Credit Rating - Computer Says...

Mansize_tissue · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:21

...No.

I walked into an O2 store today in the hope of buying one of their £20-per-month Simplicity contracts but when it came to carrying out a credit check it turns out I was declined.

This seemed pretty odd to me as an 18-year-old student with a pretty perfect--albeit a little bare--credit history, but I'm certain there's definitely nothing negative there.

I checked my Experian credit report when I got home and everything on there is fine so I can't really understand why I've been declined.

What would my next port of call be here? It's not as if I'm asking to borrow thousands of pounds, I just want to take out a £20-per-month contract--which, by the way, isn't even a 12/18/24 month contract as it can be ended at any time with 30 days notice--so I'm just a little... annoyed!

Any advice?

kibblerok · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:22

check your equifax report too

tom_e · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:23

Little activity can be just as bad as missing loads of payments, its a catch 22 you cant get credit without already being given credit

JBuk · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:26

check a few credit reports

my dad got refused credit even though 2 of the reports he checked were clean, another (I forget which) had a CCJ on it for somebody else :/

Megahurtz400 · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:27

Some guy wanted credit on a brand new samsung 50" TV at work the other day, he was 20, male, single, unemployed and living in a council rented flat.

I lol'd

Mansize_tissue · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:27

Thank you for the feedback, guys.

kibblerok said:
check your equifax report too

I was going to but £12 is a lot of money for a poor, poor student! Won't it just be the same anyway, I'm not going to have different credit ratings depending on which company I go through, am I?

blitz2163 said:
Little activity can be just as bad as missing loads of payments, its a catch 22 you cant get credit without already being given credit

This is what I'd feared. But they can see I've never missed a payment on my credit card or any of my debit cards' overdrafts, I have a steady monthly income from my job and I've taken out student loans. I don't really know what more I can do...

neoboy · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:30

Catch 22 indeed I wasn't declined with Three but they did ask me for a £150 deposit. That was a £15 a month contract too.

arknor · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:31

those stores are crap, my wife was in one wanting a new contract phone and they said she isnt suitable but i applied for her on the 3 website and two days later she had a phone in her hands.....

JBuk · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:32

Mansize_tissue said:
Thank you for the feedback, guys.

I was going to but £12 is a lot of money for a poor, poor student!

the top 3 had free trials not so long ago, maybe check to see?

big_white_dog84 · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:39

Your report from equifax and experian costs £2. The link for this option isn't very obvious, but it is there.

J.B · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:46

What address did you give them, assuming you live away from home?

Mansize_tissue · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:49

big_white_dog84 said:
Your report from equifax and experian costs £2. The link for this option isn't very obvious, but it is there.

The Experian one is free. Yes I did see the link to the £2 one on the Equifax site, I'll try that in a minute

J.B said:
What address did you give them, assuming you live away from home?

I gave them my parents' address because I moved into university accommodation late (I'm going to a local university) and that's where I get all of my post delivered to.

Sonea Fifer · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:59

Mansize_tissue said:
The Experian one is free. Yes I did see the link to the £2 one on the Equifax site, I'll try that in a minute

It was the Experian one I used a while ago - iirc it gives you a credit rating out of 1000. Think I came in around 920 ish - only used it after being declined a credit card from my own bank - HBOS, who my mortgage is with were happy to offer me a card with a 7.5K limit :eek:

Granted that was some time ago now but is it any wonder people can easily fall into debt?

Duke · 25 Oct 2008 at 23:05

There are only 3 credit rating companies in the UK and they should all give the same info, as they get it from the same place.

ste_bla · 25 Oct 2008 at 23:27

Duke said:
There are only 3 credit rating companies in the UK and they should all give the same info, as they get it from the same place.

Yes some is data is on all 3 however not all. I know this as one of our credit cards only shows up on equifax not experian.

mike5678 · 25 Oct 2008 at 23:37

Does the fact that you've looked at your credit report through one of these companies show up on your report as a negative?

paradigm · 25 Oct 2008 at 23:46

mike5678 said:
Does the fact that you've looked at your credit report through one of these companies show up on your report as a negative?

Not a negative as such, but it shows as a footprint (some searches are lighter footprints than others). Lots of searches are generally seen as a no-no though.

jamief · 25 Oct 2008 at 23:53

paradigm said:
Not a negative as such, but it shows as a footprint (some searches are lighter footprints than others). Lots of searches are generally seen as a no-no though.

Viewing your own credit report doesn't show as a search on your file.

big_white_dog84 · 26 Oct 2008 at 00:09

I got caught out a few years ago when searching for car insurance - every time I got a quote onlione with Admiral they did a credit check on me. I ended up with about 20 searches in a month, which wouldn't have done my rating much good!

DB_SamX · 26 Oct 2008 at 00:33

big_white_dog84 said:
I got caught out a few years ago when searching for car insurance - every time I got a quote onlione with Admiral they did a credit check on me. I ended up with about 20 searches in a month, which wouldn't have done my rating much good!

Why not? When getting quotes, all of them do checks. I checked my credit rating after that it it too showed loads of searches. I don't think searches affect the rating itself, or do they?