Credit Cards

[nagisa]

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 o   Your total credit obligations, which include

 outstanding credit lines, are too high to meet our approval

 guidelines, when compared to your stated income.

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I think this is because my AMEX charge card reported a balance of $2k this month, as that was the amount on my Sept statement. I paid it in full the day the statement came out, but for some reason my CR hasn't been updated that this has been paid yet and I suspect it only gets updated when the next statement rolls around (which is in 10 days). My PNC CC reported a pretty insignificant balance (~$250). Do you think this is why Citi freaked out?

Phoned them up and tried to recon on the phone and explain that the AMEX was a charge card and I already have paid in full so it's not a debt, but that didn't work. They want me to get my official credit report from EQ which shows lowered balances and then fax/email that to them within 30 days in order to be reconsidered.

So I have until 11/29 to send them that. My AMEX charge card statement cut date is 11/10 I think. Should I pay 95% of my balance before 11/10, then wait until like 11/12 for AMEX to report this tiny balance to CRA, then request my credit report from EQ? How long does it take to get the credit report? Will it make the Citi deadline of 11/29?

At the moment my PNC card is reporting a balance of ~$500, even though that's been PIF too. Next statement cut is 11/17 I think. Is there anything I can do to make them report the new zero balance?

This all seems a lot of hassle and I'm kinda tempted to give up and not care. I have the Amazon Chase card for amazon purchases and dining, which is all I was going to use the Forward for.

[Objectivist]

I recon'd for that card and was approved. Good luck.

[maiden_girl]

They should have been able to recon without the reference number b/c they have your info on the computer if you give them your SSN. The rep was just being mean and/or lazy.

[Cadillac-XTS]

Congrats on the other approvals

[nagisa]

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Objectivist wrote:

I recon'd for that card and was approved. Good luck.

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Did you have to do anything like fax/email in an updated credit report to do the recon?

[nagisa]

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To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to request reconsideration on my recent application for a Citi Forward Visa credit card. Since being denied by Citi, I also applied for an American Express Blue Cash Preferred credit card since they have cashback for grocery shopping. They approved me with a $7,600 credit limit, so I am a little perplexed why I was not able to be approved by Citi.

According to your letter, I was denied because my “total credit obligations, which include outstanding credit lines, are too high to meet [your] approval guidelines”. A customer service representative said this might be due to a large balance (around $2500; I had just bought several plane tickets) that was showing on my credit report from my American Express Gold charge card. This is a charge card (as seen by “Type of Account: Open” on the credit report, not revolving) so I have to pay the balance in full every month. As a result I do not consider this an outstanding credit card debt, but merely reporting of my monthly expenditure.

I explained this to the customer service representative who told me the only thing I could do was obtain a credit report from Equifax (the credit reporting agency upon whose information my application was denied) that showed this balance as paid off and send this onto you. Yesterday I requested the latest credit report from Equifax and have attached that. As you can see the large balance on my AMEX charge card has been paid off. My PNC credit card was also payed in full last month, but that has not been updated on my credit report yet.

I pay my accounts off in full every month and have never once missed a payment in the four years I have used credit cards. My credit report also shows that I have once spent $5,318 (high credit) in a month on my AMEX charge card and had no problems paying that off immediately in full at the end of the statement period. My annual income is around $50k and I have around $20k of liquid assets (deposits and savings).

I hold Citibank accounts in the United Kingdom for over 5 years and would like to remain a loyal customer of Citi. The ThankYou reward program of the Forward card looks ideal for my spending categories (such as for restaurants) and would like very much to be able to earn ThankYou points. I appreciate your time in considering my application and if there are any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me using the details below.

Yours sincerely,

XXXXXX

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How does this recon letter/email/fax sound?

[wallyworld123]

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nagisa wrote:

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To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to request reconsideration on my recent application for a Citi Forward Visa credit card. Since being denied by Citi, I also applied for an American Express Blue Cash Preferred credit card since they have cashback for grocery shopping. They approved me with a $7,600 credit limit, so I am a little perplexed why I was not able to be approved by Citi.

According to your letter, I was denied because my “total credit obligations, which include outstanding credit lines, are too high to meet [your] approval guidelines”. A customer service representative said this might be due to a large balance (around $2500; I had just bought several plane tickets) that was showing on my credit report from my American Express Gold charge card. This is a charge card (as seen by “Type of Account: Open” on the credit report, not revolving) so I have to pay the balance in full every month. As a result I do not consider this an outstanding credit card debt, but merely reporting of my monthly expenditure.

I explained this to the customer service representative who told me the only thing I could do was obtain a credit report from Equifax (the credit reporting agency upon whose information my application was denied) that showed this balance as paid off and send this onto you. Yesterday I requested the latest credit report from Equifax and have attached that. As you can see the large balance on my AMEX charge card has been paid off. My PNC credit card was also payed in full last month, but that has not been updated on my credit report yet.

I pay my accounts off in full every month and have never once missed a payment in the four years I have used credit cards. My credit report also shows that I have once spent $5,318 (high credit) in a month on my AMEX charge card and had no problems paying that off immediately in full at the end of the statement period. My annual income is around $50k and I have around $20k of liquid assets (deposits and savings).

I hold Citibank accounts in the United Kingdom for over 5 years and would like to remain a loyal customer of Citi. The ThankYou reward program of the Forward card looks ideal for my spending categories (such as for restaurants) and would like very much to be able to earn ThankYou points. I appreciate your time in considering my application and if there are any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me using the details below.

Yours sincerely,

XXXXXX

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How does this recon letter/email/fax sound?

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Very very detailed gr8 job the only thing i would change would be the yours sincerely instead you may want to put Best Regards

[beb86]

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wallyworld123 wrote:

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nagisa wrote:

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To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to request reconsideration on my recent application for a Citi Forward Visa credit card. Since being denied by Citi, I also applied for an American Express Blue Cash Preferred credit card since they have cashback for grocery shopping. They approved me with a $7,600 credit limit, so I am a little perplexed why I was not able to be approved by Citi.

According to your letter, I was denied because my “total credit obligations, which include outstanding credit lines, are too high to meet [your] approval guidelines”. A customer service representative said this might be due to a large balance (around $2500; I had just bought several plane tickets) that was showing on my credit report from my American Express Gold charge card. This is a charge card (as seen by “Type of Account: Open” on the credit report, not revolving) so I have to pay the balance in full every month. As a result I do not consider this an outstanding credit card debt, but merely reporting of my monthly expenditure.

I explained this to the customer service representative who told me the only thing I could do was obtain a credit report from Equifax (the credit reporting agency upon whose information my application was denied) that showed this balance as paid off and send this onto you. Yesterday I requested the latest credit report from Equifax and have attached that. As you can see the large balance on my AMEX charge card has been paid off. My PNC credit card was also payed in full last month, but that has not been updated on my credit report yet.

I pay my accounts off in full every month and have never once missed a payment in the four years I have used credit cards. My credit report also shows that I have once spent $5,318 (high credit) in a month on my AMEX charge card and had no problems paying that off immediately in full at the end of the statement period. My annual income is around $50k and I have around $20k of liquid assets (deposits and savings).

I hold Citibank accounts in the United Kingdom for over 5 years and would like to remain a loyal customer of Citi. The ThankYou reward program of the Forward card looks ideal for my spending categories (such as for restaurants) and would like very much to be able to earn ThankYou points. I appreciate your time in considering my application and if there are any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me using the details below.

Yours sincerely,

XXXXXX

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How does this recon letter/email/fax sound?

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Very very detailed gr8 job the only thing i would change would be the yours sincerely instead you may want to put Best Regards

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+1 if the dont approve you after recon then they dont deserve your business 

[nagisa]

So the drama continues....

I submitted the recon letter via email and called to confirm they got it. I actually got a good CSR this time who explained what was going on and she presented me with two options:

1) Perform another hard pull so they didn't need to confirm the EQ report I sent in and then the credit underwriting dept would make a decision in a day or two

2) Send the EQ report I sent to some verification department who would check it over. The CSR wasn't sure how long this would take and when I asked if this would avoid a HP, she said she wasn't sure (she didn't know if the verification department would do another HP)

I picked 2) seeing as it potentially could avoid a HP. Was that a good choice? I've kinda lost interest in this card now :x.

On another note, will AMEX freak out (aka FR) me if Citi do another HP as it'd look like I've applied for 4 cards in a month (Citi, BCP, Chase amazon, Citi 2nd HP)? I'm getting more and more paranoid about this, but there's nothing I can do ><

[nagisa]

Finally. Over a month after I applied, it was finally approved after a recon letter explaining that the high balance was due to my AMEX charge card and I sent them a new credit report showing it was paid off. They did do another HP on Equifax unfortunately

Credit limit of $4k which is pretty decent I feel.

End of a long story with a good outcome, thanks for staying with me and offering ideas!