Credit
When Your Credit Card Application Is Denied
Lenders are required by law to send you a letter telling you why your application for credit was denied, but sometimes these letters can be vague. Possible reasons could be that you haven't lived at your current address long enough or that you haven't been employed with your current employer long enough. Perhaps it is that your income isn't sufficient to meet the card issuer's minimum income requirement. If the reason for being denied is vague, ask someone within the organization for clarification. Find out why before you apply for credit with another organization. If you are turned down a second time, you might want to wait another six months before applying again.
If you are determined to get a credit card now, your only option is to get a secured credit card. It requires that you send in a deposit that will be used to guarantee repayment. This deposit earns 2% or 3% interest while it is being held by the credit card issuer. Your credit line will be a percentage of your deposit, typically from 50 to 100 percent. Application and processing fees are not uncommon for secured credit cards; however, there are a few on the market have low or no application or processing fees.
Another possibe means of obtaining a credit card is to consider asking someone with an established credit history perhaps a relative, to designate you as an authorized user on their credit card account. As an authorized user, the primary card holders credit activity is reported to your credit report. There is a downside to being an authorized user. If the primary cardholder ever pays late, defaults or goes bankrupt, that too is reported to your credit report, which would ruin your credit rating.
The above measures are just little steps you can take to establish credit and add a few extra points to your credit score. If your credit card application was denied because you have bad credit, take necessary steps to improve your credit score so that you can qualify for a credit card sometime in the future.
