Want to Know if You'll Qualify for a Credit Card? This Tool Can Help

Prequalification counts as asoft credit check, which won’t impact your credit score.

Here’s what you’re gonna wanna know.

Once you’re prequalified, follow the card issuer’s offer to apply.

Again, just because you’re prequalified doesn’t mean you’ll be approved.

You’ll still need to undergo a hard credit inquiry before the issuer makes its decision.

There’s also a third term, preselection, that you could run across.

Of the three, preapproval typically indicates the highest chances of approval.

Prequalification offers the next best likelihood of approval.

Instead, the card issuer uses preliminary facts to match you to one of its products.

Preselection means you’ve met some basic criteria and may qualify for a card.

However, it’s not as strong an indicator of approval as prequalification or preapproval.

Will credit card prequalification hurt my credit score?

The main point of checking your prequalification status is to avoid any unnecessary damage to your credit.

Whereas applying for any credit product involves ahard credit check, checking for prequalification requires a soft credit check.

Issuers can then use that information to match you with one of their products.

Here are a few ways to do that.

Yourcredit utilization ratiois the second most important factor.

You’ll want to maintain a ratio below 30% of your available credit for the best results.

Many experts even recommend reducing to less than 10% of your available credit limits, if you could.

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