There are very few things in life that are as painful as rejections. Imagine a rejection on your credit card application, it may not be to the level of life’s great rejections but nevertheless irritating, especially when you have a good credit score?

If you haven’t checked your credit score, you should start now

Now you will be thinking I have a good credit score and have been paying all my dues on time, then why has my application been rejected?  At the end of the day, it is your credit score that gets affected due to rejection.

Apart from credit score being a major criterion, there are other factors that banks look at before approving any loan. They are

1.       Your income may not be high enough

This could be true for the credit card you have applied for. Banks have an internal income criterion for all credit cards. It is difficult to deduce which card falls under your income bracket. You have to trust the issuer to approve the card for you as most of the prestigious cards tend to have a much higher income criterion.

2.       You have too much debt

Even though you have a good credit score and you have been paying your EMIs or credit card bills, banks may think that you are under too much of debt and would not be able to pay them back.

3.       You already have too many credit cards

Banks consider it risky to lend to those who have more than three credit cards, this has seemed to be one of the common reasons for rejection.

4.       Your credit report hasn’t been updated recently

You may have closed some of your credit cards or even pre-paid a large value loan you had previously taken, but this act of yours would not have been reflected in your credit report. This depends on how often your creditor reports to the credit bureaus. If your credit report has not been updated at the time of your application then there is chance it will get rejected.

5.       Too soon since your last credit card

Some issuers might reject your credit card application if you applied within a very short duration after getting a new credit card. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have too many credit cards, it could just be that they want to see how regular you are with your payments before giving you additional credit.

6.       You have applied for too much credit

Applying too many credit cards at the same time may show that you are having financial trouble or you are taking on too many credit. The first 2 credit card issuers checking your credit report and approving your credit card application may happen, but the subsequent enquiries by other banks will result in rejections. Though enquiries will not affect your credit score by much, rejections will have a more adverse effect.

7.       You have defaulted on a credit card payment long time back

Some credit card issuers may not approve your application if there are any payment defaults, even if it had happened a long time ago and since then you have a very good track record.

8.       When you max out your credit cards

If you already have a credit card and you max out your credit limit each month, banks will be reluctant to give you additional credit. Keeping your credit utilization ratio lesser, at least at 50% is best to get future card approvals.

9.       Mistakes on your application

If you have not completed your application properly or if there were mistakes on any data provided, your application will be rejected at the time of background verification.

10.   You have not been at your current job for enough time

Some card issuers do not approve credit cards if you are new to the job at the time of application. So, issuers prefer to approve credit card applications for individuals who have at least been in their current job for 3 months or in some cases it is 6 months. So, if you are applying for a credit card after starting a new job, do so after you have completed at least 3 months at your current job.

Conclusion

Most of these conditions as you can see are internal policies or criteria that the banks follow which may or may not be public knowledge. It is your credit score that gets affected due to the rejections. With every rejection on your credit score it becomes a record and reflects your credit discipline, looking at the above list of reasons you will realize that most of them can be avoided.