Check your eligibility for credit cards

When you apply for any form of credit, there's no guarantee your application will be accepted.

However, there are online tools that can check your eligibility for credit before you apply, so you can choose to apply to lenders that are more likely to accept you.

What is a credit card eligibility check?

An eligibility, pre-application or soft credit check is an online tool that will tell you your chances of being accepted for credit cards, without impacting your credit score.

You will normally need to provide a few personal details (typically name, address history and employment status) and it will score your chances of successfully applying for one or many credit cards.

Usually your chances of acceptance are given as a fraction or a percentage. The higher this number, the more likely you are to be accepted, but the scoring system can vary between different websites so it's worth reading the small print. This helps to take the guesswork and frustration out of applying for credit that you may not be eligible for.

The Uswitch eligibility checker uses a percentage system.

Why you should check your eligibility for a credit card before you apply

There's no guarantee you will get a credit card if you apply for it. If you make too many applications for credit cards, or your application is rejected, it will negatively affect your credit score and you won't end up with the credit you were applying for anyway.

Your credit score is used by lenders to determine whether you are eligible for credit. Having a good credit score gives you access to the best deals, and lowest interest rates for credit cards, loans and mortgages.

An eligibility checker can reduce the risk of damaging your credit score, by giving you the knowledge of which credit cards you have a higher chance of being offered.

There may also be some eligibility requirements a credit provider lists to be approved for a card, such as being over 18 years of age, being a resident of the United Kingdom, and perhaps a minimum income requirement, depending on the credit product they are offering.

How does a credit card eligibility checker work?

An eligibility checker uses the information you provide to run a ‘soft’ credit check. This will provide an estimate of the likelihood of you being accepted for a credit card.

Most credit eligibility checking tools are in some way affiliated with or 'powered' by credit referencing agencies or their subsidiaries (in essence Experian, Equifax, TransUnion).

The tool will take information you provide to look up your credit profile. It will then cross-reference this profile with the acceptance criteria of different credit cards.

However, depending on the eligibility checker, it may not have access to the acceptance criteria of all cards on the market so some cards may appear as 'not rated'. This does not mean you won't be able to successfully apply for this card, just that it's not possible to estimate the likelihood of you being accepted.

How an eligibility check is different to a 'hard' credit check

While an eligibility check will look at your credit profile, this examination won’t be flagged on your credit report as an application to borrow, meaning it won't be visible to lenders.

A credit check is when you apply for any form of credit, this will be marked on your credit file for lenders to see, whether your application was successful or not.

But note that a soft credit check only provides an estimate of your eligibility for a credit card and is not a guarantee of acceptance or rejection. Even if you get a 100% chance of acceptance, or you are 'pre-approved' for a card, a full credit check will still need to occur before you are given a card.

Will checking eligibility for cards leave any mark on my credit report?

A credit card eligibility check may show up on your credit report as an information request, but as explained above it will not be flagged as an application for credit.

This means that you can check your eligibility for credit cards as many times as you like and it won't damage your score. If you have your eye on a few different cards but you're not sure which one to apply for, checking your likelihood of being approved could make the decision much easier.

What information is needed to check eligibility for credit cards?

You will normally need to provide your name and address, this information is used to verify your identity and match it up to your credit file.

Typically, you'll need to provide least three years of UK address history in order to qualify for most credit cards, but there might be a few available if you can't provide this. If you don't have credit history because of a lack of address history, consider a credit building card instead.

Credit card lenders care about the security of your income, as they want to make sure you can repay what you borrow. So any eligibility checker will probably need to check your employment status and salary too. Some cards also have minimum income requirements, so to avoid an inaccurate eligibility estimate.

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