Nobody wants to have a credit card application rejected, but it happens. If your application was denied, the good news is there are steps you can take that may still put plastic in your wallet.
Rule out simple application errors. You rejection letter should explain why your application was denied. There’s a chance that you may have made a simple error on your application that can be easily corrected.
Review your credit. If your application was rejected because of a poor credit report, get a copy that credit report and check for any inaccuracies. Then ask the credit card company to look at your application again.
Improve your credit. If your application was rejected due to a poor credit history, you’ll need to work on repairing your credit. That means taking care of delinquent and unpaid bills, and working down existing high credit card balances.
Consider getting a different type of card. If you don’t think you can clean up your credit report right away, try getting a retail store credit card, which typically have less-stringent standards. And if that doesn’t work, you can get a secured credit card that is backed by your own savings. It will also help repair your credit over time.
Photo Credit: GotCredit
Step 4 – Stop using credit cards if you can’t get approved.
Step 5 – Find a loan shark and then take this money to a local casino and do your best to triple or quadruple your loan.
Just kidding… but I do feel that if you are getting declined for a credit card it is probably time to sit down and reevaluate your finances before getting deeper in debt.
Hi. I have credit score of 727 and I applied for discover it miles card, and they rejected me for having too many inquires. Is having 4- 6 inquiries too much that they would reject me for the discover it miles card? Also If I get rejected for a card for having low income and my income goes up how long should i wait to apply for a particular card again?
Annette, when it comes to your question about credit inquiries it depends on who you ask. I’ve read that three or more in a six month period is considered excessive (although multiple inquiries for home and auto loans in a two week period are counted as a single inquiry). I’ve also read that six per year is considered average and anything over 10 is excessive.
As for your last question, I do not believe there is a penalty for reapplying too soon after being rejected; if that is true then I see no harm in applying as soon as you feel comfortable making another request.
There are a lot of reasons as to why a credit application could be rejected. Credit score isn’t high enough for the particular card offer, income isn’t high enough, information on the application isn’t valid, etc. If you don’t receive a written response from the company as to why your application was rejected, you can try to call. Then you can see if there is a way to fix the issue, but there may not be i.e. if you don’t have a high enough score to be considered. In that case you may have to wait until you can build your credit. Great information, thanks for sharing!