Unable to get finance from bank without reason😣

[Danielle2500]

I really hit a brick wall with my bank…

They offer car financing via their app, however, when I try to do it, it says I’m unable to do that.
Spoke to them on the phone, they said there must be something bad on my credit file to not be approved for this (I then checked and I’m not even approved for credit cards with them…)

I have a high credit score on Clearscore, there is nothing bad on there.

The bank advised they get their reports from Equifax so might be worth checking that - so I signed up with them, got my report, no red flags whatsoever. I have even spoken to them and they said they couldn’t see any reason on my file for me to be declined.

I printed my report, went into my local branch and asked them to look into it for me, because there is nothing wrong with my credit file and so I don’t understand why I am not eligible for financing with them.
They only said they don’t know, their system just rejects me straight away.
I asked what I can do to rectify this, if there was anything I can do at my end and I was told they can’t advise on that :(

So basically despite of having a clear credit file, my own bank is unable to offer me any financing and they can’t/don’t give me any reason as to why.

Any thoughts/ideas? Has someone been in a similar situation?

Have you ever had a loan, credit card etc?
Previous credit and a good record of making payments on time is often a factor. If they cant see how you handle credit then some won't lend to you as you're an unknown.

Is this with Nationwide? I have a high score with Clearscore too and Nationwide won’t let me have a temporary overdraft. I have their credit card though.

I recently had a similar issue and it was an issue with someone else who lives in the same postcode who had CCJs. You'd think the system was more specific than that, but it wasn't!

I had this, it was a previous owners son, 10 years prior they moved out! He hasn't changed his address on stuff

Why are you trying to get credit from the bank that has your current account?

Go onto a comparison site and look up the best loan deal for the amount you want. Then apply to them.

The bank probably doesn't see you as a profitable customer

@VettiyaIruken: yes, I incidentally have a credit card with the same bank, never been late with any payments. In the past I had car finance (not with this bank), have a phone on contract as well. Never had a late payment for anything.

@Longdistance: this is with Lloyds. I’ve been banking with them for years…at one point they allowed me to take out a credit card, so there must have been something going terribly wrong since then, but honestly can’t think (or see) what it could be.

@AnnaSW1: oh no, really? May I ask how you found it out?

I am being kept in the dark as to why being declined, I feel like if I knew what the problem was, I could try to rectify it..

@motogogo: oh dear….is there a way to look into that sort of things?

@felulageller: is it a bad idea to finance through my bank? Tbh I was just shopping around for deals when I saw they also offered car financing so I thought I’d check it out. Then I saw that I am not eligible for any type of credit at all with them so now I want to get to the bottom of it… especially if it’s something silly like the others mentioned (ex resident never changed address etc)

Maybe they've looked at you existing outgoings and incomings and decided that offering you more credit is too much risk.
There's more too it than your credit score.

As others have said, as you bank with them. They have an excellent overview of your spending patterns. Maybe you skirt close to you OD limit, maybe your outgoings are deemed excessive for your income.

Credit scoring software takes into account a multitude of data, your credit file is not the only source of information.

Your credit score is not actually a real thing. It's weird that your bank won't give you credit, but if "computer sez no" you can go elsewhere. Having said that, it's always good to find out why, if you can.

Perhaps a FOI request would give you an answer?

An autorejection means it’s probably nothing to do with your credit history and you are being declined based on time at current address or voters roll / not having a high enough income / not paying regular salary credits into your accounts. A lot of small banks and building societies are only offering preapproved loans and credit cards to existing customers so you pretty much have to be perfect to get one. Just go to Moneysavings expert and plug your details in so you can see which other companies can offer you what you want

Are you on the electoral roll?

@StrictlyAFemaleFemale

Perhaps a FOI request would give you an answer?

How would this work? The OP's bank has declined on their own interal criteria and credit search usage, all of which is outside the remit of a FOI request.

Banks are not obliged to lend, and if they decline, then they are well within their rights to.

The OP has checked her credit file and has no advserse, so it is most likely account conduct that the bank does not like.

I would move on, and take advantage of one of the many lenders out there.

Thanks all, some good point made.

Everything on the surface checks out, been at my current address & on the electoral roll for 7 years, have steady income every month, haven’t been in overdraft etc.

I just wish they’d tell me what the problem is, frankly it’s annoying that there is a major red flag somewhere in their system and no one knows what it is/how to rectify.

Another idea,
Have you had any high interest lending e.g payday loans in the last few years? If any payments for these have run through your account then it can be an automatic rejection if you’re applying through your bank. Even if all paid off.

Likewise large amounts of gambling transactions even if loan seems affordable otherwise.

Another lender would not necessarily see this so also suggest looking elsewhere other than own bank

So you've seen your credit file and there's no problems on there?

And you have a credit card that's in good order, plus other credit accounts like a mortgage, mobile phone, maybe utilities (our water is on my credit file).

Do you use your credit card? So they can see money being spent and paid back, not just left dormant for years?

I agree it's strange. Only other thing I can think of is do you have or have you had any joint accounts with someone else who might have a poor credit history? So a partner or ex partner with a joint bank account and they've got into financial trouble and you're suffering due to a financial association? I don't think their poor record would show on your file due to GDPR but they system might be able to see it.

@LastStop30 nope, nothing like that at all.

@BarbaraofSeville that’s right, I saw my credit file, but also called Equifax to go through the file in case it was just me that couldn’t see anything wrong with it.
I’ve not been using my credit card much tbh, apart from the odd online shopping here and there. Could that cause this big an issue?
I do have a joint account with my husband (never had one with anyone before) - as far as I know he’s not in any financial trouble and in fact when he checks his eligibility for car finance on his Lloyds app, he gets a really good deal 😀

The only thing I can think of is it has something to do with your affordability? Salary to debt ratio?

OP it’s been a little while since I worked in this area so apologies if my info is out of date but my understanding is that you have a right to appeal any decision and have it looked at by an actual real person rather than a computer. When I used to appeal these for people (different lender) they were sometimes overturned when it became obvious that the lending was affordable.

They would also sometimes give a more detailed reason as to why the application was declined. Not always but sometimes. Eg as I mentioned above if there was evidence of high interest borrowing and various other reasons.

Sounds like affordability. I was getting emails from my bank saying I could get a loan (up to £35k!). When I went to apply (for a much, much smaller amount) I was rejected, even though my credit score is excellent. Went on a comparison site and got the loan I wanted, applied and got the cash within a few minutes from somewhere else.

They all use different criteria so will look for differing levels of credit score and affordability, it's possible there is no one thing causing it.

.

Banks are there to make money. I am convinced they do this on purpose.

Weirdly whenever I am doing poorly they all start throwing credit cards at me. Offering me tens of thousands in credit and automatically increasing my card limits on existing.

As soon as I am doing well and want a loan. They cut what they say they will lend me.

So YANBU OP.

That aside if your husband can get the loan. Get your husband to take it out. Your married after all.

I have this issue with Klarna and the other 'pay in 3' companies. I tried using it when buying some garden furniture and was rejected, so I tried again out of interest on small items and still nope. My credit is excellent, I can get credit cards up to 15k, use credit sensibly all 0% and paid off in full etc. I've never been turned down for any finance before so it is very strange.

Thanks guys, I will ask them to open an investigation because I do want to get to the bottom of it (mainly I am just scared there is some kind of mistake linked to me which will prevent me to take out a mortgage in the future).
If they come back with nothing I will just change banks - I want a reason as to why I am not eligible for anything or I’m going elsewhere where A) I won’t have the same problem B) they can advise exactly what the problem is and how to rectify it