Applications which could affect my credit score?

mvitti185

I am in a predicament. I am hoping to apply for a credit card this week. Generally how long does it take for an application to be accepted/rejected?

Anyway I'm aware that I don't have much of a credit card rating but I need to apply for a loan urgently as I will be moving house soon. Will my application for a loan be automatically rejected due to the fact that I have recently applied for a credit card? If so, how much time should I allow before applying for the loan? If it's suggested that I need to wait longer than a month, would it be better to apply for a loan first (and try for a credit card at a later date)? The loan is my absolute priority.

edindie

When you go in for your loan/credit card ask for a quotation, then the search won’t be recorded on your credit report and you can find out if you’d likely be accepted for both.

Searches stay on your credit report for 2 years, and lenders rarely have anything less than ‘# searches Last 6 Months’ in their scorecards, so waiting a month or two isn’t going to make any difference unless you’re waiting for a big swathe of searches to drop off.

dhassen

I thought searches stay on file for 12 months. That's what I've found from experience.

It's doubtful that a lender would refuse a loan simply for 1 application for a credit card. There are many other reasons why they might decline you though, why do you say you don't have much of a credit rating? Problems in the past?

mvitti185

dhassen wrote: »

I thought searches stay on file for 12 months. That's what I've found from experience.

It's doubtful that a lender would refuse a loan simply for 1 application for a credit card. There are many other reasons why they might decline you though, why do you say you don't have much of a credit rating? Problems in the past?

I've never had a credit card before, so from what I've read on this site banks are less likely to loan money to you as they can't predict you're spending since you have no recorded credit history.

Thanks edindie for the advice on quotes!

dhassen

So you have no credit history? That wasn't clear in the OP....

If that's the case yes, it's more difficult to get credit (loans or CCs) if you have no record of good payment history / the ability to manage debts properly.

So do you need a loan and a CC? I don't quite get this.

If you have no credit history your best bets are either: Your own bank (for a loan or CC), they know your spending habits and income / outgoings. OR a sub-prime credit card, which will have an awful, high APR (fine if you pay off every month) and probably a very low limit but if you spend a little and pay it off every month, will create a good starting point for a good credit record.

edindie

dhassen wrote: »

I thought searches stay on file for 12 months. That's what I've found from experience.

All non derogatory data is kept for 2 years, including searches. It’s just that # searches L24M is hardly ever as discriminatory as last 3/6/12 months, so it isn’t used in scorecards very much.

YorkshireBoy

edindie wrote: »

All non derogatory data is kept for 2 years, including searches.

Credit searches stay on your file for 12 months...not 24 months...

http://experian.metafaq.com/templates/experian/main/answerPage?_mftvst:answerRef=%24http%3a%2f%2fapi.transversal.com%2fmfapi%2fobjectref%2fEntryStore%2fEntry%2fhttp%3a%2f%2fwww.metafaq.com%2fmfapi%2fMetafaq%2fClients%2fexperian%2fModules%2fCredit_report%2fTopics%2fcredit_searches%3a137398%3a0&_mftvst:moduleID=%24Credit_report&_mftvst:topicID=%24&id=T9ERN0O8HC8I5NA49QBTEG1B88

I assume by "non derogatory" information you also mean payment history? If so, then that's kept for a lot longer than 2 years.

edindie

Ok, it appears I may be mistaken.

What I was thinking of is different. Though searches stay on your file for 12 months, CRAs are allowed to keep this information for 2 years. As in they are allowed to know that on 23rd July 2006 I had 6 searches in the last 12 months. (ie a 6 in that field on the file).

This is what was confusing me.

lopbri

You could have more of a chance with a credit card if you apply to your bank as they would take into account your history with them, other lenders simply use your credit file, and in my experience, applying for credit once a month won't' affect your credit file too much, of course that won't guarantee you get the credit.

dhassen

thanks YB, thought I was right (for a change!)