I applied for a balance transfer card and was rejected because I did not meet the relevant criteria. I asked what criteria I had not met and a few days later was sent a letter saying that the wrong letter had been sent to me and my application was still being declined because of my lack of affordability. I have a monthly income, after tax, well in excess of that quoted for eligibility. After querying this I was told that the usual practice is that no checks are made at the branch but the applications are sent to the underwriters and, as is normal practice, no investigation is made by them and that is why they failed to contact me to ascertain my affordability but the rejection remains.. I have tried to contact the Chief Executive who writes that People should come before Processes and the customer is key but have received no reply. Clearly his message has not reached his staff who would rather refuse a request by a loyal customer who has a Good credit score and has never defaulted on any loan in her life. First Direct your "processes" are a disgrace.