APPLYING FOR CARDS & YOUR CREDIT SCORE

jesster_2

Does anyone know?

When you're applying for a credit card, at what stage does it show up on your credit score / rating? Is it when they agree over the phone or online and BEFORE you send the forms back to agree to take it out, or does it only figure once you actually sign the form and send it back?

magentadreamer

What you'll find I think is a search will be shown by the company first then when the account is up and running it will be listed with balance and credit limit. Having too many searches can look a bit suspect as well as too many lines of credit.

jesster_2

Thanks. I was thinking of doing an experiment to illustrate how easy it is to get a lot of credit in a short time... thought it would be a bad idea from a credit score / rating point of view. Shame, cus i think it would be interesting and make a good point.