Credit Card Eligibility Check

When you apply for a credit card, the card issuer will process your application after performing an eligibility check. This will involve running a credit check against your name and checking your eligibility with a credit reference agency.

If you are declined a credit card as a result of this eligibility check, you have the right to apply to the credit reference agency for a copy of the details held on file to ascertain why you may have failed the eligibility check. Ask the credit card company which credit reference agency they used so that you can do this. Credit reference agencies are permitted to charge a small fee for the release of this information. However, the credit card company is still not obliged to issue you with a credit card upon the release of this information to you.

Credit card companies use a method known as credit scoring to ascertain your eligibility for the issue of a credit card. Things that will work against you include country court judgments, previously declined credit card or loan applications, defaults on payments of any kind, mortgage arrears, property repossession or previous cancellations of credit cards by a credit card issuer. This is why it is important to maintain a good credit rating wherever possible as it may count against you when an eligibility check is performed.

Each credit card company has the option to tailor its credit scoring system in any way it pleases, so it does not necessarily mean that you will be turned down for another credit card if you have been turned down on a previous application to a separate credit card issuer.

Try to keep your credit history as clean as possible and be aware of anything that might be raised as a problem during an eligibility check. Also, beware of making too many credit card applications as this may count against your credit rating too.

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