Applying for a Credit Card Affect Credit
By: Kausik Dutta | Posted: 22nd October 2007
Many people don’t realize this until it is too late and there is a negative check against you on your credit report but each time that you apply for a Credit Card
it negatively affects your credit score. This is because each time a Credit Card
application is processed an inquiry is made by the company that you applied to. This type of credit card inquiry is called a “hard inquiry” and each time a credit card company peeks into your account it can lower your credit score by as much as five points. This is why you should try to quell enthusiasm for garnering credit and only apply for one credit card at a time.
Each hard inquiry on your credit report that is made by a Credit Card
company remains on your report for one year. This allows other credit card companies and lenders to see who turned you down. After one year these inquiries are supposed to automatically drop off your report however this does not always happen automatically. In this case you can request that the credit bureau remove the item for you.
Your credit may not be harmed if you are only showing two or three hard inquiries in a six-month period. However you will definitely be denied credit if a credit card company sees that there are more than eight credit card applications made during a six-month period. This is because from the lender’s point of view it seems like you are desperate to get a loan and that you are in dire need of credit. This puts you in a high-risk category when it comes to the issuance of a credit card and you may be offered a higher interest rate than usual.
The rule of thumb is to avoid applying for an excessive amount of credit cards in a six to nine month time frame unless absolutely necessary.
Many people don’t realize this until it is too late and there is a negative check against you on your credit report but each time that you apply for a Credit Card
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Tags: rule of thumb, inquiries, point of view, credit cards, high risk, time frame, five points, lenders, credit card companies, credit card company, credit score, credit report, interest rate, issuance, credit bureau, risk category, credit card application, credit card applications, dire need