You can doubt it if you want, but the Credit Reference Agencies make a big fraction of their money because this is in fact possible.
Say I'm Big Bank, and I want to launch a card I'm calling "Bonus Credit". I want to target customers who mostly will pay me, eventually, but aren't so flush that they can pay their full balance every month (e.g. they buy their summer break in January, pay it off over the next 3-4 months). I call Jumbo National Credit and I offer them £25 per sign-up if they give me customers who have no super-negative credit events in the past say, 12 months but are say 75-95% on recent payment history. Jumbo present this as a "Pre-qualified" instant Credit Card option for customers who match the profile, on their free web site. Click now, you are guaranteed to be accepted. Customers don't even realise they're reading an advert.
You may have noticed that although 30 years ago "Credit score" was something you needed to go out of your way to discover, today you can get your score on a web site - sign up today to see it instantly. Why are these companies telling you something that was once an important trade secret ? Because these sites are now effectively marketing for 3rd party credit products. AIUI Experian invented this, I worked with people who were in a small rogue group at Experian which proposed instead of fighting the government to keep it secret they should turn access into a revenue source, they were laughed at internally more or less up until the record profits rolled in and then suddenly it was champagne and bonuses.
Say I'm Big Bank, and I want to launch a card I'm calling "Bonus Credit". I want to target customers who mostly will pay me, eventually, but aren't so flush that they can pay their full balance every month (e.g. they buy their summer break in January, pay it off over the next 3-4 months). I call Jumbo National Credit and I offer them £25 per sign-up if they give me customers who have no super-negative credit events in the past say, 12 months but are say 75-95% on recent payment history. Jumbo present this as a "Pre-qualified" instant Credit Card option for customers who match the profile, on their free web site. Click now, you are guaranteed to be accepted. Customers don't even realise they're reading an advert.
You may have noticed that although 30 years ago "Credit score" was something you needed to go out of your way to discover, today you can get your score on a web site - sign up today to see it instantly. Why are these companies telling you something that was once an important trade secret ? Because these sites are now effectively marketing for 3rd party credit products. AIUI Experian invented this, I worked with people who were in a small rogue group at Experian which proposed instead of fighting the government to keep it secret they should turn access into a revenue source, they were laughed at internally more or less up until the record profits rolled in and then suddenly it was champagne and bonuses.