Credit card eligibility criteria

As the recession continues so too does the increased scrutiny of credit card providers as they assess credit applications.

Whilst credit card providers are far less prepared to take on higher risk customers, many do not publicise their credit card eligibility criteria.

Credit card expert at moneysupermarket.com, Peter Harrison, said ‘It is imperative that people take care when applying fro credit cards. Those that are too reckless in their applications may find their credit records fouled with a litany of failed attempts to secure credit. This in turn will only push them further down the food chain in terms of the products they will be accepted for.’

Some credit cards, such as MBNA, Barclaycard and RBS now publish their elegibility criteria. For the Barclaycard Platinum Credit Card, the criteria include:

• Have a good credit rating
• Have no bankruptcy history
• Have not had any CCJs or IVAs registered against you in the last 5 years
• Have always made payments on time
• Have a regular income of more than £20,000
• Excluding a mortgage, have no more than the equivalent of 10% of your income as debt on credit or store cards.

You can check your credit rating – you can do it quickly and easily online and you can get a FREE credit report.

Also, MoneyHighStreet has recently been doing some articles on your credit rating, including one on ‘Your credit rating – how to improve it‘ which you might find useful.

Moneysupermarket have a tool as well, called SmartSearch, which helps credit card applicants sift through many different options and find the products they are most likely to be accepted for.