 TITLE: I Applied for a Credit Card: Now What? CONTENT: Your Credit Will Be Checked\n---------------------------\nWhen you apply for a credit card, you give a credit issuer permission to access your credit reports and credit scores, and for good reason. Your credit reports and scores are how a credit card issuer can tell whether it can trust you to pay back your debts.\nIf your credit report shows a long pattern of responsible credit use, your credit scores will be high and you'll be appealing to a credit card issuer. On the other hand, if you do not have an established and positive credit history, you'll appear to be a high credit risk.\nSoon after the issuer checks your credit, it will send a notice to the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) that you applied for a credit card. That will result in a hard inquiry being placed in your credit file, and it will remain there for two years. As long as the hard inquiry is on your report it will be factored into your credit scores, though to a lesser degree as the months pass. END