What on earth is going on with Macquarie's credit card assessment process?

[adelee]

So a month or so ago, I applied for the Macquarie Platinum Card with Qantas Rewards (40,000 points after spending within 2 months with reduced $99 annual fee) and was provisionally approved.

I was sent a letter and email asking me to send in my 2 x most recent payslips, which I promptly uploaded to the portal.

For the following 2 weeks, I received a daily text message asking me to send in my payslips even though I'd done so.

I then received a call from the offshore call centre, advising that they needed to verbally verify my income with my HR department - I provided permission for this to occur. However, 3 days later, I received another call asking me for permission to contact HR - I explained that I'd already provided the permission, and they made a note of that and promised to sort it out. (nb: why they can't just ask for bank statements or an ATO assessment rather than needing to verbally hassle the applicant's workplace is beyond me, but anyway...)

2 weeks down the track and I've heard nothing, so called this morning to check the status of my application - despite the conditional approval, they informed me that it's been rejected (first time ever I've been rejected for a card) and wouldn't tell me why... very annoyed at all the time I've spent following up this ridiculous income verification issue / call centre incompetence and the fact that I've taken a hit on my otherwise very healthy credit file... and no idea what their grounds are.

I guess I'm writing this more as a warning to others who may be thinking about applying for the card. Be warned, it may not be worth it!

 

[eastwest101]

Yes - any card issuer that wants to speak to my employers HR department is told that written evidence of time of employment and payslips for income is all they are getting - no way are they going to be given my employers HR department phone number, I consider their time and my privacy much more valuable than that.

Put yourself in the HR Departments shoes - a random call comes in from an overseas call centre asking about one of my employers income, personal details and their terms of employment - would you bother answering any of their questions? Now multiply that by the number of employers that your HR department has....

The only people that my HR Department have to talk to is my bank, and only once, when applying for a home loan mortgage, and even then it was very begrudging and I gave my HR Manager notice about it and then the phone number for my loan manager so HR can call them at their own convenience.

 

[Nutcase]

Yes - any card issuer that wants to speak to my employers HR department is told that written evidence of time of employment and payslips for income is all they are getting - no way are they going to be given my employers HR department phone number, I consider their time and my privacy much more valuable than that.

Put yourself in the HR Departments shoes - a random call comes in from an overseas call centre asking about one of my employers income, personal details and their terms of employment - would you bother answering any of their questions? Now multiply that by the number of employers that your HR department has....

The only people that my HR Department have to talk to is my bank, and only once, when applying for a home loan mortgage, and even then it was very begrudging and I gave my HR Manager notice about it and then the phone number for my loan manager so HR can call them at their own convenience.

Good grief! Are you serious?

This is the HR departments job. Most large organisations HR functions have a dedicated area just for this kind of verification.

Its not unusual. Even a bank's HR department has an area to verify income for other banks credit areas.

HR people are not delicate little flowers who cannot be disturbed. Then HR area can be granted permission to verify. Documents can be easily forged so phone verification is necessary and reasonable on occasion.