Credit cards rejections 'can damage credit ratings'
Published On 3 May 2008
People thinking about applying for new credit cards need to be almost completely sure they will be accepted, an industry expert has said.David Kuo, head of personal finance at Fool.co.uk, explained that unsuccessful credit card applications appeared on future credit references and could prevent people getting mortgages and loans in the future.
He was commenting after figures from MoneyExpert.com showed that an average of 18,000 credit card applications were rejected every day in the last six months.
"Every time you are turned down for a credit card application it counts against you on your credit reference. If people are going to be applying for a credit card then they need to make sure that they are almost certainly going to get it before they apply for it," Mr Kuo explained.
"What people need to do is to have a look at their own credit record and look at it from the eyes of a banker or whoever is providing the credit card."
Mr Kuo added that credit card companies were still keen to lend money but warned that "they only have so much money to lend". He explained this was making them more careful about who they offered cards to.
