You’ve found the perfect credit card offer for you. You’re ready to apply. But you’re smart — knowing applications will stay on your credit file as enquiries for years. You decide to evaluate your chances of having an application approved before you waste time on paperwork (or filling out digital forms — whatever you prefer). Will you be approved for that dream card of yours, or would your time be better spent elsewhere?

Today let’s look at some of the factors that will determine whether or not an issuing bank decides to approve your credit card application. Then you’ll have the opportunity to improve as many of these factors as possible before you apply.

Here are four factors that credit card issuers might consider when reviewing your credit card application:

1. Your Payment History

Credit card companies want to know whether or not you have a history of paying your bills on time, and rightly so. After all, they’re loaning you potentially thousands of dollars and trusting you to pay it back. While you can’t erase a negative history right away, you can make an effort to pay down existing debts before applying for a new line of credit.

2. Your Employment Status

They’ll also want to know if you’re unemployed, employed part-time, or employed full-time. Without a full-time steady job, they might see you as being less creditworthy because there’s more of a risk for them that you won’t be able to make regular payments. If you’re currently job hunting, it’s not the time to apply for a credit card. Focus on landing the new job first.

3. Your Annual Income

Being employed full-time isn’t enough. You’ll have to meet the individual credit card’s minimum annual income requirement. For example, to be eligible for the Virgin Flyer card you’ll need a minimum annual income of $50,000. This information is sometimes available in credit card offer fine print (or here on our site), but is more often presented on the application form or just before you fill out an online application.

4. Other Recent Credit File Enquiries

We already talked about how important it is to only apply for a card when you know there’s a good chance you’ll be approved. That’s because enquiries stay on your credit file for years. A lot of recent enquiries from credit card applications can make you appear desperate for those lines of credit as though you need a quick influx of cash — like you’re applying for far more than you could reasonably pay back.  A large number of credit card companies in Australia will automatically decline an application if you have applied for 2 other pieces of personal credit in the last 6 months.

If you want to better assess your chances of being approved for a credit card offer, look at the same information the credit card companies are. Get a copy of your credit file and see if there’s any room for improvement. And do it before you apply for your next credit card.