8 ways to maximize your chances of being approved for a credit card

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information.

When you apply for a great travel rewards card, the last thing you want is to be turned down. The sign-up bonus, the benefits and the points earned are luring you in, so you’ll want to do everything possible to be approved.

In this post, I’ll share some tips on how to how to increase your chances for an approval so you’ll be on your way to securing a new credit card in your wallet.

Check your credit history and score

In considering your credit card application, the most important factors for the issuer are your credit history and credit score. Most major issuers offer customers free access to their credit score. For example, the Capital One offers its CreditWise program to anyone. These services will also give you feedback about the factors affecting your score.

If your credit score is not where you think it should be, request a copy of your credit history from the three major consumer credit bureaus to find out the details. To obtain your copy, go to AnnualCreditReport.com, the only source for free credit reports authorized by federal law. With this service, you can request one free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each credit-reporting company. Although from now through December 2023, the site will give you complimentary access to your report on a weekly basis.

Only apply for cards matching your credit profile

Travel rewards cards are typically only offered to those with excellent (740+) or good (670-739) credit scores. In general, the more features and benefits offered, the higher the credit score requirements will be, so don’t expect to be approved for a premium card like The Platinum Card® from American Express with a credit score in the low 600s.

Reduce your outstanding debt

I was outraged the first time I saw a copy of my credit report. It showed that I had outstanding debt on all of my credit cards, even though I was consistently paying off my statement balances in full and on time.

Later, I learned why my credit reports all showed me in debt: Every time a credit card’s monthly statement cycle closes, it generates a statement and reports that statement balance to the three major consumer credit bureaus. At that moment, the card issuers have no way of knowing if you’ll eventually avoid interest charges by paying your statement balance in full. Technically, my statement balances all constituted outstanding debt, even though I was confident that the interest charges would be waived when I paid each statement balance in full before its due date.

Even if your statement balances aren’t high, they still count as debt and can make a card issuer hesitant to approve you for a new line of credit. The bank is less concerned that it will offer you yet another sign-up bonus than it is worried about over-extending credit to you and risking default.

Once you understand the bank’s concerns and how your statement balances are reported as outstanding debt, it’s easy to take steps to minimize what’s reported. The first step is to pay off your largest outstanding balances before the end of the statement periods for your credit cards. Otherwise, paying a balance just after your statement closes won’t reduce the balance that’s reported to the credit bureaus that month.

If you pay before the end of the statement periods on your credit cards, you won’t appear to have any outstanding debt. In addition, you’ll probably experience a small bump in your credit score as your debt-to-credit ratio plummets. I try to do this in anticipation of applying for a new credit card, and it’s a vital strategy when you’re applying for a mortgage or home loan.

Lower your credit utilization ratio

In addition to lowering your debt, you’ll also want to maintain a high credit amount. These two numbers make up your credit utilization ratio, which can be calculated by dividing your total credit card balances by your total available credit.

Young businessman paying through credit card while using laptop in office — WESTEND61/GETTY IMAGES

Even though you want to pay off your credit card balances in full before your statement closes for the month, it is equally as important that your denominator number stays high, giving you a lower utilization ratio. This can ultimately make up about 30% of your FICO score, which makes it a pretty important factor in determining your credit score. While applying for a credit card can sometimes hurt your credit score slightly in the short term, in the long term, it’s actually giving you more credit, thus potentially helping your credit utilization ratio.

Another thing to consider is that when you cancel a credit card, you are giving back some of your credit. This could hurt your ratio, so instead, you’ll want to consider downgrading to a no-annual-fee card or shifting that credit over to another credit card within the same bank network.

Pay off outstanding balances to the same issuer

You can also increase your chances of approval by reducing or eliminating any current balances with other cards you have from the same card issuer. The bank can always see this kind of outstanding “debt” in real time.

For example, if you were looking to be approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you might want to pay off any existing balances with other Chase cards before applying. In this case, the statement doesn’t need to close before applying; the bank will always know your current balance.

Be mindful of application restrictions

Some card issuers limit you to a maximum number of accounts where you’re the primary cardholder. Others will limit the number of applications you can make in a certain period, such as Chase’s (theoretical) limit of one personal and one business card application every 90 days.

Include all income sources

One common mistake people make when applying for a credit card is understating their income by not including all qualifying sources.

The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act allows you to include all household income you have a reasonable expectation of access to. The primary reason for this rule is to ensure that non-working spouses and domestic partners have equal access to credit.

In addition, be sure to include other eligible sources of income such as alimony, child support, disability benefits, investment income and disbursement of retirement savings.

Call for reconsideration

If your application has been initially denied, don’t give up. You can contact the bank’s reconsideration line and ask a representative to manually consider your application. Before calling, try to pay down your existing balances, especially with any accounts you have from the same bank you applied to.

In some cases, I’ve called to plead my case, and the representative has immediately approved my application with no questions asked. Other times, you might have to explain why you want to be approved. For example, you might want to mention the features and benefits of the card you’re interested in and avoid specifically mentioning the sign-up bonus. And if you didn’t initially include all your sources of income, ask to have your application updated.

If that doesn’t work, suggest reallocating a part of your existing line of credit with that bank. Remember, the bank’s priority is to limit its exposure in case you can’t pay back your charges. By volunteering to shift your line of credit, you’re making it possible for an issuer to offer you a new account without increasing its risk. Finally, you can suggest closing an unused existing account if it will result in approval for the new account.

Bottom line

While it’s never guaranteed that you’ll be approved for a credit card when submitting an application, keeping these tips in mind will only help your success rate. Credit cards can offer many benefits and rewards, so maximizing your chances will hopefully open up new credit card opportunities.