you post a cheque, the payment isn't considered received until the cheque clears at their end, so could incur interest or a late fee even if you posted it before the deadline. So you need to take into account processing time. Probably best to just pay online.

(Was told this by the folks at Amex.)

That was the policy with my US credit cards as well.

That was the policy with my US credit cards as well.

Maybe I never noticed because it took less time to send statements in the US than it does over here.

If I wait till I receive a statement in the post, and then post a cheque within a couple of days, sometimes I miss the deadline. So I just do everything online.

In the US, statements are posted well in advance of the deadline, so as long as you actually have the money in your bank account, there isn't a problem. You can wait until you receive your statement and not have to stop everything you are doing to make out a cheque in time to beat the deadline.

Motley Fool just did an article on this topic:

Why can't I get a credit card?

Thanks for that article, very interesting. We're biting the bullet and phoning next week. DH has been in the middle of a HUGE job application and we just didnt' want to deal with financial stuff while he's working on that.