topic Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic] in Credit Card Approvals

Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

SuperFlyEDSguy — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 05:34:13 GMT

Hi all! 👋

It's been a while since my last post as I've unfortunately been dealing with more health problems than before, but their severity is mostly "on again, off again," so hopefully I'm back on the upswing! We are also moving down to sunny Florida in just a few short weeks, which I'm sure will also help as the New Jersey cold has been brutal on my body this Winter! I am hoping to post many more exciting credit-related updates, and there's certainly a lot to share, but I want to start with this one in particular to see if literally anyone has seen this e-Mail message before?! 🤔

I mean this was just bizarre, especially after finally deciding to pull the trigger on applying again as I was outright denied the only other time that I tried applying for this particular product about two years ago. I figured that this time I have a $10K U.S. Bank credit card behind me, so it should get me something! I was hoping for $5K and thought that $10K would be really nice, but realistically figured that I would be approved somewhere between $4K and $6K this particular go. Frankly, I was amazed when I saw that I had a congratulatory e-Mail in my inbox less than 24-hours after applying! So, what gives?

I did call-in and after being verified by phone the rep confirmed that this is indeed very odd and that she's never heard of anything like this ever happening, but she assured me that I have been approved...

Approved for $15,000! 😮

Yeah, there'll be no need to kick this one up the foodchain to reconsiderations! 😂

My guess is that because I received the "7 to 10 day message," someone from underwriting had to manually approve me and being already towards the end of the day, they simply forgot to fill-in that part of the template. Again, that's just my theory. As for what seems like a very generous starting line for this card, I am thinking that the U.S. Bank relationship was probably the biggest factor, but my current numbers are reading like a dream to an underwriter with zero lates, ~3% utilization, a very eclectic mix of credit, usually paying in full each month, and of course multiple cards already in the > $10K range being underwritten by several banks. I've recently opened a couple of new card products, but my one year HPs were minimal from forcing myself to garden for a while! Thanks for that advice, BTW, because I had far too many HPs even just over one year ago! You may also have noticed that my scores seem lower compared to those getting these higher approval amounts and I'm pretty sure that it'll remain that way until my BK7 eventually falls off, but that's what underwriters are for! 😂

Now, if anyone could explain this any better, please do!

So, that's my weird approval story for a card that I almost didn't bother to try again for!

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

Linnaea — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 10:36:08 GMT

Your oust is uplifting and the approval amount was hilarious. I think you are probably right about weekday happened. Congrats.

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

CardHunter — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 11:08:08 GMT

@SuperFlyEDSguy wrote:

Hi all! 👋

It's been a while since my last post as I've unfortunately been dealing with more health problems than before, but their severity is mostly "on again, off again," so hopefully I'm back on the upswing! We are also moving down to sunny Florida in just a few short weeks, which I'm sure will also help as the New Jersey cold has been brutal on my body this Winter! I am hoping to post many more exciting credit-related updates, and there's certainly a lot to share, but I want to start with this one in particular to see if literally anyone has seen this e-Mail message before?! 🤔

I mean this was just bizarre, especially after finally deciding to pull the trigger on applying again as I was outright denied the only other time that I tried applying for this particular product about two years ago. I figured that this time I have a $10K U.S. Bank credit card behind me, so it should get me something! I was hoping for $5K and thought that $10K would be really nice, but realistically figured that I would be approved somewhere between $4K and $6K this particular go. Frankly, I was amazed when I saw that I had a congratulatory e-Mail in my inbox less than 24-hours after applying! So, what gives?

I did call-in and after being verified by phone the rep confirmed that this is indeed very odd and that she's never heard of anything like this ever happening, but she assured me that I have been approved...

Approved for $15,000! 😮

Yeah, there'll be no need to kick this one up the foodchain to reconsiderations! 😂

My guess is that because I received the "7 to 10 day message," someone from underwriting had to manually approve me and being already towards the end of the day, they simply forgot to fill-in that part of the template. Again, that's just my theory. As for what seems like a very generous starting line for this card, I am thinking that the U.S. Bank relationship was probably the biggest factor, but my current numbers are reading like a dream to an underwriter with zero lates, ~3% utilization, a very eclectic mix of credit, usually paying in full each month, and of course multiple cards already in the > $10K range being underwritten by several banks. I've recently opened a couple of new card products, but my one year HPs were minimal from forcing myself to garden for a while! Thanks for that advice, BTW, because I had far too many HPs even just over one year ago! You may also have noticed that my scores seem lower compared to those getting these higher approval amounts and I'm pretty sure that it'll remain that way until my BK7 eventually falls off, but that's what underwriters are for! 😂

Now, if anyone could explain this any better, please do!

So, that's my weird approval story for a card that I almost didn't bother to try again for!

Awesome post and congrats on a very nice approval!

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

Traveler101 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 12:07:36 GMT

That's too funny. Congratulations on the scenic route to approval.

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

MySunrise271 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 12:46:08 GMT

Congratulations on your Fidelity Rewards approval and impressive SL🎉🎉🎉

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

TekkenQQ7 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 13:28:55 GMT

@SuperFlyEDSguy Congratulations!! on your approval. Do you have to have an account with Fidelity to apply for the card?

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

SuperFlyEDSguy — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 13:52:47 GMT

Many thanks! Yes, you absolutely need a Fidelity account because the card, by design, automatically takes your rewards and moves them over to a Fidelity account each month. That way you can keep earning money through your rewards or at least that's the idea with stocks being volatile and all. I would be optimistic though, well, I am optimistic because I am seeing the upturn in the market first hand right now. If stocks, bonds, ETFs, aren't really your thing you could check the FAQs because you could probably move it over to a Fidelity Cash Management account and have a High Yield Savings Account (HYSA) or something like that return a relatively stable return. I've been moving my rewards cash in general over to a Bread HYSA earning somewhere around 5.15% APY. It's not hard to transfer some funds once a month, but having an automatic sweep over to investments will be sweeeeet!

BTW, you could open up a Fidelity Self-Managed Brokerage Account for maybe even $1 as all you'll need is the minimum or a "stock slice." They may have a minimum, but it would be worth it! Here's why:

I'm up by the following numbers, always use percentages instead of cash, BTW, more accurate:

Last Month: +26.33%
YTD: +32.32%
1 Year: +66.31%
BYRN: +73.11% (purchased about a month ago!)
META: +92.02% (overall)

Investments are NOT for everyone, but if it's something you're interested in NOW is the time! (IMHO, of course.) Also, I'm saying "investing" as opposed to "trading," so I focus on longer-term goals and just let the money work for me instead of me working the money. It's all about picking specific companies and sticking with them for a certain amount of time. I mean there's A LOT more to it, but YES! Get a Fidelity account and go for the card!

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

JoeRockhead — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:13:37 GMT

Nice SL, congratulations on your approval!

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

gorgon — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:20:08 GMT

Congrats on your approval.

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

TekkenQQ7 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:35:05 GMT

@SuperFlyEDSguy wrote:
Many thanks! Yes, you absolutely need a Fidelity account because the card, by design, automatically takes your rewards and moves them over to a Fidelity account each month. That way you can keep earning money through your rewards or at least that's the idea with stocks being volatile and all. I would be optimistic though, well, I am optimistic because I am seeing the upturn in the market first hand right now. If stocks, bonds, ETFs, aren't really your thing you could check the FAQs because you could probably move it over to a Fidelity Cash Management account and have a High Yield Savings Account (HYSA) or something like that return a relatively stable return. I've been moving my rewards cash in general over to a Bread HYSA earning somewhere around 5.15% APY. It's not hard to transfer some funds once a month, but having an automatic sweep over to investments will be sweeeeet!

BTW, you could open up a Fidelity Self-Managed Brokerage Account for maybe even $1 as all you'll need is the minimum or a "stock slice." They may have a minimum, but it would be worth it! Here's why:

I'm up by the following numbers, always use percentages instead of cash, BTW, more accurate:

Last Month: +26.33%
YTD: +32.32%
1 Year: +66.31%
BYRN: +73.11% (purchased about a month ago!)
META: +92.02% (overall)
Investments are NOT for everyone, but if it's something you're interested in NOW is the time! (IMHO, of course.) Also, I'm saying "investing" as opposed to "trading," so I focus on longer-term goals and just let the money work for me instead of me working the money. It's all about picking specific companies and sticking with them for a certain amount of time. I mean there's A LOT more to it, but YES! Get a Fidelity account and go for the card!

@SuperFlyEDSguy Thanks a lot for the information, that card is definitely on my radar. I will open an account and let it sit for a while before I apply, also my inq get aged as well.

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

SuperFlyEDSguy — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 15:46:44 GMT

Sounds like a solid plan! I like Fidelity A LOT and appreciate their ginormous list of financial products and services. For kicks, I was looking at their Money Managment Accounts after sending you that reply, and discovered another tool of theirs that I wasn't aware of, but you would never tell just by taking a brief look at the page. On the surface, Fidelity Bloom looked like just another financial app, but after reading the page in full my jaw dropped! 😮

Yes, it is a financial app at its core.
It also includes two bank accounts, one designated for "spend" and the other for "save."
It could automate a lot to help you spend less and save more.
They're NOT traditional bank accounts, they're Fidelity Low Risk Mutual Funds, currently earning 4.98%! 😮
As a reward they'll match 10% of your savings annually on up to $300! 😮
They have quite a few other rewards!
You could move the "save" money into other brokerage accounts that may offer higher rewards (and risks)!
Ironically, Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX) is also my own core position!

This is just one of their options, I go looking around their website every so often because I keep finding cool and innovative stuff that nobody else is doing! They have more "traditional" options, but they earn less, and this seems like a great way to get in with them because you could use SPAXX similar to a HYSA and earn about the same APY! The difference is, you wont have to manage separate accounts at different institutions because Fidelity will have it all. So, kinda sorta a Savings-Investing way to get started, then later add a Self-Managed Brokerage Account to buy what you want, then apply for the card once you got a system down and working for you! I literally just showed my wife that we made about a grand in the last 7-weeks in Fidelity Securities, and that was conservative as I moved most of that money out to the HYSA when things went down and not good. The market goes in cycles, that's why you buy low, when everyone else is selling. It comes back stronger after every crash, but you just have to give it time!

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

SuperFlyEDSguy — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 20:40:13 GMT

Many thanks! I know they could be a bit wonky with this particular card and assigning a SL. Some high rollers get $500, and then some upper-middle rollers like myself get $15K! I think it's because of underwriting department going over more new apps than their algorithms, hence all of the "7 to 10 day messages!" It's just like in emergency medicine, numbers are nice, but what's going on with your patient?! It seems that they're looking at the facts and then assigning credit lines, and I would like to think they do a really good job at it! 😂 I didn't think that I had a snowballs chance in hell getting a $15K SL, sure, I know they could go higher, but I almost didn't apply at all after getting denied once before. I was thinking, maybe $5K [sic] or not much higher. 😮 I'm very glad I did though, quite generous, and made my day as all my hard work is paying off with my latest limits and CLI amounts! 😊

Oh, and I even get a great story to share! It really couldn't have gone much better! 😆👍

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

Meanmchine — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 00:59:06 GMT

LOL, you actually applied for their debit card.

Congrats !

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

CorpCrMgr1 — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 04:20:28 GMT

Congratulations on your strange approval!

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

SuperFlyEDSguy — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 21:42:22 GMT

Many thanks for the congrats! 🥳

That Debit Card thought was funny as hell and super clever! 😂

I honestly have no clue how that could have happened, but I'm thinking that it's part of a manual process and that the underwriter wanted to get home being so late in the day. So, they do a quick review of my report, see the datapoints aren't too shabby, and enter the $15K into the approvals screen, however forgetting to add it into their e-Mail template. 🤔 Who knows... but... I'm approved! 😮😊👍

Ironically, we do have their debit cards too, but keep them perpetually on ice to play it safe. I always want to know that I have access to my money if ever need be. Now, that's probably a 1:1,000,000 chance as I have credit cards for emergencies, besides the fact that securities need to be liquidated before getting it in cold, hard cash. I guess that it simply comes down to the fact that the very thought just makes me more comfortable. 😆

Still getting a good laugh though, thank you! 😂

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

TrapLine — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 21:57:05 GMT

Glad you wrote this up! Just opened the same card and got the same email.

Afraid I was being snookered so I called in and they verified my approval even without an application number which I never got!

Good CL at $15K (same for me).

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

SuperFlyEDSguy — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 23:12:06 GMT

First, Hi and Welcome! 👋

That was indeed a very generous SL! 💰

I'm sure that message did either scare the bejeezus out of you or at the very least throw you for a loop! 😱 I would personally think that they'd be more squared away now that it's happened twice, that we know of anyways. 🤔 It's just bizarre, but it shows us that they work fast and have a good, responsive customer care department. Both, very good! 👍

Please do share some datapoints (if you don't mind), mine are in my long arse bio under my posts. 😂 Are yours similar to mine as in credit scores, untilizaion, paid-on-time, etc.? Any BKs? If so, what kind and how long ago? That will help us figure out if there's a trend here, and hopefully anyone else who ends up seeing this will get an idea if the card is for them. There's always patterns there because algorithms control approvals (and SLs), even if those algorithms are only process-based. (I personally like the idea of a human being personally reviewing my actual credit report and treating me more like a customer than a number!)

Additionally, if you are willing to share, I would absolutely recommend making a signature with a short credit bio, even if it just contains either (a) current cards and limits, or (b) credit scores, preferably starting point vs current, but it's YOUR signature, so be creative; or (c) both of the above.

Thanks again for letting us know as I thought it was a one time thing! 🤔

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

nytokyobred79 — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 05:52:33 GMT

I need that magic wand you're working with...abracadraba turn my $0 into $15K. Congrats

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

TrapLine — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 14:01:51 GMT

Superfly

Ficos around 836 Fico 8 and they used TransUnion. As has been stated US Bank/Elan share the same underwriting. Turn around was two days.

Will add in my many years with US Bank (about thirteen) and reading around ... there appears to be an old flavor to them. Either they don't trust computer analysis or there conservative ways have them manual review many applications. Only once in thirteen years did I get an auto approval for the Elan Max Rewards at $13,300 CL (2023).

Other products with US Bank and every single one was manual reviewed. Usually the turn around was two days. Get's better, I had to go into a US Bank Branch for submission for every product (in person). They denied me on line or by telephone. Got'ta love it.

Finally, the summer of 2023 I went into a US Bank Branch and said what the hey! This is ridiculous. The CSR said she would have me verified and took a Birth Certificate, Passport, orginal Social Security Card and a Utility Bill (proof of address), Drivers License and got me verified. Can you believe it? Since then, good to go online or telephone. Have not used chat.

Thirteen years of being their customer with many products but could not do anything other than in person?

Now in relation to their IT. The previous CEO stepped down a couple of years back and admitted US Bank needed to modernize their IT. He did not want to do it. Since then they have been working to get it in the 21st Century. You might wonder how I know? US Bank invited me in to offer consumer guidance after I complained in writing a few times. Since then I get telephone calls and we work on line. Frankly, I figured it would be a waste of time but they actually have reviewed an implemented some of my observations/recommendations. They really seem to want to hit the modern world. They were so far out it has been a stretch.

Re: Fidelity Rewards Signature Visa, Approved… For $0! [sic]

Anonymalous — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 16:10:56 GMT

@TrapLine wrote:
Glad you wrote this up! Just opened the same card and got the same email.

Afraid I was being snookered so I called in and they verified my approval even without an application number which I never got!

Good CL at $15K (same for me).

If it's happened to 2 people, most likely it's a software bug.

@SuperFlyEDSguy, congrats! And interesting info about US Bank. Definitely agree, they've always been the most old school of all the major banks. Though it does seem to fit their clientele -- IME, their branches are often packed with senior citizens and blue collar workers.