Subject to status means that your loan application will be subject to credit rating and income to be approved. Therefore, you will need a certain credit score and minimum income to be eligible for a loan.
If you have ever applied for credit, you will be very familiar with the three words ‘subject to status’. But what does it actually mean?
Alongside the usual marketing jargon, in regard to the features and benefits of credit products, the phrase “subject to status” can often seem out of place. Nonetheless, it appears that one every application page and is actually required by law to be there.
The reasoning behind that is that the credit is not universally available. In other words, not everyone applying for the product in question will be accepted for it. The ability to lend to some people will be heavily dependent on the capacity to reject those likely to capacity to reject those likely to default on their debt. If not, lenders themselves would soon become nothing more than insolvent.
In order to determine which applications to accept, the lenders will collate information on every applicant, which they apply to their scorecard. Those who meet do match the required eligibility criteria minimum will be accepted. Those who fall short of this will be declined for credit.
What does subject to status mean for a loan?
Each lender will use their own version of a credit score card and within the lending industry, the scorecard is basically their unique criteria. Every direct lender will have one, and it essentially represents years of analysis, combine customer data, behaviour analysis and predictive modelling, alongside the predictions made by the lender for the wider economy.
Although, as mentioned, scorecards are all bespoke, and therefore the information will be weighed differently by each lender, they all tend to share a great deal of common information.
The general information which is used to determine the status of your application include:
Your age
This is actually the most important thing to consider in the UK. While lenders are able to adjust the terms of products to cater to other aspects of your status, they cannot give any ground on the age requirement.
In the UK, you have to be at least 18 years of age in order to be accepted for credit.
Income
Unless you do have an established relationship with a lender (i.e they are your current account provider), it can be hard for them to check the income information from your application form alone.
Knowing what is a good credit score between credit reference agencies is important.
Due to this, there can be a temptation to exaggerate your income in order to increase your chances of being accepted. However, in doing so you will only harm your cause and it will be considered fraud.
To avoid this sort of fraud, lenders may require to see payslips as proof of income. Meanwhile, other lenders may cross-reference reported income against the payment information in your credit file. By doing this, they will be able to estimate your likely income and invalidate any inflated income claims made.
Credit History
Lenders will, in every case, will check your credit history to see if you have a good, medium or bad credit record. Most lenders will not accept a loan if you do not have a good enough credit score according to their specific criteria. The best credit score a person can hold is 999, whereas the worst is 0 (based on Experian), other credit reference agencies will vary.
However, places like Payday Bad Credit specialise in lending to people who do not have healthy credit scores.
The lender may also look into your existing credit that you hold with other lenders. The products that you hold elsewhere, together with the available credit limit, are used to work out your current level of exposure to credit. Lenders will assess such information to determine whether you are indebted, or if you are reliant on credit.
They will also look into your repayment history to see if you have made late repayments before or if you have failed to pay at all. If you have successfully paid in the past, then you will be considered an attractive applicant, provided that your financial circumstances have not deteriorated.
Follow this guide for ways to improve your credit score.
