Building my wife's credit Part II - Declined Citi

[dangerdave]

I applied for a Discover card for my wife and they granted her a rewards card with a 4,500 limit.  She has a decent FICO score of 683 so I decided to push it a little and apply her for a Citi forward visa.  She got declined so I'm not sure where to go from here.  They sent her a decline letter that stated she could obtain her credit report in the next 60 days but they were not clear from who. They did a hard pull from EX so I assume I could go there and get a CR but can Citi provide the report?

So a few questions...

Should I get the CR from Citi to see what happened?  MAybe the one hard pull from Discover did her in or maybe Citi has more stringent policies than Discover.  Maybe the wind was blowing different?  I do have her EX report current as of two weeks ago.

The letter did say that if any information was incorrect on her CR that she could reapply within 60 days.  Should I try and reapply?  Or reapply for another type of card?

Do I wait now to apply her for more credit?  Should a try a different approach risking another hard pull on her CR.  She will only have one hard pull from Discover on her account along with 2 collection accounts with one that should come off within 28 days.  The other is a collection from Helvey and assoc that has no amount but it looks serious and I can't remember what it was for.

[laz98]

if you have a collection about to come off, i would just wait.

& citi can't give you a credit report, you have to get it from the CRA.

[Anonymous]

Would the discover card be her only active card??  Honestly I would ride that card out for a while.  Hold back on all the inquiries although your still low right now and would be with one more you can let this card report timely payments for atleast six months or so.  No reason for you guys to be impatient.  That's a descent starting limit it's not shallow alot of us start out with limits alot smaller when we're rebuilding so your starting out nice in fact running in my opinion.  Lenders will take notice if she is reponsible with that limit.

So she has three collections total?  The third could be reporting that way because it's paid in full, does it say zero balance or no balance reported at all?

BTW Like laz said you should wait for them to fall off.  Word of advice even if you send Citi a copy of your credit report they will run another hard anyway ...

[tobey]

The denial letter should have listed the CRA they used to make the decision and should have provided instructions on how to obtain the free report. If it really was experian, go to their site and search for "reportaccess".

[dangerdave]

Yes.  The Discover is her only card right now and the only hard pull on her report just now adding Citi.

She has two collections total one should come off within 30 days and the other is from a law firm.  Helvey and assoc.  It's current and closed with no balance being reported but the payment status is "Paid, was a collection account insurance claim or government claim or was terminated by default"  terms 1 month on 4/1/2006.

So just be patient, establish a good six month history with the Discover card and try again?

I'm trying to use her for the CL and she is using me for the AAoA as AU's

David

[Anonymous]

Try GW'ing the helvey and assoc account.  If it says paid then it's paid.  CA's don't normally misreport in your favor.  See if they are wiling to delete it since it's been paid.  You can always search the forums for examples of gw letters and just personalize it to your situation.  You may be able to get rid of both of these collection accounts.

I'd definately wait it out given it's her only active revolving.  She may have a long history but she has a short active history with revolving credit she may want that to get older a bit before trying for new credit. Keep in mind short active has no effect on fico but it's noticeable, lenders won't be sifting through her history for her closed accounts unless they have derogs.

[dangerdave]

I did GW Helvey and Assoc and they did not reply.  Should I send a PFD letter to them?  The account is 4 years old and paid.  Should I just send it to the office or try and focus on an associate if I can find one?  This one is important because it's on both my account and my wife's.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

No, since it is already paid there is nothing to pay for delete.  GW's do not always work the first, second, even third time but it's worth it to do monthly.  It's no guarantee but with persistence many on the forums have had success.  It's worth it not to give up.