You may have been attracted by websites that talk about “guaranteed acceptance” credit cards.Many of these “guaranteed cards” claim that you don’t need to go through credit checks or employment checks in order to get a MasterCard, VISA or AMEX credit card.

These “no check/guaranteed acceptance” cards are aimed very firmly at people with bad credit who may have been turned down by other lenders.   If you suspect that the whole thing sounds too good to be true, you’d be right!Look closer and you’ll see that what they are talking about are credit cards that require you to make a hefty security deposit or pre-paid cards where you can only spend what you’ve loaded on the card in the first place.

There is no such product as a “guaranteed credit card”.All applicants for a credit card are credit scored – that’s standard practice.  No one can “guarantee acceptance” for a credit card and if you have a bad credit rating it will be difficult (but not impossible) to get one.  The only sure fire way to increase the chances of being accepted for a credit card, no matter what your circumstances, is to address the issue of how to improve credit rating?  Every lender has their own system for identifying who they will and will not accept for a credit card.You might have been turned down because your credit file has late or missed payments on existing credit agreements.  If you have unsatisfied CCJs on your file this too will impair your credit score and make it less likely that you’ll be accepted for a credit card.

You can check your own Credit Report yourself for just £2 by using Internet-based services like Credit Expert or you can write to the Credit Reference Agency which must reply to you in seven working days.If the data they hold about you is incorrect you can demand that it is changed or removed.If you do this and continue to manage your existing credit sensibly, then your credit score should improve and your chances of getting a credit card are improved dramatically.