Why loans and cards get rejected

Most rejections come down to a short list: an unpaid or overdue account, a recent missed payment, using too much of your card limit, applying to many lenders at once, or simply too little credit history for the lender to judge you.

Banks rarely tell you which one it was. But each is fixable, and once you know the reason you can act on it — and walk into your next application far more likely to hear yes.