To be surprised by just how easy it is to o rain consumer credit?

[WombForTwo]

I have the ClearScore app and keep an eye on my credit score, and regularly get credit card offers. I decided to go in today and just have a look and all of a sudden I have obtained a credit card with a £5,000 limit. No questioning of whether I want a lower limit, no ID checks, and the card is on its way to me! Surely this should be a stricter process?

Only they'd never receive the card because it would be sent to the OPs address and it won't be possible to change her address without satisfactory evidence such as change of electoral roll details.

You can quite easily change the address in the app though, that’s my point. They’ve digitalised it but at what cost

I've been surprised at how easy it is to continue to get cards with £6k limits when I already owe £22k on CC.

I'm stoozing and have all the cash in cash ISAs earning interest but the CC companies don't know that. I expect they are rubbing their hands together at the thought of all that future interest I will owe them. I've not paid a penny in interest or bal tfr fees yet and do not intend to.

You don't have to provide physical id to open a bank account these days. A credit check is sufficient. Both clear score and the credit card provider would have confirmed your id using credit reference information.

I think ClearScore is linked to Experian - you need to do enough ID checks to see your credit details on there.

But yes - I do think it's easy to get credit.

I think it should be slowed down, letters sent out, confirmation and then credit cards sent.

It’s the old when you don’t need money, everyone is falling over themselves to give you money. They assess you as a safe bet for capital repayment, and the value of you as a customer is the (often significant) card fees they take from the merchant when you make a purchase; the brand recognition, so you’re more likely to take out other products in their banking group, or recommend to your friends (who might not be in as good a financial situation as you); and the likelihood that you’ll consolidate your debt at some point, and it might be with them.

And ultimately, even if they only break even or make a small loss on customers who use credit smartly and never pay interest, they’re being paid interest by all those other people who took out 0% intending to be smart and pay down but shit happened are not paid down before the initial offer runs out, and the people who were attracted in by the lure of 0% even though they had no hope of paying down before the offer ran out.

I hope that a credit card company would do a check to confirm the address is correct]

But I think that the credit industry needs a good looking at

I take that with a massive pinch of salt.

Why @cakeorwine? mine or my ds?
weird reply

but how would they get your details in the first place?

even if someone managed to log on to your clearscore account by guessing your username and password, the most they could do is get a credit card sent to your address, so they wouldn't be able to actually use it.

I highly doubt they'd let you set up a credit card with a different address to the one they've got on the system for you.

It’s incredibly rare and lenders have to report to the FCA and the PRA on the numbers of card products they provide annually with higher credit limits and the eligibility criteria of the applicants - so yes, unless this poster’s DS had significant assets behind him when he applied, he may have simply been boasting to his mum!

Do you think a credit limit of £100,000 on a credit card to someone who has just left University is typical?

we actually saw the new credit card issued to him from his bank upon graduation with the extremely high limit.
and we as a family discussed how he should approach this. he went in person to the bank branch and spoke to the manager and had the amount adjusted. everyone got a good laugh out of it.

Cool story bro.

man of all the strange things to not believe on mn this has surprised me.
okay then cc companies don't make mistakes and my take on a 5K limit being very low is off kilter obviously.

What are people’s scores to be getting these offers ? Mine is 540 and the highest CC I got was £2000 but I think 540 is bad score ? (Although I pay everything in full each month and have no default history ?)

I’ve also had credit cards sent with no id. They are checking online though if you are on the electoral role, have a mortgage on the property/ own the property, bank accounts and bills all in good order it is really easy to get credit and quite a lot of it.

You’re only off kilter because it may be different where you’re from - I’m guessing the US or Canada. In the U.K. £5,000 is a reasonably standard initial credit card limit to be offered by a retail lender. Some may offer something higher depending on an individual’s credit history and asset base. The credit limit may increase thereafter relatively quickly dependent on individual circumstances. Our heavily regulated banking sector means that there are no retail lenders who would offer an initial limit of anything close to £100,000 - these are the sorts of limits possible with e.g. AmEx Centurion, Coutts Silk, or JPMorgan Reserve; but their criteria is incredibly niche and isn’t “non-asset rich new graduate going into a decent job earning good graduate money” - the regulators would come down like a hammer.

Credit scores are largely a gimmick made up by the credit referencing agencies and ClearScore etc - that’s why they differ between the different agencies. Lenders don’t see your score. Lenders and service providers look at your utilisation of credit: and you’re likely currently trapped in a bit of a whirlpool whereby because you have very little credit available to you, you’re often utilising a large percentage of it, which is a negative flag, even if you pay it back. It seems counterintuitive, but having more credit available to you, and not using it, can improve your prospects. Things like length of time on the electoral roll, and overall number of accounts you have to show your history can also help.

Some people can't be told

If the bank or lender do further checks on your application they can decide to ask for id at a later stage or could also decide to decline at a later stage. It’s part of the ts&cs, but honestly people complain when they are made to jump through hoops but then complain when it’s too easy - can’t win.

Getting a credit card is no different to getting something like a Next Directory account. They will do all the checks they need

Are you quite young, have you never had a credit card before because it is a better way to pay, hopefully you got one with some sort of cashback and remember to pay it off in full each month

I don't know why you think they haven't identified you. Be grateful that lenders have efficient application processes that make it easy to get what you want without any bother or delay.

But if you do change your address and it doesn’t match up with what is known about you via your bank / electoral register / mobile network / mortgage etc etc etc, it’ll flag as potential fraud and you’d need to provide your ID / speak to an underwriter on the phone