how often is often?

horngkai

I know that frequent credit application close to each other is not good for credit scoring. How far apart should the application be to not affect ones credit?

BugsyBrowne

horngkai wrote: »

I know that frequent credit application close to each other is not good for credit scoring. How far apart should the application be to not affect ones credit?

15 years..

ironlady2022

A rule of thumb is no more than 3 searches in a 6 month period. I always plan ahead and managed to spread them.

edinburgher

On sites that let you access your credit report/profile, there are typically two categories for this information (searches in the last 3 months and searches in the last year). I was of the belief that you should leave 6 months between each application, but perhaps 3 is more appropriate? I don't think there's a hard and fast rule about it, might be worth looking at the article on this site about improving your credit history.

horngkai

My credit history is fine. Just applied for a new credit card and was wondering when should I apply for another one again. Thanks for sensible answers.

lisyloo

The answer is - it depends.
If you have the need for 2 credit applications in a short space of time but there are not loads of other searches and no late payments then personally I don't think this would appear as desperate.
Lots of applications in a short space opf time can appear desperate but it's not beyond the realms of possibility for someone to require two credit accounts together (remember this include catalogures, mobile phones, current accounts).

So if there are no other contrary indicators then I would go ahead.
Is your used credit vs available credit % looking ok i.e. your not maxed out?
Do you have too much available credit e..g > 100% of your annual income?

You need to obviously bear in mind that one you have two then you might want to space out any future applications.
No-one knows and it's just about being sensible, but I don't see that requiring two credit accounts at once should be a problem provided there aren't other issues.

IMO you would need more than 2 for any organisation to draw the conclusion that you were desperate for credit.

horngkai

What is an available credit? How do they calculate that? Presumed its a pectentage of my income?

I have a couple of other searches recently. One for a credit card that I turned down in the end. Another for a credit increase from Egg which I now reduced it instead after the news of them being sold to Barclay. I supposed the credit company would be interpreting those as I am trying to get credit card from those 2 as well? A third search will be for the new credit card that I was approved of recently. In this situation, how long would you wait before applying for another card?

lisyloo

What is an available credit?

If you added up the credit limits on your credit accounts, then that's the total amount you could spend. (I would exclude mortgage).
If this is too high (relative to your income ) then it can stop you getting further credit.
Clearly it's relative to your income as £20K total credit is high for someone with a £10K income but low for someone with a £100K income.
A % is useful to give people on the boards if you want to keep the actual numbers (such as your income) private.
I have about 60% of my annual income available on credit cards.

How do they calculate that?

Credit limits on are your credit report, so it's simple addition.

In this situation, how long would you wait before applying for another card?

Depends
How spaced out are those 3?
Are they all in the last 6 months?
How crucial is getting this card?
Can you wait?

I don't think 3 in 6 months is an issue, but again it is up to individual lenders to decide and we simply don't know what rules they use.
If you have several cards already you need to consider
total available credit as a % of income
and % of that available credit that is actually borrowed.

If you are either maxed out or have too much available credit then those might be issues.

horngkai

do they include car loans into the total credit amount?

lisyloo

I don't know what any lender does, but for the purposes of what we are dicussing, a car loan is not money that is available for you to go out and spend tomorrow.
What we are trying to asses is how much money you have at your disposal to go out and spend tomorrow if you wished to do so.
If you have too much then potentially you are a risk because you could go and spend it all tomorrow and get yourself in a mess.

Car loans and mortgages will be taken care of elsewhere in their calculations but that is something seperate to credit that is available for you to go and spend.

horngkai

thanks for your detailed reply. Think I shall just wait a few months before applying for another credit card just to be on the safe side. I currently have 40% of my annual income available on credit card.