Personal loan

[Skids]

I applied for a personal loan with Tesco Finance and was declined on the basis that I already had too much debt. Before applying I had actually repaid all my other credits/loans and was debt free. After the rejection I checked Experian and saw that my credit history hadn't been updated to reflect my new debt free status. When the update had been actioned I tried Tesco Finance for the loan again but was told I had to wait three months. Why is this and do I really need to wait?

[factor-fiction]

Forvsomeone with your income/credit score etc they will have worked out the maximum creditworthiness of you. Suppose that is £20000. They will then look at all the credit limits on all your current cards, and if they already add up to £20000 they probably wouldn't give you credit in case you suddenly decided to 'max out' on all your cards

[hc4361]

It's not enough to pay off your credit cards, you need to actively cancel them.

[Skids]

Question is; do I need to wait three months?

[factor-fiction]

probably- it may take some time for your credit file to be updated. Also, even if you cancel your cards they will need to wait to make sure that you hadn't got any payments 'in the pipeline'- eg recent online/telephone purchases, annual contnuous credit card payments