First SIM fine, failed credit check for the 2nd !!!

[Bigry]

Hi @O2Lisa 

I applied for and was accepting for a SIM only deal (£15 pm) to switch from Three a week ago, all good.

Today I have tried to add an additional SIM to my account for my wife, and the order failed with me basically being told I'd failed the credit check.  I have impeccable credit and this is the first time in 37 years I've ever been turned down, so I'm somewhat unimpressed.

Is there a way to understand why this has happened as it clearly isn't to to with affordability, time at address or existing credit ?

Thanks

[MI5]

@Bigry 

O2's system will refuse you because of 2 applications close together.

The general advice is to wait at least a month before trying again.

[madasaf1sh]

@Bigry 

You are not guaranteed to be accepted for any form of credit from any credit provider, including o2, even for 10p

You could have failed for any number of reasons, something on your credit file (your credit score is a useless piece of data made up to be able to sell you things by the Credit Reference Agencies), the appetite for risk that o2 are willing to accept on your account at this time, as you dont have any payment history with o2 yet, it could be a flag on your details relating to fraud, or any of the many hundreds of reasons..  It could be to do with affordability. 

o2 will never tell you why you failed the credit and affordability checks (nor will any other credit provider). 

The best thing to do is email creditfilereferrals@telefonica.com and ask them to do a manual Credit Check, be aware this will cause a 2nd hard credit search on your credit file.. 

[O2Lisa]

Hi @Bigry, I can have a look in to this for you.

I’ll message you privately so we can discuss your details 😊

[Bigry]

Hi There,

Completely agree with what you're saying about not being guaranteed credit.  However, my credit file is 100% clean, I have no loans, 1 mortgage, and am using 2% of available credit.  Never missed a payment in my life, electoral roll for 10 years and oldest credit account 25+ years.  Experian 999/999, Clearscore 1000/1000, CreditKarma 708/710.  You would struggle find a better credit file.  That's why it doesn't make sense.

I suspect it may be as MI5 has stated, two applications in as many weeks is an issue for O2.

Laughable really, six figure car finance last year....accepted within seconds, £15 sim only contract (I don't finance handsets), declined 😂

[MI5]

@Bigry 

It's nothing personal. It's just the way O2 is.

You'll find many similar cases on the forum.

[madasaf1sh]

Credit and why people get it and others fail is a dark art, and nowadays its all done by algorithms and automated processes...