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Hello Everyone,
I have always been nervous of credit cards, I had been taught that they are "dangerous" and can get you into alot of trouble. However, after reading through these forums I have come to realize that if you are responsible and pay off your cards qucikly, they can be an amazing boon.
I am a graduate student and decided to apply for the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card for College Students, and was instantly denied. Honestly I am angry, and cannot figure out why I was denied.
My credit score is in the mid 700s according to all 3 major agencies, I have been an authorized user on a family member's 20+ year old card for the past couple years and I have a history of paying off my loans on time with no issues. I make a ~$13000 graduate salary, which is normal for a student, and a normal icome for this particular card according to reviews on Nerd Wallet. Lastly, I have a checking, savings and Traditional IRA and worked in a local business for 2 years. I have only had 2 hard inquiries made against my name in the past year.
Given the above I am very confused about why I was denied. I talked to a CS agent on the recon line and she told me that I would recieve a letter with the exact reasoning, and I can challenge it at that time if I so choose.
Do you guys think that I have any grounds to recon here, or am I out of line? Can you suggest any alternatives for someone like me?
Thanks!!
The letter they send you may not even tell you why they denied you, it may just show autogenerated reasons which can be pretty useless.
Citibank may not like being your first credit card bank -- even with a student card.
There are numerous websites that give you the direct links to credit card prequalification pages -- Citibank has a prequalification page, as do Amex, Chase. Discover, BoA, USBank, etc. Try those out.
Can you provide any additional profile data? What is the age of your oldest account? (I assume that's the AU account). How about your youngest? What's your AAoA? The inquiries that you have from the last year, what were they for? Is that AU credit card the only revolver on your credit report? What utilization percentage is it at?
The AU account is 22 years old, the only other active credit line I have is 1.5 years old and is a secured loan from my bank which I used to purchase a vehicle and have been consistently paying off since then. I suppose the lack of active credit lines I have could possibly be the problem?
My most recent hard inquiry was by a housing rental agency last month, and previously I had an inquiry from my bank when I was considering a small loan to continue building credit but decided against it since I found out I would be leaving my job and my income would lower as a result. The AU card is at 55% utilization, perhaps this is too high and is causing me problems?
I honestly thought student credit cards were supposed to be easy to attain for people with a limited credit background, but I am finding out that is not the case.
Welcome to the forum Geo
I'd suggest apping for the Capitol One Journey card. It'll ding you on all three CB's for the hard pull but no annual fee and 1% back on all purchases and the option to evolve it into a Quicksilver later is worth the chance at getting your foot in the door.
They do have a PreQual site >here< but I've never seen the Journey pop up when I've visited it .
Interest rates are horrendous though (24.99%!), just remember to pay in full each month and grow that seed card into something good later. =)
@Anonymous wrote:
The AU card is at 55% utilization, perhaps this is too high and is causing me problems?
This here is a HUGE problem IMO. If the AU account is the only revolver on your credit report, its utilization IS your aggregate utilization. Any time you apply for credit, you want your aggregate utilization in the ideal range of 1%-8.99% or at most the second best range of 9%-28.99%. The range after that of 29%-48.99% is far less favorable. Being over 50% is a huge knock, as it looks like you can't currently manage your revolver(s) well and is a big indicator of risk.