I recently successfully applied for an ANZ credit card and a Westpac rewards credit card (within 2 weeks of each other), successfully completing the bonus points offers on both cards.
A few weeks after applying for the ANZ credit card, I applied for an additional credit card from another provider (the QANTAS premier card), however was rejected - I believe due to the fact that I had a few different credit card applications on my credit rating.
How long do I have to wait before applying for another credit card and being likely to be approved?
My current credit rating per Credit Simple is 546 - “decent effort”.
Personally, I keep track of my credit score on getcreditscore.com.au and creditsavvy.com.au (2 different credit bureau). My getcreditscore score is lower than the creditsavvy score so I focus on that to be more conservative.
As I am not a financial advisor, please do your own research after taking onboard what I (we) share here.
I would wait at least 4-6 weeks, allowing time for the credit scores to update. Some are real slow to update. I would check on at least 2 of the creditscore sites for my credit score.
Credit score and application approval is not very transparent. However, I do know that most would agree on the statement below
“applying for multiple credit cards within a short period of time, will negatively affect one’s credit score more drastically than the same number of applications spread over a much longer period of time.”
I have heard the Qantas credit card application is very involved requiring lots of documentation. I believe Citi group is the credit provider and they have beeb known to be much stricter. I could be completely wrong though.
Are you sure you haven’t applied for another card where “Citibank” was the credit provider in the 3 months prior to submitting your Qantas application? Citibank is the credit provider a number of cards including the Qantas card and if you’ve been unsuccessful in any other Citibank backed credit card within the last 3 months prior to submitting the Qantas application, you would have been automatically rejected by Citibank. For Citibank at least you have to wait 3 months from an unsuccessful application prior to submitting another Citibank application to my knowledge.
There is NO rule how long you should wait. However 3 credit card applications about 2 weeks apart each is probaby pushing the freindships a little. I have applied for 3 new credit cards, this year, January, May, and July, and all approved. However I also have 10 years same employer and address, and work in stable industry that carries a LOT of positives to lenders. Everyones mileage is going to be different.
I have little regard for the credit scores being promoted at the moment, these scores are just marketing BS to advertise debt to people. But yes, these scores are all the average Joe has to go on.
I am a beleiver that if you want to hunt credit card signup bonuses then just go for it until you get declined. The worst thing that can happen to you is its harder to get new credit cards.
If I was you, I would just keep checking on whichever credit score company tickles your fancy, and when it goes up, apply again. If it doesnt go up, wait 6 months. The banks dont use those credit scores, they apply their own methodologies.