Barclaycard Application Denied

[Joe G]

Hi,

I have an odd one here, I was wondering if anyone else had a similar experience. Sorry it’s a bit of a saga

I had a platinum Barclaycard up until last April I had held for over a decade and cancelled so that I could wait out the 6 months to be able to get the bonus for the Avios Barclaycard which I had never thought would be an issue.

Like many here I decided the 100k offer was a good time to open the new Barclaycard so I first applied for the Premier Banking and found the process to open the account easy (no issues with verifying identity etc), thinking the Barclaycard application would be simple enough to follow as they would know me from being a customer less than a year ago.

I then applied for the Barclaycard on 23rd November (yes probably left it too late) and was told I couldn’t be verified instantly for some reason and I would hear back from them within 5 days…. 5 days came and went and I heard nothing back, I went on the chat on the 30th explaining I was keen to take up the offer and asked the status of my application they just told me I had to have Barclaycard the account active in order to get the 100k and they couldn’t say anything about the application so I resigned myself to the fact that I’d missed the boat but I would have applied for the Barclaycard regardess so was still keen to hear the outcome of the application.

Forward to this week on Monday (5th) a letter came through the door dated 24th November, saying I had been approved for the card but asking me to confirm my address (I don’t know why) I duly sent them my actual driving licence in the post along with a utility bill (as requested) and today I’ve just received a letter dated 1st December (before I even got the first letter) saying my application had been declined without offering a reason.

I find it odd it took until 5th December to get a letter dated 24th November (maybe due to issues with the post?) and even more odd I got a letter saying I was declined dated before I’d had the chance to submit the information they requested (which I guess they would only have received today).

I also find it odd I would be declined for the card at all, however I have seen on the forums here that is quite a common issue. I have no instances of bad credit (though I’m sure getting denied a Barclaycard isn’t particularly good for your credit rating) and my address/circumstances haven’t changed from the last time I held a Barclaycard earlier in the year. My credit rating remains “Excellent” and last month I was also offered an extension to my AMEX credit line by an extra 6k over and above my existing limit (though I didn’t accept this)

Has anyone had a similar experience? I can’t see why I was denied other than perhaps having too much credit with AMEX, as I understand it I can’t really argue/ reason with them if they have deemed me unsuitable? Might the reason also have been that I put the cart before the horse and applied for the current account before the Barclaycard which I now see was definitely the wrong way to go about things?

Thanks

Joe

[JDB]

Barclays has its own views about extending unsecured credit based on its extensive proprietary data derived from its position as by far the largest credit card provider. It appears that they don’t like lots of / large open credit lines. In general, obviously in the current environment credit conditions are being tightened and it’s unrealistic to expect to be able jump from one credit card to another; more applications will be declined or only accepted with low limits.

[Joe G]

I suppose it’s in their right to refuse for whatever reason but personally I don’t quite understand how I would be considered a big risk to them. I don’t actually need any credit, and always pay in full every month, I’m just looking for the best ways to collect points on everyday spend.

I had been considering closing my BAPP before the annual renewal date and switching my main spending away from AMEX to Barclaycard but if they don’t want me as a customer it’s not really great hardship to stick with AMEX, the BAPP even seems it could be a bit more attractive after today’s Iberia/Aer Lingus announcement.

Do you think it might be a deliberate act on the part of AMEX to extend larger than necessary credit lines for the express purposes of people like myself being less likely to be approved for another product by a competitor? I rarely go over 10-15% of my credit limit with them and pay it off in full every month so never pay interest but I was still offered a relatively large extension to this recently that I didn’t need (though I didn’t accept it).

[JDB]

It may have nothing to do with you, it’s just that they are much tighter on credit than Amex partly because they have a different customer base. Amex is over generous and it doesn’t help to have a lot of unnecessary credit with them. From Barclays’ perspective, they just see themselves being added to a list of large credit lines and they don’t like that. As Barclays has so much data, strange things could influence decisions like car insurance eg bad debts in your postcode or other characteristics that have nothing to do with your personal creditworthiness.

[FatherOfFour]

I wonder if the decline was because you didn’t reply within 7 days of their first letter of 24th November (even though you hadn’t received the letter)

[Joe G]

Thats an interesting thought, I got huge pile of post on Monday that was delayed from Barclays all at once including all the current account opening and switching letters that also should have arrived at least a week earlier according to when they were dated.

I’m not sure how this delay arose though, assuming most likely at the hands of Royal Mail rather than at Barclays end given recent strikes etc

[Luca M]

I would call Barclaycard (not Barclays) and explain to them the timeline.. in normal circumstances the letters turnaround is less then 3 days and thus they would expected a response, and the system may have just gone into decline decision as it passed the triggering deadline. I had this one with a different Barclays product saying that as I had not responded to a letter with the required information they closed my application.