Why are my credit card applications being rejected?

jrmb

I've lived in Ireland all my life apart from a few months in 2018. I've been employed full time for just over a year. My income is average for a relatively recent graduate and I've never had any debts.

I've applied for a credit card from my bank and separately from three other providers, and all of them have rejected my applications almost immediately.

I can live without a credit card but it would be convenient and I'd like to be able to demonstrate a good credit history.

Why would my applications be rejected like this? Do I have a right to ask providers for a reason? Is there any other way that I could improve my chances of getting credit?

It seems bizarre that credit cards are readily issued to students with no incomes, but not to me.

wench

Start by checking the credit register and credit bureau to see if there is any black mark against you.
If there is and it's a mistake, you should be able to get it fixed.

https://www.centralcreditregister.ie/
http://www.icb.ie/

is_that_so

Yeah, it comes through quite quickly as well.

jrmb

wench wrote: »

Start by checking the credit register and credit bureau to see if there is any black mark against you.
If there is and it's a mistake, you should be able to get it fixed.

https://www.centralcreditregister.ie/
http://www.icb.ie/

I've already applied for that, so I'll wait and see. Thank you.

Having a credit card won’t do anything positive for your credit history. Also might not be negative.

There are a number of reasons you may have been rejected. Maybe your income is not enough. Maybe you have a large outgoing such as rent. Maybe you have unusual bank activity that the bank are not comfortable with. Example: You received a large amount of money from an unknown source. Or spent a large amount on something. You could have bad ICB, although you’d generally know if you did.

Your best bet is to actually go in and talk to the bank. They will generally tell you why it’s rejected.

jrmb

jrmb wrote: »

I've applied for a credit card from my bank and separately from three other providers,

I can live without a credit card but it would be convenient and I'd like to be able to demonstrate a good credit history.

It seems bizarre that credit cards are readily issued to students with no incomes, but not to me.

Student credit cards are often €500-€1000 limits, which is an acceptable risk for banks if they end up encouraging student loans and future banking once the student gains employment. Higher limits are often supported by parental guarantees, so the bank isn't really risking anything on the student because the parent will end up sorting out any issues.

I'm interested as to who you want to demonstrate a good credit history to? If you're thinking of future lending and maybe a mortgage, an empty credit history is as good as a squeaky clean one, so a credit card isn't going to help you, it will only introduce risk in the case that you might miss any payments.

One thing lenders can see, even if you don't have a credit history, is how often your credit history has been queried over a recent period of time. Applying to four providers in succession probably doesn't look good, although I don't think it would give providers enough of a reason not to give you the credit.

As other posters have said, just ask your bank why.

jrmb

true-or-false wrote: »

Student credit cards are often €500-€1000 limits...

...

As other posters have said, just ask your bank why.

This is the curious thing - I'm only asking for the credit limit you've described. I'm being rejected by what seem to be algorithms; the rejection email arrives within minutes. I'll have to contact the bank during the week.

On one hand I'd like to have the safety net of being able to put things on the credit card until salary day, and a good credit history can't hurt.

jrmb

jrmb wrote: »

This is the curious thing - I'm only asking for the credit limit you've described. I'm being rejected by what seem to be algorithms; the rejection email arrives within minutes. I'll have to contact the bank during the week.

On one hand I'd like to have the safety net of being able to put things on the credit card until salary day, and a good credit history can't hurt.

Automated systems will indeed reject you immediately if you have no history with the bank you are applying with. They have nothing to judge your application on.

Go into a bank and ask. They might ask for 6 months of bank statements, perhaps copy of work contract if salary fluctuates.

jrmb

Deleted User wrote: »

Automated systems will indeed reject you immediately if you have no history with the bank you are applying with. They have nothing to judge your application on.

Yeah, that's understandable but I've been with my current bank for 7 years. My ICB report came today and there were no surprises. All that remains is to talk to the bank.

Indestructable

Did you give Avantcard a try?

jrmb

Indestructable wrote: »

Did you give Avantcard a try?

Yes, they and Chill rejected me.

dalalada

jrmb wrote: »

Yes, they and Chill rejected me.

Did you get it solved?