Can your credit rating be affected by WHAT you buy (e.g. bets)?

B

buttonmoon

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Somebody told me that a friend of theirs was recently turned down for a mortgage because he was categorised as "High Risk" because he had a "quite a few" receipts to paddypower.com.

I've no more info on his story but I'm a bit concerned because I'm applying for a mortgage soon and I have a considerable amount of traffic through my credit card for a few gambling companies. This traffic can be anything from €50 to €4000 per month - but usually around the €250 mark.

Now, before anyone starts saying "well the bank would be right to mark you as high risk then wouldn't they?" and stuff like that, let me first say that this traffic is fairly evenly keeled: my profit and loss for all gambling sites so far in 2005 is about €120 in my favour.

However, not included in that are some bets I put on for friends because often they'd ring and say "got a tip... will u stick the bet on and I'll fix u up this evening" which I am more than happy to do because they work on building sites etc and as well as that I get better odds for them on the betting exchanges (as opposed to a bookie such as paddypower)

Anyway, leaving aside the gambling aspect of this question, can a lender look at what you've bought with your credit card, even if that card is direct with MBNA or something?
 
This is why you should be careful when producing CC bills when applying for a mortgage. You should select a month in which very few (or none) of these transactions are on the bill. You have to produce documentation for mortgage application but you can be selective in the documentation you produce. So in answer to your question, a lender can only look at what you allow them to see. They can insist on accounts within a certain period but its usually open to flexibility either side of certain dates.
 
If someone came looking to you to borrow money and you saw that they spent up to 4000 a month on gambling, how comfortable would you be lending it to them
 
buttonmoon said:
Now, before anyone starts saying "well the bank would be right to mark you as high risk then wouldn't they?" and stuff like that, let me first say that this traffic is fairly evenly keeled: my profit and loss for all gambling sites so far in 2005 is about €120 in my favour
....
Anyway, leaving aside the gambling aspect of this question, can a lender look at what you've bought with your credit card, even if that card is direct with MBNA or something?
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Savvy, my question is not about whether the bank should lend me money or not.

I was asking if a lender could check what a person has been spending their money on.

Elcato, thanks for your response and that answers my question perfectly.

I have already been approved in principle for the mortgage without them asking to see any credit card bills (they asked to see everything else though)so I was wondering if they could obtain the details of my bills by running some check with the Irish Credit Bureau or maybe if they liaise with each other (sorry, should have specified that part of the question more clearly).

Thanks again Elcato.
 
Button Moon,

the details of your transactions on your cc won't be recorded by the ICB. I did know someone once who had a serious problem getting a mortgage because of all the Laser transactions to a certain bookies going through his current account. The fact that the bank wanted 6 months bank statements caused him no end of trouble! He got mortgage in the end though and as you pointed out, the lender didn't ask to see your cc statement so all good.
 
In the US I've heard of people getting different types of Junk Mail depending on the types of transactions on their Credit Card. I don't know if that happens or if it's urban myth.

But it definitely should not happen here. What you spend your money on is not important, how much you spend, and how in debt you are might matter.

I could buy €4000 worth of Toothbrushes and if I left the debt on my card it would be as serious as someone spending €4000 on Gambling.

-Rd
 
buttonmoon,
The details of credit cards don't even show up on ICB reports unless you have had serious non payment issues.
 
That's great, I shoudl be alright then.

I guess the story I heard was a variation of daltonr's urban legend.

BTW, some cards reward you well for a lot of transactions and I've never paid a cent interest on a card - never mind non-payment issues. The money just goes out and comes back the next day (plus a small percentage usually).

Thanks for help everyone, much appreciated.
 
daltonr said:
In the US I've heard of people getting different types of Junk Mail depending on the types of transactions on their Credit Card. I don't know if that happens or if it's urban myth.

But it definitely should not happen here. What you spend your money on is not important, how much you spend, and how in debt you are might matter.

I could buy €4000 worth of Toothbrushes and if I left the debt on my card it would be as serious as someone spending €4000 on Gambling.

-Rd
Click to expand...

The individual junk mailers wouldn't necessarily need your transactions for that though, the bank or their agent could do the analysis and then sell your name to mailers as being suitable for mailing regarding X, Y and Z. Data Protection laws here are a little more protective.
 
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