Credit cards for bad credit

If you have a poor credit history, or not enough of a credit history, credit providers are likely to reject your application.

When you apply for credit, either a credit card, loan or mortgage, your credit provider will run a credit check to check your history of repayments. They'll be looking for evidence that you're a responsible borrower who'll be able to make their repayments.

Any information is usually held for between 5 and 6 years. But items like court or bankruptcy rulings might stay on your file for longer.

Providers are generally unwilling to take risks on people who do not have proof of a good credit history.

There are several reasons you might have been refused credit.

The more missed repayments you have, the worse your credit rating. And the less likely you are to be offered credit.

If you've missed a repayment in the past, your credit provider will record this and report it to the credit reference agencies.

Next time you want to borrow money from another provider they'll run a credit check. The provider will see that you’ve missed a repayment. And will use that information to decide how likely you are to make your future repayments.

When you're registered on the electoral roll, it tells your credit provider that you live where you say you do. It helps prove to them that you're not a fraudster.

If you're not on the electoral roll, in the eyes of the lender it increases the chance that your application is fraudulent.

If you've ever taken out a joint credit product with someone else, like a joint bank account this could influence your own credit rating.

You should avoid immediately applying for another credit card if you're recently had a credit card application rejected.

Every time you apply for a credit card, the provider will run a credit check. Frequent checks over a short period of time will look bad to providers, and could negatively affect your credit rating.

But there are some things you can do now to help improve your chances of getting a credit card in the future.

Knowing what's on your credit report will help you see what credit card providers see when you apply for a credit card.

It will show you:

Find out more in our credit report guide

Look for any information you think is wrong or out of date, including basic errors relating to your address or bank details. Or for anything that looks suspicious. If you find an error on your credit report, make any corrections as soon as possible.

Find out more about reporting an error on your credit report

APR stands for "annual percentage rate" - it's the interest rate charged on money borrowed on your credit card. 

It reflects the costs you'll pay over the course of a year and includes any standard fees associated with the card. 

So if you borrow £100 at 20% APR you'll pay £20 interest on that loan over a year.

In most cases you can avoid paying interest by paying off your credit card balance in full by the due date of every billing cycle.

We compare over 100 credit cards from all of the major banks and credit card providers.

However, we do not compare all the credit cards that are available in the UK.

This is because some credit card providers have offers that are only available exclusively through their own website or branch, or through other comparison websites - in the same way some credit cards are exclusively available through Uswitch.

There are also many credit cards that are only available to people in member organisations and clubs.

When we use the term ‘most popular or ‘popularity’ on Uswitch in reference to credit cards, these cards are ranked by the number of clicks they have received on the site in the past 48 hours.

The most clicked on cards are at the top, with the least at the bottom. This reflects how popular they are with visitors to Uswitch.com. Consequently, this is a good table to look at if you’re interested in seeing which cards most people think are worth getting.