Looking to consolidate some debt and do some work on a property we rent out, long story short I applied for a loan in October and was accepted on the advertised (really good) rate, panicked at the thought of taking out extra debt just before Christmas and thought I would be sensible and defer until after the festive period, only to then be declined by the same company! Have just tonight made an application in both mine and DH's name at a different company who do the 'soft search' option which gave us an APR of 9.9% only to be declined again, so now I have three credit searches and no new accounts over the last 6 months. How long is this going to have an adverse effect on my credit report?