Rejected for a credit card--what can I do?

I've been in the UK for 9 months. I have a job with a good salary, direct deposit into my bank account where I keep a fairly high balance. I just applied for my first credit card since moving and was rejected.

What can I do? I assume the rejection reason was either the fact that I'm not British, or that my bank account has only been open for 9 months. They didn't ask anything else on the application (like how long I've lived in the UK) that would have dinged me. I think.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

If you are not on the Electoral Rolls there is a VERY GOOD CHANCE YOU WILL BE REFUSED A CREDIT CARD.

Try talking directly to your bank to see if they offer a card you might be eligible for. In your application you will have had to put your UK address (usually for the last three years), and as yours will have shown up as not having been around long enough. It is possible to get a credit card without being on the electoral roll (I have 2), but you need to build up a credit history and have been here long enough; I've been here over 5.5 years, but had a mobile phone contract, utility bill history, bank accounts and a student credit card from my bank, which gave me enough credit to get another credit card about 3 months ago.

Interesting.

Are there any US/UK companies that factor in US credit history in deciding on UK cards?

I have a Citibank, Capital One and ING card in the US. Could I leverage this to get a UK card from one of these companies?

Citibank apparently have a card specifically for people moving between the US and the UK: http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/osp/index.htm

If you are not on the Electoral Rolls there is a VERY GOOD CHANCE YOU WILL BE REFUSED A CREDIT CARD.

I'm not sure about that.  Most people on here have UK credit cards and, unless they are citizens, they aren't on the electoral roll. 

I got one after 6 months and I was working in a book store part time on minimum wage.  That was before the crunch though.

Keep in mind what Bookgrl said, we are in a recession, credit is no longer super easy to come by.

Also as Superl99 mentioned, citi bank does have a facility for global transferring.  Unfortunately, unless you were with a card company that operates globally and offers their product in other markets (you may be in luck with citi bank) it won't matter to UK creditors. 

In fact, even globally transferring your product will only transfer based on your internal credit history with that particular company, and not your US credit as a whole.  Transferring your citi bank product will by no means assist in getting cards with other providers.

I got a credit card from RBS after just showing income for a certain amount of months, and it wasn't nine months.  I would look around some if I were you.  I didn't qualify when I first applied, but I wasn't employed then, so no real surprise, but it only took me a handful of months to get credit from my bank.

Apply to cards like Vanquis and/or Aqua, who charge obscene rates but give an opportunity to establish credit history.  I bet one of those will accept you, then use the card that you get sparingly and pay more than minimum payment on time for 6-12 months, and viola, try to apply to better quality cards again and I bet you will be accepted!

Be careful about applying though - although I don't know whether this is actually true - if you apply and are refused, it goes on your credit record.

You didn't say who you applied to for a card.  Was it your bank?  If not, try them.

I was turned down for a first credit card after I'd been in the UK about 9 months (but times were different three years ago, as has been mentioned).  I was also a student at the time, so a few months later, I got a student credit card and used it just a tiny little bit.  Once I started working, I applied to my bank and was successful.  So much so, that they keep raising my credit limit to the point where I now have over £6,000 credit line.  Even in these times, they keep offering me more credit!!  Which I don't want and won't use.

I'm not a citizen either, so not on the electoral roll.  I wasn't married at the time I got the card and had just been working for a couple of months when I was successful in my application.

Hi all,

Juliloew is correct. Each time you apply for credit, being a credit card, store card, 0% interest free offer etc etc it's logged on the credit report system and shows up. Get a bit happy and apply in relatively short intervals the lenders don't really like to see that, and you'll probably end up being rejected or having a lower overall score.

As everyone is aware now, credit is hard to come by so you have to be careful. I haven't found out for sure as yet, but I'm looking into seeing if a Pre-Pay credit card with one of the big banks or providers has the details of it's use passed onto your credit record or not - Im currently thinking that it isn't. If it is, then that could be a half way house between having a full credit card and building up your rating.

Also - to anyone, like Juliloew who's had their card limits raised and raised - ring them back up and chop it down again. Lenders now don't like to see 'alot' of available credit - even if they're all low or zero balances. They think one day you might just go a little spendy happy and rack up alot of debt. I did the reducing limits thing about 8 months ago and noticed an increase in my score the following month.

If there are ANY accounts you don't need - close them - currently, lenders are really liking the word 'Settled' on a persons credit report. I closed about 5 accounts about 4 months ago and my score bumped up signifcantly.

As the economy changes, turmoils, gets better, dips and troughs, rebounds and climbs and allsorts and even more so in the recovery period - it makes sense to keep you're credit report in as best shape as possible and try to do everything you can in order to keep as squeeky clean of a record as possible. seeing as non citizens probably won't make it onto the Elctroal register- that does impact things quite alot. If you can get a geographical telephone number thats tied to a physical address, make sure you go for it - Lenders currently also like the fact they know where to most likely contact you in case of any financial arrears/difficulties etc.

If it also helps put a timeline on a few things, I'm now in the position where I can tell you about my own credit report experiences over the last 18 monhts or so. It's taken me that long to go from a 'very poor' rating to an 'excellent' rating by monitoring and doing some of the above that I've mentioned. There are other things you can do as well so look into those as they may be a little more specific to yu and possible partners/ spouses etc. I knew why my record was poor, and I set about fixing it back again. Mine wasn't due to any bad spending or borrowing habits - it was due to another reason which I can't mention here. The biggest 'jumps' in my rating occured when paying back some large chunks of debt back, closing dormant or non needed accounts, and reducing available limits from the card issuers.

Hope some of the above helps you all!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Wow! Thanks for the link for the Citicard! I'm going to apply for one before I move and see how that goes. This may take the pain out of it!

I'll let you know how it goes!

Lisa

You should be able to get a Capitol One classic, barclaycard Initial, Vanquis, etc. Check www.moneysavingexpert.com, there is a section for people who can't get credit.  It can be insulting to be at the bottom of the ladder, especially when you have great credit across the pond.

Good luck!

You should be able to get a Capitol One classic, barclaycard Initial, Vanquis, etc. Check www.moneysavingexpert.com, there is a section for people who can't get credit.  It can be insulting to be at the bottom of the ladder, especially when you have great credit across the pond.

Good luck!

I'm in the same boat as the OP (been here ~10 months, etc.) and just tried applying for a Barclaycard, based on the abive advice. Unfortunately, I got turned down rather abruptly. Looking at my credit file (via Experian and Equifax), almost everything is rated 'excellent' - except the electoral roll bit (red flag) and that I haven't had any accounts for longer than a year (yellow flag). With those two blemishes, my score is still rated in the 'fair' category (and almost at 'good'). I can only guess that this Electoral Roll bit is the ultimate culprit and the OP may very well also be automatically declined for the same reason.

I've been looking into the matter a bit more deeply today and I'm seeing a lot of suggestions that we should file a formal 'Notice of Correction' with each of the three credit agencies (Experian, Equifax, and Creditcall) stating that we're foreign nationals and thus ineligible for the Roll. By law, creditors must have a human review any report that has a note on it and they may take this information into account (if nothing else, it explains why that red flag exists). This will kill your ability to get 'instant credit' online or in stores, since they can't just rely upon the computer, but that's probably the least of our worries. =)

Since I just started this process, I can't provide first-hand insight onto how much it helps - but given how much faith and stock they seem to put into the Electoral Roll, I'd rather at least have a reasonable explanation on file for that glaring red blemish.

So I just spent over an hour on the phone with citibank who does not seem to have anyone who can answer questions about this account.

Citibank apparently have a card specifically for people moving between the US and the UK: http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/osp/index.htm

I like the idea of taking care of some of the credit card stuff before I go so I am ready to go upon landing in the UK, but has anyone done this application?  Who did you apply through?