Credit card use, credit history, and credit scores can all be connected. When you apply for a credit card, the issuer will review your credit history and request your credit score. The information on your credit report and the credit score will affect whether or not you’re approved for a credit card as well as the terms, conditions and interest rate offered to you. Before you apply for a new card, you can check your own credit report and FICO Score to see the things a credit card company could see.
Likewise, applying for a credit card can affect your credit scores. That’s because the card issuer’s request to review your credit report and score is considered a “hard inquiry” — which indicates you’re applying for actual credit. Hard inquiries appear on credit reports, and too many hard inquiries in a short span of time can negatively affect credit scores. Pre-qualification on the other hand would be a soft inquiry, since it is not firm approval, and provides an estimation of what you could qualify for. Not all pre-qualifications will lead to approval, since other factors such as income would be additional factors for the approval process.
Building Your Credit Skills without Learning the Hard Way
Using credit cards wisely can help you make big purchases and put you that much closer to those big goals that credit can help make happen when you’re ready to claim them, like your next car, a first home, or that dream vacation.
Joint Credit Card Accounts
As a joint account holder, you share full responsibility for payment of the debt under the credit card contract. The account will appear on both your credit report and the other person’s. Be cautious upfront and ensure you discuss whose responsibility it is to take care of which account and when – and what to do if something serious happens and that person isn’t able to take care of those things anymore. Accounts shared and items such as late payments or high balances will appear on the credit reports of all joint account holders.
