Meeting Requirements On Your Credit Card Application

Meeting Requirements On Your Credit Card Application

Planning on getting a credit card? Are you hesitant because you’re not sure whether you’ll be approved or not? Are there problems with your credit score? If your answer is yes, consider these credit card application tips and know how you can meet the requirements on your credit card application.

Know you credit score. First, it’s important to be aware of your credit status. Have you taken a copy of your credit report? If you haven’t yet, get your copy now and see if all the information and charges on your report are correct. If it is accurate but you find that you have a low credit score, it’s time to start rebuilding your credit.

Pay your current bills on time. The best credit cards do require good credit so it’s best to boost your score first before sending your application. After getting a copy of your credit report, make sure that you settle all your bills and submit your payments on time. If you want to improve your score, you can’t afford to make another miss or delay on your payment. You do need at least six months to start improving your score, but if you are punctual with your payments, there should be no problem raising your rating.

Don’t close your old credit cards. If you want to apply for a new credit card to replace your old credit card, don’t close them. Even if you’re not using them because of their high cost and interest, you still want to keep them in your account? Why? Because they play a significant role in your credit history. Closing your old credit cards would be like erasing the previous parts of your credit history. Instead of closing these valuable credit cards, keep them but don’t use them. To keep them active, use them to pay for smaller bills or make a small purchase that you can easily pay.

Don’t charge more on your credit cards. If you still have a balance with your current credit card, then put more burden to your budget by charging more on your credit cards. Instead, focus on repaying all your balances with all your creditors in full. This is the best way to boost your credit score.

Don’t maximize your credit limit. An ideal usage of your credit limit should be 40% and below. Going beyond that or over 50% of your allotted credit is already damaging to your credit score. And not only that. When you often maximize your credit line, you are at risk of being charged with higher costs and interest rates by your creditors.

Don’t send credit card applications at once. Don’t try to test your chances of getting approved by submitting credit card applications to several issuers. You’re only doing more damage than good to your credit. Even worse, if a credit card issuer rejects your application, you lower down your credit score even more. Be patient and be smart. The best thing to do to get approved is work on your credit score before even thinking of submitting your application.