If you are looking for a new credit card, maybe to use for a balance transfer or to simply spread the cost of a large purchase, then it’s worth bearing in mind that lenders look at other factors alongside your credit score. So, even if you consider yourself to have a good credit rating, you may find that your application is refused.
For example, many lenders will look at your spending habits alongside your financial history and they can get this information by examining the ways in which you have utilized credit in the past. So if you currently have a balance on your credit card but you do not still use that card for new purchases then this can potentially work against your application. This is bad news for those wishing to transfer a balance to another card with a better interest rate.
Spending habits can also affect you if you are looking to take out a new card to spread the cost of an expensive item, particularly if you are already in possession of one or more credit cards. For example, you may currently possess a card that has a zero balance but you have not been using it because of it’s high interest rate and so you are looking for a card with a lower rate of interest. This seems like a perfectly reasonable way to manage your finances but it can work against you in two ways. Lenders may look at your spending habits and refuse you on the grounds that you do not regularly utilize your available credit lines, else they may refuse you on the grounds that you already have a reasonable amount of credit available to you.
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