Creditworthy

Moving to London has been largely a process of starting over. It took me three months to open a current (checking) account, mainly because it took that long to accumulate enough documents to convince the bank that I lived here. But even with a current account and the corresponding debit card with the ubiquitous VISA logo, I still had no credit. I couldn’t even buy an 18-month mobile phone contract for £15 per month. I even tried to pay the entire £270 contract upfront...nope. I had no credit and I could not get it. It’s like I was 17 years old again, except instead of asking my best mate’s older sister to buy me whiskey, I asked my boss (bless her) to buy me a mobile phone.

A few years later, I received one of those letters telling me I'd been ‘pre-approved’ for a credit card from the bank that I have my current account with. Great, I’m finally credit worthy, I thought. Well…not so much. Apparently, ‘pre-approved’ really means ‘different from the standard application in some way but definitely not because you have been approved already’. So when I received another letter a year later, I went into the bank, letter in hand, to ask about what 'pre-approval' meant. The manager assured me that I had already been approved and not only could I get a card for myself, but also one for my wife. So the manager made some phone calls, and one month later: rejection letter. So I got another one just before this past Christmas. Just for giggles, I filled out the pre-approved application again except this time, I put my nationality as Portuguese. I'm not sure if that is why, but when I got home, a shiny new credit card was waiting. You are NOW reading the blog of someone with almost £300 worth of credit! See, I’m 17 years old again!

Photo Credits:
YouthStart