Why is it so hard to get a credit card?
If you don't have a substantial source of income — or none at all — you may struggle to be approved for a credit card. Having poor payment history is an indicator that you may not be able to repay the credit lenders extend. Lenders may not look favorably upon applicants who are carrying debt.
You Have No or Low Income
2 If you don't have a job or don't make much money, you'll have a harder time getting approved for a credit, not only because the law requires you to be able to afford your credit card, but also because the credit card issuers need to know that you can repay back the balance you've borrowed.
Finder research has found having a bad credit score affected 21% of people who had their credit card application declined. So before you apply for a credit card, check your credit report and credit score to make sure it's in good standing.
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Others will reject you if your annual income falls below a certain threshold, such as $10,000. Too much debt: If you have a lot of outstanding credit obligations — loans, mortgages and high credit card balances — issuers will view you as a higher-risk borrower.
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Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, creditors have 60 days to provide you with a specific reason as to why you were denied a line of credit. This is known as an adverse action letter. You may be rejected for a variety of factors, such as having a low income, a short credit history or too much credit card debt.
The lender's approval or rejection decision makes no difference to your credit scores. But if a rejection leads you to apply for more cards, that would mean more hard inquiries. And multiple hard inquiries over a short period could have more of an impact on credit scores.
- Pay all your bills on time. ...
- Be able to show employment or some type of cash flow. ...
- Apply for a secured credit card. ...
- Monitor your credit score for any changes.
Being denied for a credit card doesn't hurt your credit score. But the hard inquiry from submitting an application can cause your score to decrease.
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Centurion® Card from American Express
A rating of 5 is the best a card can receive. Why it's one of the hardest credit cards to get: The hardest credit card to get is the American Express Centurion Card. Known simply as the “Black Card,” you need an invitation to get Amex Centurion.
The easiest credit card to get approved for is the OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa® Credit Card because there's no credit check for new applicants.
Having too much existing debt or too low disposable income, or even having too many hard inquiries on your credit report could result in a denial.
Since hard inquiries affect your credit score and what is found may even affect approval, you might be wondering: How many inquiries is too many? The answer differs from lender to lender, but most consider six total inquiries on a report at one time to be too many to gain approval for an additional credit card or loan.
If you were denied because of incorrect information in your credit report, get your credit report and dispute the errors that are in it. If you were denied because you have too many credit cards or too much outstanding debt, you can reapply after paying down your balances or closing some accounts.
The OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa® Credit Card is the easiest credit card to get with no credit because it is a secured card and there's no credit check required for approval. As long as you're 18+, can afford at least a $300 deposit, and can make monthly bill payments, you'll probably get approved.
Credit card applications require you to provide personal information, including your name, address, phone number and SSN. They also require financial info such as your income, employment status and housing status.
Capital One online applications often get a response in as few as 60 seconds. If your application is delayed, you can scroll up to learn a few reasons why.
In most cases, it's one of the following: Your credit score is too low. You don't have enough income. You have too much debt relative to your income.
Why is my credit score high but still rejected?
Maybe you have a bad financial association and too much existing debt. Perhaps your salary is listed differently in two records, or you once missed a credit card repayment. It could be tricky to pin down the cause of a denied credit card or loan application, even with a good credit score.
Most commonly, applications get denied because of a low credit score, insufficient income, or too much debt.
If you were denied for a credit card, you still have options. You can wait a few months and apply for a card with a lower credit score requirement, or you can continue to work on your score and reapply down the line.
Getting denied for a loan or credit card will not be recorded on your credit report, and it will not directly impact your credit scores. To improve the chances that you'll be approved for credit, you may want to take a look at your credit before you apply, and take steps to improve it if you need to.
The credit scores and credit reports you see on Credit Karma come directly from TransUnion and Equifax, two of the three major consumer credit bureaus. They should accurately reflect your credit information as reported by those bureaus — but they may not match other reports and scores out there.
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