topic Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️ in Credit Card Approvals

Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

LADave — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 01:49:10 GMT

Earlier this month I applied for an AAdvantage Aviator Red during my app spree and got declined, before I applied for a Bread Cashback Amex as my "last" spree card.

Well, I got the Barclays denial letter earlier today and thought "Why not?," and called their reconsideration line. The denial reasons were too many accounts opened, too many recent applications, and excessive credit applications. To my surprise (and delight), the operator focused on the second reason for too many recent applications, which she interpreted as recent applications with Barclays. The only other time I had ever applied for a Barclays card was for an Apple co-branded card - which would have been about 9 years ago or so. (I almost forgot about the Barclays "Apple Card" that I didn't get.)

After a 20-minute call that sometimes felt like waiting for a loan approval at a car dealership, I came out approved for a $5,000 SL. They were concerned about late payments from more than 3 years ago on a shared car/car loan when my partner had been ill, and Barclays seemed satisfied with that explanation. The most unexpected question I got was why my oldest credit card account was "only" 9 years old. I explained that I wasn't using credit cards for a few years before I saw the light. (It seems like they're looking for longer credit card histories for the Aviator Red - perhaps relative to the age of the applicant? - or at least they're giving longer histories bonus points.)

(I was inspired to say that I hadn't been using credit cards for a few years after seeing a YouTube by Brandon Boyd about the Barclays reconsideration line, and his application for the Aviator Business card. He was a former David Ramsey coach who took Ramsey's advice about not applying for credit cards, until he didn't. 😂 It might not be the answer I would have given a week ago, but it's nonetheless true.)

This card was been on my wish list for several months now, and I'm glad to finally get it. It's my most substantial SUB that I can remember to date (60,000 American Airlines AAviator miles after making the first purchase). It's technically my first real "travel rewards card," although I got a lot of travel back in the day on an Amex green card, and I currently have a WF Autograph. It's also got 15 months at 0% APR, which will come in handy for a large purchase I'll be making in the next month or so, and maybe a balance transfer. And the first year's annual fee is waived. I'll probably downgrade it after the first year, but for now I'll enjoy the perks.

My denial letter shows a TU credit score of 722, which matches my FICO 8 score on Discover. I had 7 hard inquiries with TU before the application, including 1 from Capital One two days the Barclays application, and two from a car dealer last year (so probably only 5 affected the score/application). AAoA 2 years 11 months, AoOA 9 years 3 months, 16% utilization.

Edits: I've corrected the number of inquiries I had with TU, added labels, and cleaned up the post for readability.

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

CreditMagic7 — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 05:33:03 GMT

I'm so glad for you @LADave that your Wish List card you wanted so much is finally yours!

That's a great effort on your part to called in after the denial letter and recon with them. My experience with barclays is been they are the absolute BEST interrogators when confronted with answering their biting questions, but after what seems like no chance they come back with positive results overturning a denial into an approval.

Congratulations and fine decision!

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

LADave — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 06:15:49 GMT

@CreditMagic7 thank you! I've heard the Barclays reconsideration line can be something else, and I wasn't disappointed. I was suspecting the lady on the other end was about to drop some bad news just before she told me I was approved with a $5K SL. 😂

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

SweetCreditObsession — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 06:17:43 GMT

Congratulations 🎊 on overcoming that denial and getting a decent SL!

Thanks too for the bg info. Those DPs are very helpful.

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

JoeRockhead — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 07:43:46 GMT

Nice SL and approval, nicely done, congratulations!

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

CreditCuriosity — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 12:10:12 GMT

Congrats on the approval and reconsideration. One of my old favorite things to do was recon including barclay's back in the days of rebuilding. They ask the questions and as long as you have good answers and the rule isn't set in stone they will actually consider and hear a person out and have the ability to overturn a denial most of the time depending on a hard rule or not. Rememeber back in the day would be on with Chase 30-45 misn at some times before the 5/24 rule doing recons. Enjoy the card!

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

Yasselife — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 13:59:40 GMT

Congratulations on your approval, @LADave

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

LADave — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 15:06:42 GMT

@CreditCuriosity wrote:
Congrats on the approval and reconsideration. One of my old favorite things to do was recon including barclay's back in the days of rebuilding. They ask the questions and as long as you have good answers and the rule isn't set in stone they will actually consider and hear a person out and have the ability to overturn a denial most of the time depending on a hard rule or not. Rememeber back in the day would be on with Chase 30-45 misn at some times before the 5/24 rule doing recons. Enjoy the card!

This is very good to know. I had called the Citi reconsideration line last year when I got denied for a Premier card, and the impression I got was that there wasn't any wiggle room for an approval on my application. (I now believe I would have been in better shape for it had I not applied for my WF Autograph card a few months before.)

It's going to be at least 18 months before I'm under 5/24 again 😂 but if I ever need to call Chase for reconsideration, I'll be ready!

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

Hex — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 17:11:54 GMT

Nice recon approvals- Congratulations.

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

M_Smart007 — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 17:28:20 GMT

@LADave, Congrats on the successful recon Approval!

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

practical1 — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 17:58:07 GMT

@LADave

Congrats! Good job convincing the underwriter to reconsider. (I see you read my 2021 post about how difficult that can be!).

More good news.... it seems that the pendulum might be swinging back towards Barclays... some months ago, not only did I receive an offer for a $20K interest-free cash advance on my AA Silver MasterCard for 9 months-- but I was also able to secure an online CLI from $28K to $35K without any issues. Needless to say, I took advantage of this "too good to be true offer."

So, sometimes in the long run, it pays to put up with their nonsense. You never know when they might be hurting for business and run this kind of special offer....

Best of luck and enjoy the AA miles -- while they're still worth something. You might get at least one trip out of the initial bonus points -- if you act quickly, before American eliminates their Awards Mileage Chart altogether (which, I hear, is expected to happen within days or a few weeks).

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

LADave — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 18:12:58 GMT

@practical1 wrote:
@LADave
Congrats! Good job convincing the underwriter to reconsider. (I see you read my 2021 post about how difficult that can be!).

More good news.... it seems that the pendulum might be swinging back towards Barclays... some months ago, not only did I receive an offer for a $20K interest-free cash advance on my AA Silver MasterCard for 9 months-- but I was also able to secure an online CLI from $28K to $35K without any issues. Needless to say, I took advantage of this "too good to be true offer."

So, sometimes in the long run, it pays to put up with their nonsense. You never know when they might be hurting for business and run this kind of special offer....

Best of luck and enjoy the AA miles -- while they're still worth something. You might get at least one trip out of the initial bonus points -- if you act quickly, before American eliminates their Awards Mileage Chart altogether (which, I hear, is expected to happen within days or a few weeks).

Thank you for the heads up @practical1! How quickly I can book that trip depends mostly on how quickly I can make the first purchase on the card to meet the SUB requirement, and then how quickly those miles get deposited into my AA account.

This is my first Barclays product so I don't have an online account yet to create a virtual card or add it to Apple Pay to expedite the process. Do you have a ballpark idea for how long it might take for me to get the miles?

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

practical1 — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 18:33:23 GMT

@LADave

I don't remember exactly how long it took for the initial miles to post, but at the time, it seemed rather quick after they were earned. My suggestion is that if you have the means and need to spend enough to qualify right away, that you do so ASAP during the first billing period, so that you are most likely to get the points as early as you can.

Generally, I find that AA posts miles earned from Barclay's cards within a day or so of the closing date of each month's card statement date. I just checked my AA Account -- the posting date listed for each of my AA cards is the actual closing date (although I wouldn't swear that the points show up on that date). I doubt that you can get the points earlier -- but you might (...and this could be wishful thinking) be able to book award travel with pending miles over the phone --- IF you can deal with an unusually cooperative agent. Of course, it would help to be Executive Platinum or another really high status member with AA -- but since you've established that your negotiating skills are "top shelf," might be worth a try....

Hope this helps.

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

LADave — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 19:28:53 GMT

@practical1 wrote:
@LADave
I don't remember exactly how long it took for the initial miles to post, but at the time, it seemed rather quick after they were earned. My suggestion is that if you have the means and need to spend enough to qualify right away, that you do so ASAP during the first billing period, so that you are most likely to get the points as early as you can.

Generally, I find that AA posts miles earned from Barclay's cards within a day or so of the closing date of each month's card statement date. I just checked my AA Account -- the posting date listed for each of my AA cards is the actual closing date (although I wouldn't swear that the points show up on that date). I doubt that you can get the points earlier -- but you might (...and this could be wishful thinking) be able to book award travel with pending miles over the phone --- IF you can deal with an unusually cooperative agent. Of course, it would help to be Executive Platinum or another really high status member with AA -- but since you've established that your negotiating skills are "top shelf," might be worth a try....

Hope this helps.

Thanks @practical1! I'll research and get prepared for that call in case we don't get the miles in a reasonable amount of time. (The SUB requirements on the personal version of the card are met after making a single purchase - which is one of the reasons it was so attractive!) I'll post an update if I make that call.

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

CreditAggie — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 21:53:09 GMT

Congratulations on your Barclays approval and thank you for sharing your recon experience!

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

NoMoreDebt — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 23:49:02 GMT

congrats on the approval

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

LADave — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 17:20:09 GMT

@NoMoreDebt wrote:
congrats on the approval

Thank you @NoMoreDebt! And also to everyone else I haven't acknowledged in a separate message yet in this thread, like @CreditAggie, @M_Smart007, @Hex, @Yasselife, @JoeRockhead, and @SweetCreditObsession.

Quick update - I got an update from Capital One CreditWise this morning that my new Barclays account showed up on my Experian report, not even 2 full days after I got it approved. I believe that's faster than Synchrony - they sure didn't waste any time! 😂 My Bread Cashback Amex hasn't shown up yet on any of my reports, and given Comenity's issues I suspect it might not show up for a while. It seems that doing Comenity around the beginning of an app spree and Barclays and Synchrony around the end is probably prudent.

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

SweetCreditObsession — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 17:53:39 GMT

@LADave wrote:
@NoMoreDebt wrote:
congrats on the approval
Thank you @NoMoreDebt! And also to everyone else I haven't acknowledged in a separate message yet in this thread, like @CreditAggie, @M_Smart007, @Hex, @Yasselife, @JoeRockhead, and @SweetCreditObsession.

Quick update - I got an update from Capital One CreditWise this morning that my new Barclays account showed up on my Experian report, not even 2 full days after I got it approved. I believe that's faster than Synchrony - they sure didn't waste any time! 😂 My Bread Cashback Amex hasn't shown up yet on any of my reports, and given Comenity's issues I suspect it might not show up for a while. It seems that doing Comenity around the beginning of an app spree and Barclays and Synchrony around the end is probably prudent.

It's interesting to see how quickly and how slowly the CLs are showing up on your reports. Thanks for sharing the updates!

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

TheRedHat — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 18:07:17 GMT

Congrats on your approval!

Re: Barclays Aviator Red 🔴 $5K SL after Reconsideration! 😮✈️

KingRue8500 — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 04:59:38 GMT

Congrats on your Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red approval