topic Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me) in Credit Card Applications

Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 04:53:30 GMT

Have a Cap one venture about 11 months old, 1100 cl. Requested a cli at the sixth month mark, was offered 100 cl and I declined it. Fast forward Friday (12/25), requested a cl increase, was asked income, average spend on orher CCs, etc. Got a 1-2 business days review, checked today and 🙅‍♂️! Now, it wasn't a total shock to me but the reason had me laughing .... too many inquires! Say what!!😀😀

Now, I do have 32 inquires BUT 27 of those are from my mortgage refi this summer and dates from 5/7 to 5/13 (I guess rate shopping through a third party causes everyone and their "uncle daughter's grandfather" to pull your credit😀

Now, I barely used the card anyway. Between my DISCO, CITI DC, and NFCU, the card is what I consider a "remorse buy". Put my niece as an AU seven months ago and she uses it for her everyday college expenses and the balance is paid off on the due date like clockwork. I guess CAP1 knows I don't personally use the card, and I kinda expected a "no soup for you", what I didn't expect was the reason given. Any who, it goes in the SD, as my niece has a DISCO secured now (300 limit). I've added her to my DC as an AU (U get better cash back anyways). Oh, and she would go over the limit by 200 to 300 some months, and I'll immediately pay it down to 50 percent, so they did get some good spend on the card. Ah well, cap one does what cap one does!

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Slabenstein — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 05:08:13 GMT

I don't think the Cap1 algo distinguishes between a string of inquiries from rate shopping and a string of inquiries from an app spree. So while all those mortgage inquiries are de-duped for FICO scoring, Cap1's Skynet underwriting looks at them the same as if you'd apped for 27 credit cards in one week.

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Curious_George2 — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 06:44:54 GMT

I don't remember seeing this issue discussed with respect to CapOne specifically, but what @Slabenstein says is known to be true of several othet CC issuers. For the ones that allow recon, it's something a savvy applicant can work around. But since CapOne doesn't recon CLI denials, you're out of luck.

FYI, the $100 offer was normal. That's what they are giving out these days on limits of under $1600.

I'm confused about the timeline. If the $100 offer was 5 months ago, that would be around July. If your 27 inquiries were in May, that means CapOne was OK with them in July. When are the other inquiries from? Is it possible that their threshold for too many inquiries is north of 27 (!) and you triggered it with some post-July inquiries?

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

barca — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 10:36:35 GMT

@Anonymous
You have 32 inquiries , 27 are mortgage related.

'even if all the 27 mortgage are lumped as 1

it means you still have 6 inquiries.

'depending on the window, that is still a justifiable " too many inquiries" reason code

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 11:29:44 GMT

Rejecting a $100 increase from Cap One is like throwing away your Powerball ticket away on purpose. Ill never understand why any lender would offer only $100 when they darn well know that gets one nowhere . Its well documented that Cap One is notorious for low cli even for big spenders.

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 14:43:19 GMT

@Slabenstein wrote:
I don't think the Cap1 algo distinguishes between a string of inquiries from rate shopping and a string of inquiries from an app spree. So while all those mortgage inquiries are de-duped for FICO scoring, Cap1's Skynet underwriting looks at them the same as if you'd apped for 27 credit cards in one week.

I feel the same about them. I received that same response before for a similar situation.

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 14:44:55 GMT

@barca wrote:
@Anonymous
You have 32 inquiries , 27 are mortgage related.
'even if all the 27 mortgage are lumped as 1

it means you still have 6 inquiries.
'depending on the window, that is still a justifiable " too many inquiries" reason code

Ah, okay. I see what you mean.

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

FalconSteve — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 14:58:17 GMT

CapOne doesn't seem to be very consumer friendly. They triple pull, they don't de-dup.

They were a nightmare when I had an unauthorized charge.

Anyway, sorry about your denial.

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 15:21:30 GMT

And this is why I'm confused as well. When they offered the 100 cl, I had the 32 inquiries already. I haven't applied for anything else because I want to app for the BCP next March. I checked my reports and al I see are soft pulls (cap1 included).

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 15:23:27 GMT

I like your analogy AJC! I erroneously thought that if I held out, they might increase it. Well, now I know😀

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Slabenstein — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 15:27:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
And this is why I'm confused as well. When they offered the 100 cl, I had the 32 inquiries already. I haven't applied for anything else because I want to app for the BCP next March. I checked my reports and al I see are soft pulls (cap1 included).

You sig says your current cards were opened between Jan and June of this year. If your original CLI request was in July, did you have any accounts opened in June that hadn't reported yet at that time?

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 15:30:21 GMT

Yes, and of the 6, cap 1 "owns" 3- with their triple pull and all! NFCU, DISCO, and CITI own the other 3. I did 6 apps this year, 5 CCs and 1 mortgage refi.

I do understand the " too many inquiries" but, they did offer me a 100 cli when I had said inquiries in July. They're confusing me with the reason codes, that's all.

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 15:34:06 GMT

Thanks for the clarification. I do see the logic but they didn't have a problem with it in July when they offered me a cli. Maybe they've changed their UW policy regarding cli- who knows?

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Slabenstein — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 15:39:08 GMT

When it's an actual reason and not just an excuse "too many inquiries" is really "too many inquiries relative to what else is in your profile". So it's possible that, if you had a new non-Cap1 account that was not yet reporting in July but now is, you crossed some sort of indications-of-credit-seeking threshold for their algo that made your inquiries look riskier to it than they did before. Similarly if, e.g., your util now is higher than it was for your first request.

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 15:39:20 GMT

My accounts were opened Jan, Feb, and June. Hmmmm, you've solved the puzzle! My last account didn't report till September, even though it was opened in June! (I still had the 32 inquires though)

Thanks @Slabenstein

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Curious_George2 — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 16:31:00 GMT

Interesting DP. Thanks for posting it.

If you are willing to share the breakdown, how many inquiries do you have on each bureau?

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:19:50 GMT

@Curious_George2

EQ- 10 (2/Jan, 1/Feb, 7/May)

TU- 11 (1/Jan, 1/Feb, 8/May, 1/June)

EX- 11( 2/Jan, 9/May)

uti- 9%

-*** All 2020***
Before these, all other inquiries were from '18.

On a " dirty" scorecard- have 3 90 days derogs from '15 on my student loans.

Fico 8- EQ 700, TU- 732, EX-706( as of 12/27)

I plan to app for the BCP mid-March. If everything remains as they are (I plan on dropping my uti to less than 5% by then), do you think I have a chance with AMEX?

Re: Cap One CLI denial- perplexing reason (at least to me)

Curious_George2 — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:39:03 GMT

Thanks. I think CapOne typically relies on EQ the most -- though I see them checking my reports at all three bureaus -- so it seems like from their perspective, in July you had 10/6 and 10/12 inquiries and 4 new cards and they were fine giving a CLI. Then in December, you had 0/6 and 10/12 inquiries with 5 new cards and they declined. I would not have expected the fifth new card to make the difference, but it kinda looks like that's what happened. Or, as you say, they might have tightened their underwriting standards in the interval.

I'm not qualified to comment on your chances of getting a new card from Amex. Maybe someone more knowledgable will chime in. Good luck!