If your credit card application is declined (2024)

If you’ve never had, or have very limited experience with credit, lenders will find it difficult to assess how well you’ll manage it. In turn, you’re less likely to get the lowest and longest lasting interest rates, or be approved for credit at all.

If you’re in this situation, there are additional things you can do to boost your credit profile:

Apply for a ‘credit builder’ card – it may seem obvious, but starting small and building towards the credit card you ultimately want may be a sensible step. Although they usually offer lower credit limits and higher interest rates, by using a credit builder card and repaying your balance responsibly, your credit score will slowly increase.

Use a bank account – setting up Direct Debits to make regular payments, e.g. for things like utility bills, can contribute to your credit score over time. Just make sure there’s money in your account to cover any payments, or you could find your credit score is negatively affected.

If your account has an overdraft, managing that effectively will also help.

Carefully manage commitments – keeping up with payments on store cards, services like your mobile phone contract or TV subscriptions, and other household bills, could all help to boost your credit score. You’ll need at least 1 account offering you credit of some description, for a period of 6 months or more, to generate a credit score you can build upon.