It is one of life’s small cruelties that the times when you need credit most badly, are also the times when lenders are least willing to give it to you. When you are finding it hard to meet your obligations, your car payments are behind, your credit cards are all fully loaded, and you’re barely meeting your rent or mortgage payments, your credit score takes a nose dive. Even if you are meeting all your payments, credit reporting companies can show lenders that you are at your limit, that you’re fully extended on all existing lines of credit, and you’ve been searching vigorously for more. This will be looked on very poorly by lenders and make them much less inclined to lend to you.

Between Jobs
One of the periods when you are most likely to be in this sort of situation is when you are between jobs. There are a million reasons why you might lose your job, many of which will not be your fault, and if you are unlucky enough to have this happen to you when you’re under heavy debt, then things can quickly get out of hand. (more…)