Credit card companies are facing a conundrum, due to the shaky state of the current financial markets.

These types of firms make their money by lending us funds and then we make them cash by spending ours.

However, due to the global credit crunch, credit cards are no longer being dished out like French fries at a McDonald's Drive Thru, as it has emerged that lending to risky candidates can be dangerous business.

This puts credit card firms in a tricky situation, as they would like to lend us all more but only have so much money to play with.

In fact, new research has shown that 18,000 people a day are now being refused credit cards.

David Kuo, head of personal finance at independent, award-winning online advice service Fool.co.uk, explained the situation.

He said: "Banks are [being] more cautious and they don't really want to lend money, especially unsecured lending.

"I think the problem that we have at the moment is that credit card companies do want to issue credit cards but they only have so much money to lend."

He added that these firms are now being more rigorous in their comparisons of different applicants, making competition for these financial products fiercer.

In the last six months one in six people have been refused a credit card, but it is not simply just a case of fewer credit cards being issued.

Those credit cards which are on offer to consumers are not as generous as they had been. According to MoneyExpert.com, in April 2008, the average APR rate on credit card purchases has risen in the past six months by 0.56 per cent from 16.56 per cent to 17.12 per cent.

Such figures suggest that the Bank of England's efforts to limit the effects of the global credit crunch on UK lending markets, by slashing interest rates from 5.75 per cent to five per cent, have not had the desired effect.

Balance transfers, a popular lure for credit card consumers, have also taken a hit, with the average rate on such a transaction having increased in the last six months by 0.83 per cent from 15.12 per cent to 15.95 per cent.

In light of these circumstances, the best thing consumers can do is make sure their credit ratings are clean in order to give them the strongest chance of being awarded a credit card.

Steps applicants can take to ensure this include making sure they don't have huge amounts of outstanding debt, are on the electoral role, do not move around too often and have not defaulted on other loans recently.

David Kuo added: "People need to be very mindful of because every time you are turned down for a credit card application it counts against you on your credit reference.

"If people are going to be applying for a credit card then they need to make sure that they are almost certainly going to get it before they apply for it.”