BoomBoom

Has anyone here gotten the card as an unemployed applicant? I ask as one of my friends wants to apply but I'm certain he cannot and don't want him to have a credit search which could harm his credit profile (depending on how many searches he's had this month).

Anyway, anyone that is unemployed with the card?

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A question for myself, do you get a tiered status with the Elite card as I can't quite work it out.

ft101

No, but there's a calculator here that might help him:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loa...g-credit-score

ukdoctor

If your unemployed friend lives at home with parents/significant other who has a good credit history then I would suggest that they apply for the card and make him an additional card holder.He still would not get miles from the spend on his card into his skywards account as the miles would go to the skywards account of the primary cardholder.

The only criteria is that they should be at the same address and have a significant relationship but I doubt if they check it in the first place

There is no tier status with this card.

trotski

Lol, was just turned down by MBNA for a card, probably because although I live in the UK as required, I am actually in the Channel Islands so their automated systems wont be able to check the Uk electoral role etc. A bit of a shame and a big loss of business for them as I would probably have been putting £50 - £100k a year on the card. Also no mortgage on the house and no debt, so perversely will show up as a bad risk due to having plenty of cash in the bank and no borrowing - aint life strange !!!

BoomBoom

It's not really his profile that's the issue, he's just unemployed (he has money coming in although not from a job ).
I doubt that anyone in his household would do that for him although I'll pass it along as a suggestion but I'm certain that if he's unemployed he cannot get an MBNA card full stop or at least I've yet to come across someone with an MBNA card that was issued while they were unemployed.

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Really nothing? so if I were to apply and get accepted all I'd get is the ability to earn more miles per pound spent and a companion ticket if I put enough through per year (which I doubt I would as I almost exclusively use my Gold AMEX), it doesn't really seem worth it tbh especially as with the Etihad card you get Etihad Guest Silver thrown in with zero fee.

I guess I'll have to start flying Etihad in the future anyway with them being an AMEX MR partner but I was really hoping for something better from Emirates as they are my preferred airline for UAE travel... maybe I'll get lucky and Emirates will become a AMEX MR partner in the future

Cheers for your replies

ukdoctor

Being employed/unemployed does not matter in case of an additional card holder .
No credit checks are generally done on the additional card holder as there is only one credit account I.e the primary card holder. Its just that the primary card holder is giving authorisation to MBNA to issue an additional card for the same account.

ukdoctor

That's strange . I'm exactly in the same situation as you. I'm currently based in one of the British islands and not in the UK. I also dont have a mortgage or debt.

I got approved instantly. Did you check your credit score on experian.?
AMEX approvals generally correlate with the credit scores on experian.

PS: Ive had an AMEX card for ages and so it probably helped.

trotski

Hi Doctor,

I dont have any Amex cards at present, I am a premiere customer with HSBC and use their cards, and when I have checked previously on experian it looks like HSBC dont register these cards with them, but that would not help as usually I pay the balance off monthly anyway. I have however just requested my experian credit report but suspect it will be pretty blank as it has been in the past.

The MBNA cards would have been handy as I am just about to pay for 2 returns from the UK to Bangkok in 1st so there would have been an immediate spend of more than £6.5k so the miles would have been worth having.

Trotski

trotski

Doctor, just wondering if you are still on the UK electoral role as I believe this can be an issue with some card issuers?

BoomBoom

Oh really? I'll pass the information on, thank you
It's issued by MBNA not AMEX though and MBNA search on all three CRAs normally (at least I've had a from MBNA across the three CRAs for a previous MBNA application). I will say that I don't know which one they use as their main source to get an idea of your creditworthiness though.
Really? I've had HSBC cards show up in the past on Experian, perhaps you should check that they aren't accidentally missing from your report as a lack of them could hinder your credit profile from what I've understood.

trotski

Boom Boom,

I have just checked Equifax and there are no HSBC details there at all, same as when I last checked on Experian. I have ordered my Experian credit report but they make you wait a few days for the standard £2 report (probably trying to get people to sign up for their £15 a month service), but I dont expect to see much info on the report to be honest.

As I said I am an HSBC Premiere customer, and maybe these offshore accounts and card records are handled differently. Being refused the card is not really an issue for me other than it would be nice to pick up the extra miles to use on my Emirates travels, I have been gold for several years but doubt I will ever make platinum as I am too tight to spend that much of my own cash with them every year.

Trotski

ukdoctor

I am an HSBC premier account holder as well. I closed all my UK accounts when I moved offshore.My HSBC premier island account comes up on my experian report along with my llyods tsb account.

For some strange reason my Barclay's account does not come up.

PS: I was never on the UK electoral roll. I'm just on the island electoral roll which seems to be linked to UK credit search info

Eg. Experian, national lottery etc.

RichL

I applied got accepted and am not on the UK electoral roll.

Live in the UK too...

ukdoctor

Did anyone get the cards. The pins arrived a few days ago but no cards yet???

marconess

I recieved my two PIN codes at the same time then recieved the cards about three days later. I'm not in the elite ones, just standard.