The Weirdness of USAA Credit

[Johnny_Favorite]

A story of one approval and one denial.

Me: Short credit history of only about 5 months with such crappy cards as Express, Jcrew and Victoria's secret. 11 inquiries on each bureau (33 total). 6 new accts opened and reporting this month (discover, walmart, chevron, etc.). USAA approves me for 6000.

Her: Long credit history of 6 years. Great credit card history with BOFA (5K), US Bank (6K), Citi (3K), Barclays (2K). BOFA is 6 years of history and the rest are 6 months old. Only 4 inquiries and she gets denied by USAA for too many new accounts, too short history, too many inquiries, utlization too high. All of her cards are less than 10% balance and the BOFA has a zero balance. The only card with high utilization is Citi with 1500 (50% of her limit).

I feel bad that she took the hit but I have no idea why I was approved and she was denied. When I got approved I thought for sure that she would be a shoe in considering she has a way better credit profile than me, or so I thought? She even makes more money than me.

[Datx]

Not very likely this is the case...but im going to ask...

You're a full member of USAA and she is not?

[Johnny_Favorite]

both partial

[scottwagnon]

i've always suspected that some credit approvals are a crapshoot; while you both have good credit and can obtain these cards, i suspect some banks may randomly approve some while others that meet the approval criteria, will be turned down. it could also be the customer base they are attempting to target. is it possible that your friend may have some baddies that she has not discussed with you. it could also be an age factor.

Update:

i reread the OP. it could be that because she has more credit, so in this case they see her as a larger profit and/or default, deliquent risk. also tied into this is that she has a high util on one of her cards. i know usaa can be a bit conservative, but i am guessing this is how they are conservative. capone is sort of this way with their excellent credit cards.

[WarJar101]

@Johnny_Favorite - Only 5 months of credit history wow and a 6000 dollar limit. Nice. So which CR did they pull? Do you happen to live in the Northeast? Which card did you apply for? How long were you partial member of USAA before you applied for USAA CC? Do you currently have a bank account with them or get insurance through them? Thanks, and congrats!