Does the 'brand' of the credit card matter

smala01

In a round about sort of way, the type of product you are APPLYING for does effect approval. For example if you have high credit card debt relative to your income, then you are unlikely to get a further purchase credit card, but you may be very likely to get a Balance Transfer credit card because generally people transfer the existing debt rather than create new debt.

Cash Advances are still seen to be an act of desperation and a sign of impending doom when it comes to repayments. The credit card industry has not caught up with people doing savvy things - such as using Halifax Clarity abroad (zero fees for ATM withdrawals). Having said that i do cash advances from foreign ATMs quite a lot (Apparently 42 times on reviewing my recent credit report!) but it has next to no impact on my credit score (experian) or ability to successfully apply for new cards, so i can only conclude "its all relative" in the overall health of the rest of the finances.

Anthorn

Fingerbobs wrote: »

Well I can't say for sure. All I can say is that it was quite a shock not to be offered the card I applied for, and only get offered a lesser deal, and it's only happened to me since the cash advance.

My Stoozing activities probably mean I have a higher than typical number of searches on my file, but this has never been a problem before. I'm sure it can only be attributable to the cash advance.

It varies a lot. Very recently for example I was approved for a Tesco Bank BT credit card with a limit in the thousands, yet PayPal turned me down for their credit even though I had it before and cancelled it. It has to be said that I have very seldom got what I expected sometimes more sometimes less.

If you can't work out a reason why you haven't got what you expected then it most likely comes down to that all-important financial profile: Are you the type of customer the lender wants or the type of customer the lender wants to avoid? When lenders decide to come clean in that respect we can be more specific. For example, if a credit card lender wants customers who don't pay off the whole balance every month, i.e. TSB Advance MasterCard (the lack of the usual 56 days interest free period on purchases is the clue), so they can make pots of cash from interest you're not going to get very far if you do clear the balance every month. However some lenders such as New Day / Aqua gamble that sooner or later you won't clear the full balance.

You're playing a game and the lenders set the rules.