730 Experian, 695 TU, 681 EQ - $170k Income. Can't Get Approved For Anything. Advice?

[DNSense]

I've been so frustrated the last week, this system is completely insane and I'm just looking for some advice. 

The Bad: One charged off account from 1999. It took forever to track down who owned the debt, and after years of searching who to pay, I paid it off in full in 2008.

Due to that I avoided credit cards all those years assuming I would not get approved, but in 2010 I applied for a junk Capital One and was approved for $500, now $750.

The Good: I was approved in 2011 for a Blue Skies Amex with $1000 limit and in May 2012 I applied for the Gold Card and was approved, shockingly. I am self employed with two different, independent, businesses. My income is just below $170k/yr.

After getting the Amex Gold in May, I decided I wanted the travel benefits of the Platinum, so I applied and I was insta-approved. I booked a business trip to Korea on my Amex , through Amex, and paid for a bunch of other things, around $6500. Paid it off even before it was due. Next thing you know, they suspend charging on all 3 of my Amex accounts and target me for an FR. 

 NOW, I'm stuck. My trip is coming up, I have no Amex cards to use while all this FR nonsense is pending so I tried to apply for a Chase Sapphire standard because I still do not have a strong Visa/Mastercard in my wallet..Denied. Citi Thank You standard, Denied. Some Barclay Card, Denied. The AAA Member Rewards Card I got an invitation in the mail for was also denied.  Chase Slate, also denied.

 I called the Chase recon line as I've seen mentioned on the forums, and they told me my credit history was too short despite my income and the fact I never missed a Chase car payment. Even more ridiculous is my wife is a new US resident who just moved to the country 5 years ago. She had NO credit history whatsoever and they gave her a Chase Freedom with $6000 limit, Capital One gave her $2500.

  What do I possibly need to do to get approved for something?? My scores are there, my one bad mark on my report is old..but now in trying to get more credit I racked up a bunch of inquiries...And AMEX is nothing short of untrustable..Who's to say I won't be on a trip and they decide to suspend my card again for no reason? It really seems insane I was denied for all those cards. How can I get in the good graces of somewhere...anywhere, and get a Visa/Mastercard?

[DaveSignal]

you need to look at your credit reports.  A charge-off from 1999 shouldn't be there.  If it is, dispute the date of first delinquency.  Then, you need some current revolving credit history.  Maybe your wife can add you as AU on some of her cards.... she doesn't need to give you a physical card for these accounts to reflect on your credit reports.

[Shogun]

+1  Check those reports.  I agree with Dave.  If it's that old it should be gone.  You have the income and it looks like the scores.  

[DNSense]

Thanks guys, I'll look into that. That one was charged off in 1999 but not paid until 2008 because the debt was sold so many times I couldn't find who to pay, so maybe that incredible length of time before payment is hurting me?  One other thing that struck me is when I was on the phone with Chase recon he mentioned something else from 1999 (my rough year) that he saw, but was not on my credit report. I mentioned to him that it was paid and it's no longer on my credit report and he agreed, but said they still take that into consideration. That seems to defeat the purpose of things falling off credit reports doesn't it? If they have an infinite history to look at then why have the system at all?

 The Chase recon line was a joke, my experience was nothing like the glowing calls everyone else reports. People report being asked a few more questions like "why do you want the card" "any changes to your income" etc, but the vibe of my calls was a "no" from the moment the conversation started. They didn't ask me anything or look for a way to approve me, they just told me why I didn't get approved.

I am an authorized user on my wife's Freedom and it shows in my report, but for a bunch of logistical and financial reasons it's not ideal to use that for my business charges.

[LS2982]

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@DaveSignal wrote:

you need to look at your credit reports.  A charge-off from 1999 shouldn't be there.  If it is, dispute the date of first delinquency.  Then, you need some current revolving credit history.  Maybe your wife can add you as AU on some of her cards.... she doesn't need to give you a physical card for these accounts to reflect on your credit reports.

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I agree, that 1999 CO needs to come off ASAP. I'd be shooting off a DV letter to the CA.

[masscredit]

Worst case, if you need a card in your name quick (and this might help your reports too), if you have the extra cash to open a decent sized secured account (maybe $5k plus), do that so you have something to work with. Then your not scrambling as much to try to get this taken care of, you have a high limit card reporting and everything should fall into place. Then cancel that account later and get your cash back. 

[aussiesareforever]

Making a payment on the CO account likely reset the DOFD. It is still weird that it was still on your credit report in 2008 when you paid it back then. In retrospect, I would have disputed it then and they would have had to have taken it off. Since you made the payment and din't negotiate a PFD, you may consider sending goodwill letters.

HOWEVER, I don't think that is sufficient enought to warrant all the denials. Did you call Barclay and recon? They are usually very very good with recons. I would start with that first. Secondly, try your local credit union. I bet that if you went in and talked to them, they would be willing to work with you. Print out your CR, explain your situation before they pull another inquiry. They will usually be able to give you an idea whether they will be able to approve you or not. Thirdly, just check your CRs and make sure there is no other weird reason you are being denied...looking for any big changes in utility, new negatives being reported.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[DNSense]

Thanks guys, I've been reading up on how to get that paid off CO off my report so hopefully that will help, it just kills me how slow everything moves in the credit report world. Here's an update:

As far as my Amex FR, I got an email on Tuesday saying they've imposed hard limits on my Gold and Plat of $5000 each, however as of Thursday all my Amex cards are still listed as "Charging Suspended". I've called and left my account manager 2 voicemails so far, but they've gone unanswered. I'm really banking on them finishing this up before my trip next week.

I got my denial letter from Citi Thank You today, and the reason for denial was not my not enough revolving accounts, bad past, or short length of open accounts...the reason given was simply "too many inquiries". Yes, I do have too many, there's 18 on my Transunion - 4 of which will fall off within a month, 2 more in December. 

All but 3 of the inquries can be accounted for, the mystery 3 are from FIA CSNA, which I've read is from a division of BoA. Even though I never applied for a BoA card or ever had an account with them, there was 3 randomly spaced inquiries from them over the last 2 years. Then when I applied for a BoA card last weekend, BoA seemed to hard pull twice, once as BoA and once as FIA CSNA, bringing me to a total of 4 pulls from FIA CSNA showing. How I'm supposed to try to get a card without a hard pull is a mystery to me. Ultimate catch-22.

  Chase recon also mentioned something I thought was strange and unfair...at the time of the credit report pull it showed a balance of 2551 on my Gold Amex. The guy on the phone said I was a risk because I was "at my limit" on the Amex. This is patently unfair because 1) at that time I had no limit on the Amex 2) it was out of date and had been paid off a month prior! How could they use that against me?

 I have $50k in a savings account at my one of my banks so I talked to the lady about getting a credit card through them. She said it should not be a problem and had me fill out the paper form to be eventually reviewed by the manager. I don't know what sort of process it will be, but I shortly got an email back saying it would take 10 days for a response. She also called me and said just wait the 10 days and see what happens, and if for some reason it's denied she'll "work something out" with the bank manager. I don't know why we just couldn't skip to that part. Ugh. 

 I didn't get the Barclay denial letter yet, but I guess I'll try it once I get the reference #. I really don't have high hopes, most of the forums I've seen people say the opposite and that Barclays recon is next to impossible. I really don't want them doing another hard pull either, it's getting out of control. At this point even if I get that CO removed I'm still absolutely buried under inquiries which apparently weigh more heavily on your creditworthiness than I thought. 

I do have big changes in my utility since May, I've taken my business to the next level so I'm spending more for that and buying way more personal stuff than before, which is probably why Amex FR'd me. I guess that's the price you pay for having a good year, you just become suspect. 

 Regardless, my TU score just went UP, all my scores are great, everything else looks great. I've literally gotten every reason possible among my denial letters, there's no rhyme or reason. 

 It's pretty sad when my best option looks to be getting a large secured card, but I admit it will definitely help my situation.