topic Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons in Credit Card Applications

Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Sun, 03 May 2020 23:47:29 GMT

I got a little brave today since my EQ became clean and decided to apply for a real good travel card. Every since I closed my Chase Ritz-Carleton a couple years back I had never got around to replacing it. Didn't care for the AF either.

So decided to take a crack at the prestige card. As dp's have shown some pretty sweet SL along with a nice bonus. Wheel spun for around 60 seconds and came back with a goose egg. 😲 immediately went through backdoor thread to find a good recon number. Spoke with around (3) reps and got one of them to actually re-run the app and still came back denied. Asked her reasons and she claimed

(1) number of new accounts opened in last 12 months

(2) ratio of balances to account limit too high

(3) Number of accounts with balances too many

My DP's

Accounts (4/6) (9/12)

Inquiries (4/6) (16/12) 6 scoreable

UTLI. 5% reporting

AOAA 3 years

So inquires weren't the main reason as most encounter.

Thinking about taking this one to the EO, what do you think my chances would be?
Any sucessful recon stories out there from citi on this particular card?

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

thornback — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:04:21 GMT

Too many new accounts.

4 new accounts in 6 months, 9 in 12.

That's you're real denial reason (and there's nothing strange about it - kinda predictable, actually) The other reasons are "extras" that would likely have been overlooked otherwise.

Don't think an EO recon would end in your favor - but you could try.

Maybe just sit tight for till all of your accounts age to a year and try again.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:12:28 GMT

@thornback wrote:

Too many new accounts.
4 new accounts in 6 months, 9 in 12.

That's you're real denial reason (and there's nothing strange about it - kinda predictable, actually) The other reasons are "extras" that would likely have been overlooked otherwise.

Don't think an EO recon would end in your favor - but you could try.

Maybe just sit tight for till all of your accounts age to a year and try again.

I would think that this could be profile specific. Take for instance the great Raj, who probably is in the neighborhood of 30/12 on any given year and still churns out approvals.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:25:49 GMT

@credit_endurance wrote:
@thornback wrote:

Too many new accounts.
4 new accounts in 6 months, 9 in 12.

That's you're real denial reason (and there's nothing strange about it - kinda predictable, actually) The other reasons are "extras" that would likely have been overlooked otherwise.

Don't think an EO recon would end in your favor - but you could try.

Maybe just sit tight for till all of your accounts age to a year and try again.
I would think that this could be profile specific. Take for instance the great Raj, who probably is in the neighborhood of 30/12 on any given year and still churns out approvals.

Yes bruiser but thats like having me app a card vs Finstar. Sorry for the denial. I would revisit in December , dont think EO has time to handle this kinf of question right now?. Sorry buddy even bruised credit gets bruised.....does that even make sense🤨😉

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

thornback — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:32:04 GMT

@credit_endurance wrote:
@thornback wrote:

Too many new accounts.
4 new accounts in 6 months, 9 in 12.

That's you're real denial reason (and there's nothing strange about it - kinda predictable, actually) The other reasons are "extras" that would likely have been overlooked otherwise.

Don't think an EO recon would end in your favor - but you could try.

Maybe just sit tight for till all of your accounts age to a year and try again.
I would think that this could be profile specific. Take for instance the great Raj, who probably is in the neighborhood of 30/12 on any given year and still churns out approvals.

It is profile specific. And there are many profiles (apparently, yours included - and mine) that may not be able to overcome that many new accounts in such a short amount of time (as far as approvals go). I honestly don't know much about Raj's profile (I see their approval posts from time to time but never paid much attention) - but I believe they have a higher-than-average income and a really solid, clean credit history -- regardless - they are not the one that applied, you are - so they are irrelevant to this conversation.

Also -- aren't your other two reports still dirty? Citi may only hardpull EQ, but they also tend to soft pull EX. So if EX is still dirty then... they probably know. And, while whatever derog is still on EX may not have been a primary reason for denial, that coupled with excessive credit seeking isn't helpful.

And -- you say you're only reporting 5% util. So what's the deal with the 'balances in relation to credit limits' reason code? Do you have a high balance currently on one or more cards? Aggregate util may be low... but what about individual?

We know Citi is new account and inquiry sensitive the majority of the time... there are many posts on here from folks reporting denials for a simple CLI due to new accounts / inquires (i wrote one of them) - so it's not far fetched to think they'd deny a new account to someone with many new accounts.

My suggestion is that you just garden for a while and reapply once things have aged. You can certainly try the EO recon tho - you never know.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

Gmood1 — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:32:12 GMT

@credit_endurance wrote:
@thornback wrote:

Too many new accounts.
4 new accounts in 6 months, 9 in 12.

That's you're real denial reason (and there's nothing strange about it - kinda predictable, actually) The other reasons are "extras" that would likely have been overlooked otherwise.

Don't think an EO recon would end in your favor - but you could try.

Maybe just sit tight for till all of your accounts age to a year and try again.
I would think that this could be profile specific. Take for instance the great Raj, who probably is in the neighborhood of 30/12 on any given year and still churns out approvals.

Sorry about your denial @credit_endurance .

Yeah I agree with you, its definitely profile specific. Do you already have Citi CC's? Because if you do. I thought you'd get that one easily!

I've averaged one to two new accounts a month for nearly 5 years now. As yet, I haven't been denied a Citi CC. I have 6 now.

Maybe its the Covid stuff? I don't know. But if you have a way to recon it, recon. You have nothing to lose.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:41:39 GMT

Ya kinda strange unless this is your first citi card? Never been denied a citi card once i was in with them and have had many with tons of new accounts always in the 20-30 range in two years... Profile, DTI, income, etc all play a role certainly along with relationship to get past the too many acounts in x time frame reason which alot of us can get by. Sorry for the denial :/

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:43:59 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
@credit_endurance wrote:
@thornback wrote:

Too many new accounts.
4 new accounts in 6 months, 9 in 12.

That's you're real denial reason (and there's nothing strange about it - kinda predictable, actually) The other reasons are "extras" that would likely have been overlooked otherwise.

Don't think an EO recon would end in your favor - but you could try.

Maybe just sit tight for till all of your accounts age to a year and try again.
I would think that this could be profile specific. Take for instance the great Raj, who probably is in the neighborhood of 30/12 on any given year and still churns out approvals.

Yes bruiser but thats like having me app a card vs Finstar. Sorry for the denial. I would revisit in December , dont think EO has time to handle this kinf of question right now?. Sorry buddy even bruised credit gets bruised.....does that even make sense🤨😉

Thanks @AverageJoesCredit I could never compare profiles to some of the great around here, but my problem with it is it's never seems to a consistent formula with some of these lenders as far as denial/approvals go. 😁

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Mon, 04 May 2020 00:50:35 GMT

@thornback wrote:
@credit_endurance wrote:
@thornback wrote:

Too many new accounts.
4 new accounts in 6 months, 9 in 12.

That's you're real denial reason (and there's nothing strange about it - kinda predictable, actually) The other reasons are "extras" that would likely have been overlooked otherwise.

Don't think an EO recon would end in your favor - but you could try.

Maybe just sit tight for till all of your accounts age to a year and try again.
I would think that this could be profile specific. Take for instance the great Raj, who probably is in the neighborhood of 30/12 on any given year and still churns out approvals.

It is profile specific. And there are many profiles (apparently, yours included - and mine) that may not be able to overcome that many new accounts in such a short amount of time (as far as approvals go). I honestly don't know much about Raj's profile (I see their approval posts from time to time but never paid much attention) - but I believe they have a higher-than-average income and a really solid, clean credit history -- regardless - they are not the one that applied, you are - so they are irrelevant to this conversation.

Also -- aren't your other two reports still dirty? Citi may only hardpull EQ, but they also tend to soft pull EX. So if EX is still dirty then... they probably know. And, while whatever derog is still on EX may not have been a primary reason for denial, that coupled with excessive credit seeking isn't helpful.

And -- you say you're only reporting 5% util. So what's the deal with the 'balances in relation to credit limits' reason code? Do you have a high balance currently on one or more cards? Aggregate util may be low... but what about individual?

We know Citi is new account and inquiry sensitive the majority of the time... there are many posts on here from folks reporting denials for a simple CLI due to new accounts / inquires (i wrote one of them) - so it's not far fetched to think they'd deny a new account to someone with many new accounts.

My suggestion is that you just garden for a while and reapply once things have aged. You can certainly try the EO recon tho - you never know.

EX report is clean. TU still dirty. Also have 2 other accounts plus Macy's so total overall exposure could play apart in this. Balances right now are one card reporting $10k while another is around $7k. Nothing major as relation to income. Not high six figures but more than adequate for an approval.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Mon, 04 May 2020 01:01:43 GMT

@Gmood1 wrote:
@credit_endurance wrote:
@thornback wrote:

Too many new accounts.
4 new accounts in 6 months, 9 in 12.

That's you're real denial reason (and there's nothing strange about it - kinda predictable, actually) The other reasons are "extras" that would likely have been overlooked otherwise.

Don't think an EO recon would end in your favor - but you could try.

Maybe just sit tight for till all of your accounts age to a year and try again.
I would think that this could be profile specific. Take for instance the great Raj, who probably is in the neighborhood of 30/12 on any given year and still churns out approvals.

Sorry about your denial @credit_endurance .
Yeah I agree with you, its definitely profile specific. Do you already have Citi CC's? Because if you do. I thought you'd get that one easily!
I've averaged one to two new accounts a month for nearly 5 years now. As yet, I haven't been denied a Citi CC. I have 6 now.
Maybe its the Covid stuff? I don't know. But if you have a way to recon it, recon. You have nothing to lose.

Thanks @Gmood1. I have (2) other citi cards DC(May 16) & Simplicity(Dec 19) plus Macy's total exposure around $50k. That was my thinking as well that I would be a shoe in for another card. Although this prestige might have higher underwriting standards. And also my thinking was Covid as well but in the opposite one might think. They would possibly approve with not much business appeal for the card in these times.
I just might recon it if I have time and can actually get somebody live on a line these days.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Mon, 04 May 2020 01:00:14 GMT

@CreditCuriosity wrote:
Ya kinda strange unless this is your first citi card? Never been denied a citi card once i was in with them and have had many with tons of new accounts always in the 20-30 range in two years... Profile, DTI, income, etc all play a role certainly along with relationship to get past the too many acounts in x time frame reason which alot of us can get by. Sorry for the denial :/

Thanks @CreditCuriosity I have (2) Citi cards DC & Simplicity also like you Macy's @ $20k total exposure around $50k between the (3) I like to have a few cards reporting some balances to show usage and the ability to pay back. I don't deny the reasons for denial where legit, it's just you know it comes down to being profile specific a around these parts.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Mon, 04 May 2020 13:53:07 GMT

Update on the actual denial letter for exact reasons:

Thank you for your interest in the Citi Prestige® account. We're unable to approve your application.
We used a credit scoring system in our review, which assigns a numerical value to different items on your credit report. The resulting score wasn't high enough to approve this account.

During our review, we saw the following:

1.Your credit report shows the length of time accounts have been established.

2.Your credit report shows too many recently opened accounts.

3.Your credit report shows the length of time accounts have been established.

Please note our decision was based in whole or in part on information in a report from

#1) & #3) is basically the same reason. Call it BS 🤔

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

kdm31091 — Mon, 04 May 2020 15:22:23 GMT

I really don't think the reasons are strange at all, pretty typical honestly. You win some you lose some. I'd just let the accounts age and try again later. Citi for some reason is very generous with some and overlooks many new accounts/inquiries, but with others, they are much less lenient. Recon is typically not that helpful with them. Most of the recons I've seen have been to recon starting limits, not really to overturn an outright denial. Even then, it's not really a true "recon" as they take another hard pull and basically consider you for a credit increase, not really reconsidering their initial decision per se. I'm sure it has happened, but it's not super common.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Mon, 04 May 2020 16:03:03 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
I really don't think the reasons are strange at all, pretty typical honestly. You win some you lose some. I'd just let the accounts age and try again later. Citi for some reason is very generous with some and overlooks many new accounts/inquiries, but with others, they are much less lenient. Recon is typically not that helpful with them. Most of the recons I've seen have been to recon starting limits, not really to overturn an outright denial. Even then, it's not really a true "recon" as they take another hard pull and basically consider you for a credit increase, not really reconsidering their initial decision per se. I'm sure it has happened, but it's not super common.

@kdm31091 Thanks for your valuable insight. I even tried again to(recon) this morning to no avail. I will just chalk it up as a loss and move on. EO recon will probably yield the same result with a hp to boot.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

Loquat — Tue, 05 May 2020 00:50:55 GMT

OP, I think you've done all you can at this point. Who knows the real reason. It could be the new accounts...it could be that you've reached your internal limit with them at the moment, and it could be the tightening of approvals due to the current economic state.

You gave it your best and just know that the Prestige card isn't going away anytime soon so you'll have another opportunity later I'm sure.

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Tue, 05 May 2020 01:09:40 GMT

@Loquat wrote:
OP, I think you've done all you can at this point. Who knows the real reason. It could be the new accounts...it could be that you've reached your internal limit with them at the moment, and it could be the tightening of approvals due to the current economic state.

You gave it your best and just know that the Prestige card isn't going away anytime soon so you'll have another opportunity later I'm sure.

Great read @Loquat Much appreciated! 😉

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

Meanmchine — Tue, 05 May 2020 04:06:25 GMT

Sorry Bruised for the denial

Personally, I think you should put Citi on hold til Jan.

Just my 2 FICOs worth

Re: Citi Prestige Denial Strange Reasons

credit_endurance — Tue, 05 May 2020 14:58:11 GMT

@Meanmchine wrote:
Sorry Bruised for the denial
Personally, I think you should put Citi on hold til Jan.
Just my 2 FICOs worth

Thanks @Meanmchine No biggie as my travel plans are on hold if not most of us by the current situation. I will get this card down the road!