The holy grail that is credit

I've been living in the UK for over a year now. I would say I'm in a pretty good position. I am employed and earn enough to rent a place of my own in the South East which is relatively close to the town centre and rail links to London. That's the reason why I can't believe I'm having such a hard time applying for a credit card! I have been turned down twice: one by Tesco (like their SM Supermarket here). The other by Lloyds TSB, my very own bank with whom I've been banking for over a year! They sure know how to foster customer loyalty.

I apologize for my morose tone but I've just received the decision letter for my appeal (yes, I am not above appealing) and got this:

Thank you for writing to me about your recent request for a Lloyds TSB credit card account. I have reviewed your application, taking your concerns and the additional information you sent us into consideration, but unfortunately I have not been able to reverse the original decision.

Now here's my favorite part:

Whilst I am in no way criticising the conduct of your current account, I regret that the information which you have sent us does not carry the weight we would need to overturn the credit scoring result.

Don't you just love British English? I'm sure Mr. Whats-his-face is a good guy and is just doing his job. Bless him, he also sent me a personalised letter rather than a 'We said you're rejected, oryt?!' computer-generated, no signature needed rubbish. However, while reading the letter, all I can think of is "I can't believe I got rejected..There are companies offering credit lines to criminals and bankrupts and I cannot get my bank to give a credit card. What is up?!?"


It would have been ok. I would have just felt indignant for a while and sadly continue to live on my cash-basis world, had Jack not been approved for a credit card by another bank. Ok, he had a token amount for a credit limit (£200), but I would have settled for £100! So I am now seriously thinking of switching banks because of this.

If you've never grovelled in your life and want to try it out, I suggest going to the UK and try to establish a banking relationship from scratch. You'll plead, beg, threaten then beg again.