Borrowing money from the bank used to be easy, but since the GFS it became hard. Here are a few tips to make it easy and painless for you.

Bank managers around the world have become real misers in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis.

It used to be SO easy to get a loan. For some banks it seemed that loan applicants only needed to have a pulse. Don’t have a regular income ma’am? No worries just sign here on the dotted line and we will worry about how you will make the repayments later.

Yes it was THAT easy.

Well haven't times changed. The banks got badly burnt and the supply of money has dried up substantially.

Lenders are picking and choosing who they lend their money to now. Put simply, if you are considered to be a risk, then it is now very difficult to get a loan. Why give money to someone who could be a risk when there is somebody across the road with little or no risk at all.

So you do you avoid being labeled as a risk and being told to “talk to the hand”?

Have a clean credit history

The first thing you should do is check your credit history and clean it up. It is important that you do not have any defaults - because no matter how small they can mean an automatic decline of your loan. The judge's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. To check your credit history for free, go to www.mycreditfile.com.au

Don't apply too many times

When the bank reviews your credit history they also review the amount of times that you have applied for credit. You may think that you can go from one bank to another and eventually you will get lucky, but by racking up declines may do you more harm than good.

Late fees

Banks look at your banking and credit card activity when assessing your application. If they see any overdrawn, dishonoured or late fees then they will probably say no to you. Those that have been slack and regularly have a habit of going over your limit then close down that card or account and start a new one at a new bank. And never go over your limit again.

Two is enough

You should restrict the number of credit cards that you have to two. The banks will not look favourably if you have more than two, particularly if they are maxed out to the limit.

Be stable

In the bank's eyes, stability is a key indicator of risk. The more that you change your job (or change your address) the more likely that you will get a low score here. If you have been in a job for awhile, but just hate it, then make sure that you stick around long enough to get your loan approved.