Although they can be painful at times, life today without the ease of a credit card is no longer a reality. So, if you think you want a credit card, here are some essential factors you’ll need to consider when applying for a credit card:
Your Credit History
One of the most essential elements to applying for a credit card is what you current credit history is.
* If you have a bad credit history, then it is going to be much harder applying for a credit card.
* If you have a good credit history, then it is going to be much easier applying for a credit card.
* If you have no credit history, then you may well need to create a credit history, by having a loan or hire-purchase agreement, before you can apply for a credit card.
If you’re in any doubt what your credit history may be, then you should apply for a copy of your credit history. You can do this by applying for a copy of your credit history from a credit reference agency – who may charge you a small sum for providing this to you.
Credit Card Limit
Having discovered that you have a good enough credit history to apply for a credit card, the next thing you need to do is to decide on how much of a credit line you want to apply for. Normally, what your income is will decided this – but sometime your savings can also be important.
Depending on what your income and savings are, you can then apply for a regular credit card, gold credit card, or platinum credit card.
Submitting Your Credit Card Application Form
You now need to go through the process of choosing which credit provider meets your needs. Once you have done this, you can then submit an application to that credit card company.
Once the credit card company you have applied to has reviewed your application form, they’ll either approve your application or ask you to comply with certain conditions. The type of conditions they may ask you to comply with include asking you to have some money on a deposit account with them.
Credit Card Application Is Refused
If your application for a credit card is refused, you must ask why. If you don’t, you’ll never know whether the application has been refused because you failed the credit rating test or because you completed the application form wrong!
If you failed the credit rating test, then you know you need to apply for a credit card with another credit card provider. However, if it is because you filled in the form wrong, you can still reapplying using a correctly completed application form. So don’t be shy to ask “why?” if the credit card provider tells you that you failed in your credit card application!