How can I maximise the chances of my card applications being successful?
Pace yourself. Don’t get all excited and apply for 6 credit cards after reading this. You need to convince the lenders that you are in control and that you can meet your debt repayments. The more applications you make in a short period of time, the more you look like a desperate borrower. Each time you apply for credit (a new credit card, a personal loan, a free finance offer on some furniture, a new mobile contract etc), the lender will do a credit check. They will see who else you have been trying to borrow money from over the last 6 years. Experience shows that one credit check per month is perfectly acceptable as is 2 or 3 checks in one month followed by 6 months with none. Try to do no more than about 10 a year if you can. When you no longer need a credit card, don’t just leave it there with a zero balance. Close it. Although you may not consider the card as ‘active’, any lender will see that you have that amount of credit available to you to use tomorrow which increases their exp
