Declined at Penfed! GRRR Suggestions?

[cabarkeep]

I recently joined Pentagon Fed CU and applied and was declined for their credit card.. my ficos were 757 TU 742 FAX and 738 Exp... no baddies at all ....

Total utilization around 8%

Discover More 25k

Usaa MC  25k

AMEX Blue 5k (cld'd from 15k this year)

AMEX GOLD (I cancelled this one after being cld'd and not using it enough to justify the AF)

Citi Platinum MC 10k

Wamu 7500

and various other smaller cards 3500-7k

But they declined me based on income as my mortgage is probably 4k on my bureau ...but it is split with my fiance ....who is also listed on the loan which shows on the bureau as a cosigned loan....

income is around 7k/mo for past 8 yrs .... but Penfed would not even consider the fact that my g/f is not considered on any other of my credit cards 10 of them ...nor my car payment 500/mo ... but everyone else is not shy about giving me credit lol ... just got the Discover 6 mos ago and Usaa about 8 mos ago ....both 25k limits

I did fax over a recon letter and followed up with a phone call the rep said the credit was fine but the income was not enough based on credit report because of the mortgage ..if i wanted a true recon i would have to add my g/f to the acct and have another recon done ...i would need to fax over my g/f's ssn etc income etc.... for consideration ... her credit is fine 690-710 but i just do not think she needs to be on my credit cards if she is not my wife thats all and again I reminded the rep that none of the other CC companies thought so either lol .

I politely declined that option for now my Penfed wish has been put on hold .... I just thought I would add them to my portfolio as another card but I guess now I will look elsewhere ...Now what card should I go for? 

Any sugggestions?

[jmbfl]

I don't think you'll be getting PenFed anytime soon. As we have all stated here repeatedly they are a conservative outfit. That being said, a $4K/mo. mortgage based on a $7K/mo. income is way out of wack. That would not be acceptable to anyone who is looking at debt-to-income ratios, particularly in this economic environment. Problem is you took a mortgage based on joint income for which you are individually liable (in full) and PenFed will only consider joint income for a joint application. This is, in my mind, an insurmountable problem if you don't want your app to be joint. Be happy for the other high CL's you have - and pray that you are not CLD'ed on any of them!

[TangMeister]

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@jmbfl wrote:
I don't think you'll be getting PenFed anytime soon. As we have all stated here repeatedly they are a conservative outfit. That being said, a $4K/mo. mortgage based on a $7K/mo. income is way out of wack. That would not be acceptable to anyone who is looking at debt-to-income ratios, particularly in this economic environment. Problem is you took a mortgage based on joint income for which you are individually liable (in full) and PenFed will only consider joint income for a joint application. This is, in my mind, an insurmountable problem if you don't want your app to be joint. Be happy for the other high CL's you have - and pray that you are not CLD'ed on any of them!

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++1

[cabarkeep]

I agree that a 7k income with a 4k mortgage doesn't make sense but together our combined income is probably 16-17k per month....and that hasn't changed in the past 4-5 years ... our outgoing expenses are actually around 7k a month so income is not a problem ....but i just think in this case penfed is just saying that I could get a card if I want to prove her income as long as shes credit worthy ...I even asked if I could just send them a copy of what her income is without adding her to the card and they still refused.

My whole point was since i obviously pay my bills and have a track record that shows that all bills are paid in this case maybe it would make sense that I should qualify for a card of some kind from penfed lol ..... no biggie ....

So back to question #2 .... what other card do you think is a good card as I am probably going to sock drawer the amex i will keep it open but probably will not use it since it was cld'd because of open mortgages so my interest can go to somewhere else other than AMEX.  I dont hate AMEX but umm I am a little bitter in how they did me and didnt even kiss me first! lol

Any suggestions?

[wmarat]

1. Your only option to get into Penfed is to apply jointly, because your DTI is very high.

2. It depends what CC you are looking for. I have very good experience with BOA. Generous CL, good BT offers, reasonable APR, mostly nice CS, CLI etc. Rewards are not so good as Penfed's. BOA Accelerated Amex offers 1.25% back by WorldPoints.

[Uniqua]

Correct me if I am wrong, but you have absolutely no problem putting your GF/DF (not sure which one she is) on your mortgage as a co-borrower to pay that whopping $4K mortgage a month, yet you find no reason to have her as a co-applicant on a CC because she's not your wife? You're already playing house, why the limitations? If you want the PenFed CC, your only option is to include her as a co-applicant. If that's the only option they gave you, they won't make any compromises. With the number of CCs you already have and the amount of your CLs, why do you need another CC anyway?

[Anonymous]

Correct me if I am worng, but from what I am reading you make 7k a month, which means she makes 9-10k a month, which is the reason you got a 4k a month mortgage in the first place. But now she is not worthy enough to help you obtain a PenFed CC?

No offense dude, but why do you need so much credit in the first place?

I'd be happy to have half the cards and limits you have.

[Anonymous]

Bah. 

This thread has just made me realize my PenFed dreams are probably utterly futile! There was me thinking that so long as I could overcome the short credit history and hopefully avoid any accusations of 'pyramiding', that maybe in a few months I'd have a shot with them. Hadn't even occurred to me that they don't take HHI into account, as that seems to be what everyone else is interested in. My utilization is pretty much negligible, but if you take the mortgage into account, MY DTI (without husband's income factored in) is probably about the same as the OP's, albeit with a much smaller mortgage and lower income!

Oh well.  

Message Edited by fevmlo on 10-25-2008 10:04 AM