When you apply for your Tesco credit card your credit rating will be calculated and this is used to determine whether your application will be successful or not.

Your credit score is a number generated by a mathematical formula based on information in your credit report, compared to information on tens of millions of other people. The resulting number is a highly accurate prediction of how likely you are to pay your bills.

Credit scores are used extensively e.g. for products such as mortgages, car loans, credit cards and car insurance.

The terms of the offer you receive is directly related to your credit score. The higher the number, the better you look to lenders and people with the highest scores usually get the lowest interest rates.