topic Re: Denied for the First Time in Credit Card Applications

Denied for the First Time

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Aug 2019 13:45:50 GMT

Hello! I just discovered this forum and have already learned soooo much. (Consumer Fiance Accounts?! Whoa. I had no idea!) Anyway, I wanted to see if anyone could offer some guidence, words of wisdom, whatever for a situation I've never encountered before in my 20 years of pitch-perfect credit usage.

My husband and I just bought our first condo. We both have stellar credit (him: low 800s; me: high 700s) and received a great interest rate on our mortage through Chase. We have scads of cashback credit cards from just about everyone out there (Citi Double Cash and Freedom, Barclays Uber, AmEx Preferred Cash, Discover It, etc.) that we always pay off every month.

After the loan closed, we wanted to add a few more to our wallets (specifically, AmEx Macy's, Citi Freedom Unlimited, Best Buy, and U.S. Bank Cash+) in order to buy a bunch of new appliances and furniture we now need while that earning sweet, sweet cash back. I easily scored a Macy's card with an $8,000 CL to buy a couple of new mattresses. Then, things took a dark turn. My husband was denied Freedom Unlimited and U.S. Bank Cash+. I was also denied U.S. Bank Cash+ and the Citi Best Buy card. Uh. Oh.

This has never happened to us before, so we're both a little shook. Our income is over $150K. Other than the new mortage, we have a new-ish auto loan that's been paid off every month, but nothing else that should cause an issue. Did this happen just because we've had so recent many pulls? I'm not sure what to do at this juncture. I was thinking about applying for the Lowe's card or doing Samsung financing for the appliances, but I'm afraid I'm just spinning my wheels now. Help!

Re: Denied for the First Time

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 03 Aug 2019 13:52:41 GMT

How many pulls have you had in the last 12 months? How many new accounts have you opened in the last 24 months? What's your DTI now with the mortgage? I'm assuming $150k is combined income.

Re: Denied for the First Time

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Aug 2019 14:15:52 GMT

Have you received Adverse Action notices from any of the lenders that denied you credit?

Re: Denied for the First Time

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Aug 2019 14:34:29 GMT

I've had 9 pulls: 2 for auto, 3 for mortage, 4 for apps. There's only been 1 new account in 24 months. The husband's had 5 pulls: 2 for apps and 3 for mortage. Yes, combined income is $150K. DTI is 36%. We actually called Citi for a recon because we have the best relationship with them, and it turns out it's still under consideration, so maybe we just need humans to look at our apps?

Re: Denied for the First Time

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Aug 2019 14:58:49 GMT

Your DTI is approaching a point where it becomes a concern for lenders; there's a rule of thumb called the 36% rule with which you should probably familiarize yourself.

Are you carrying balances on your current credit cards? Student loans?

Re: Denied for the First Time

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Aug 2019 23:40:54 GMT

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/67u9q0/guide_antichurning_rules/

This will help avoid speed bumps in the future w/ the rules.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/Backdoor-Numbers/td-p/408066

This is where you find the humans.

Re: Denied for the First Time

CreditInspired — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 20:54:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello! I just discovered this forum and have already learned soooo much. (Consumer Fiance Accounts?! Whoa. I had no idea!) Anyway, I wanted to see if anyone could offer some guidence, words of wisdom, whatever for a situation I've never encountered before in my 20 years of pitch-perfect credit usage.

My husband and I just bought our first condo. We both have stellar credit (him: low 800s; me: high 700s) and received a great interest rate on our mortage through Chase. We have scads of cashback credit cards from just about everyone out there (Citi Double Cash and Freedom, Barclays Uber, AmEx Preferred Cash, Discover It, etc.) that we always pay off every month.

After the loan closed, we wanted to add a few more to our wallets (specifically, AmEx Macy's, Citi Freedom Unlimited, Best Buy, and U.S. Bank Cash+) in order to buy a bunch of new appliances and furniture we now need while that earning sweet, sweet cash back. I easily scored a Macy's card with an $8,000 CL to buy a couple of new mattresses. Then, things took a dark turn. My husband was denied Freedom Unlimited and U.S. Bank Cash+. I was also denied U.S. Bank Cash+ and the Citi Best Buy card. Uh. Oh.

This has never happened to us before, so we're both a little shook. Our income is over $150K. Other than the new mortage, we have a new-ish auto loan that's been paid off every month, but nothing else that should cause an issue. Did this happen just because we've had so recent many pulls? I'm not sure what to do at this juncture. I was thinking about applying for the Lowe's card or doing Samsung financing for the appliances, but I'm afraid I'm just spinning my wheels now. Help!

Hi and welcome to myFICO, and congrats on your new home.

What has happened is you applied for way too many credit cards in a short span of time (right after closing on your home). Since it's obvious you have the scores, you and DH should be applying for one CC every 6 months. And also, denials begat denials, so once you get one, it is a good sign to sit back, wait for the denial letter to come in, and find out the reasons. Nine times out of 10, it's going to be too many inquiries/new accounts.

So, while you wait for things to calm down, don't apply for any new credit until IMHO, February 2020. I suggest requesting SP CLIs on your Discover and AmX (3x). Also, give Discover a call and ask if you have an offer for a 0%, 12-month promo. They're good at giving out these once the old one has expired. Also, even though you just got Macy's, call and see if you can get a CLI on a SP. I did this in store when I got mine and they gave it to me.

So, just treat this as a lesson-learned. The economy has slowed down some and lenders are being more cautious. So all is not doom and gloom. It's just taking a pause and rethinking your strategy.

GL2U

Re: Denied for the First Time

SouthJamaica — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 22:15:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello! I just discovered this forum and have already learned soooo much. (Consumer Fiance Accounts?! Whoa. I had no idea!) Anyway, I wanted to see if anyone could offer some guidence, words of wisdom, whatever for a situation I've never encountered before in my 20 years of pitch-perfect credit usage.

My husband and I just bought our first condo. We both have stellar credit (him: low 800s; me: high 700s) and received a great interest rate on our mortage through Chase. We have scads of cashback credit cards from just about everyone out there (Citi Double Cash and Freedom, Barclays Uber, AmEx Preferred Cash, Discover It, etc.) that we always pay off every month.

After the loan closed, we wanted to add a few more to our wallets (specifically, AmEx Macy's, Citi Freedom Unlimited, Best Buy, and U.S. Bank Cash+) in order to buy a bunch of new appliances and furniture we now need while that earning sweet, sweet cash back. I easily scored a Macy's card with an $8,000 CL to buy a couple of new mattresses. Then, things took a dark turn. My husband was denied Freedom Unlimited and U.S. Bank Cash+. I was also denied U.S. Bank Cash+ and the Citi Best Buy card. Uh. Oh.

This has never happened to us before, so we're both a little shook. Our income is over $150K. Other than the new mortage, we have a new-ish auto loan that's been paid off every month, but nothing else that should cause an issue. Did this happen just because we've had so recent many pulls? I'm not sure what to do at this juncture. I was thinking about applying for the Lowe's card or doing Samsung financing for the appliances, but I'm afraid I'm just spinning my wheels now. Help!

I'm sure it's because you've added so much recent credit. You need to stop applying for credit.

Especially since you don't need it.

If you have all those cards, and you can pay them off every month, and the cash rewards are so sweet, I can't understand why you are applying for more.

Re: Denied for the First Time

Remedios — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 23:14:19 GMT

As @Anonymous asked, do you have AA letter yet explaining why you were denied?

Normally, all of us will jump on "new accounts" first as that tends to be the common reason for at least two lenders you mentioned, US Bank and Chase. You'd want at least 6 months of clean living before applying for either.

Your scores might be great but it's just a numerical representation on what's on your CR. If you've read enough, you know how easily score can be manipulated. High utilization on individual cards can be masked somewhat by aggregate utilization, inability to pay off cards can be countered with BTs, age can be inflated by AU accounts, so dont put your eggs in a score basket.

If you need financing for appliances, Lowes is your best option, but even Synch has been little twitchy about new accounts/inquiries lately, or if you can wait, that would probably yield a better result, though, I do think you would get approved for that card.

Also, you might be able to recon at least with Chase depending on a denial reason (and if you're under 5/24), if it's truly a denial and not verification or additional review.

Wait for the letters and go from there. You can try recon with US Bank too, but if you're denied for "excessive credit seeking" it might be a little harder.

Re: Denied for the First Time

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 01:25:42 GMT

Denials are part of credit no matter how good your profile and income etc is.. It is just business for the banks and if you been playing around with credit long enough denials are part of the game, we all have some. Chase might of been due to 5/24 and Us Bank certainly could of been to recent credit seeking/pulls etc. Shake it off as those two lenders each have their quarks and move on. If you need to furnish your new house and have spend and want some bonuses many other cards are still out there that can accomplish that with cash back or point and good signup bonuses.

Re: Denied for the First Time

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 23:30:27 GMT

Thanks so much for the replies. I wanted to respond with an update on my situation in case my tale might be able to help others who also thought they were invincible.

After all the denials, we totally stopped applying (well, allllmost, but more on that later) and started begging for recons. My spouse was able to convince Chase to grant him a Freedom Unlimited card, which nets 3% back on anything within the first year up to $20,000. We both easily convinced U.S. Bank to issue us Cash+ cards — even though neither of us have ever been U.S. Bank customers. They were actually super-duper friendly. Their CSR looked over my credit report and basically said, "Oh, yeah. It looks like you have a bunch of inquries because you just bought a house. You'll be fine." We had the cards a few days later and activated the furniture and electronic store bonus categories.

The only wall we hit was Citi. Wow. They were sooo rude. When I called for recon, the CSR treated me like I was garbage. She refused to tell me why I was denied or have a human do a manual review. Her advice? I needed to hire a financial coach to help me understand my credit. Ha! I called back a few days later hoping to speak to someone with a better attitude, but it was the same nasty woman. I did send a letter to the Citi executice office and waited a month for a response, which was a waste of time. They still denied me! I was so offended by their treatment that we actually stopped using our existing Citi cards.

After that debacle, against my better judgement, I applied for Samsung financing to buy a few appliances. You guessed it. TD Bank denied me for that, too. Fortunately, it was overturned after a somewhat lengthy recon. We ended up buying everything we needed for our new home from Samsung and across those four new cards (and one exsisting one). A few of them offer 0% financing, so that's good.

The lesson here is don't expect banks to roll out the red carpet after buying a new home and having your credit pulled a gazillion times — even if you think your credit is flawless! I obviously didn't expect what affect that would have on my credit situation. Also, I can't recommend U.S. Bank and their Cash+ card enough. (No, this is not a paid promotion.) We're actually going to open a few non-credit accounts with them because their customer service was so outstanding, and I'd rather support a bank like that versus Citi. Yikes.

Anyway, thanks again for all of the support. You folks rock.

Re: Denied for the First Time

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 01:23:01 GMT

"Nine times out of 10, it's going to be too many inquiries/new accounts."

Where did you find this statistic?