topic Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience in Credit Card Applications

My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Cpmcmxc — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 20:38:53 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share my CLI request experience with the Golden1 Credit Union (CU), as I have noticed there are not many posts about them. To give some background, I have been a member of Golden1 for the last 4 years with a premium checking account and the Platinum Rewards credit card. When I originally applied for the card 2 years ago I had a 650 Fico 8 score and was approved for a SL of $3,000.

The application process for a CLI requires a hard pull of your Experian data. Considering I'm actively working on building my relationship with them, I decided to take the dive and allow them to pull my credit as I am currently at a 715 Fico 8 score. The application process can be done either online or in branch, though I chose to complete everything online. After submitting my application online, I was asked to go into a branch to verify my identity (I've previously had my indentity stolen, so I have a "hold" on my account that requires me to verify in person I am taking out any new loans or products) - so this step wont apply to most. After verifying my identity, the funding department began processing my request. The following day I received an update on my online application (shown below) that my application had been denied due to "Failing to meet the minimum credit score, and Excessive obligations in relation to income." I recently paid off all of my credit cards and two loans, so my revolving outstanding balances are $0, with an available credit of over $10,000 between all my accounts.

I am now on the line with the lending team to see if I can get some more detailed information on their decision, and hopefully convince them to reconsider the application. More details to follow.

Starting Score: 640
Current Score: 715
Goal Score: 750
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Current Cards (03/2021):

Golden One Platinum Rewards - $3,000

Discover IT - $1,000
Discover IT Cashback - $2,000

Chevron/Texaco Advantage - $1,600

Apple Card - $1,500

American Express Everyday - $2,000

American Express Gold - NPSL

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

AllZero — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 20:40:49 GMT

That is unfortunate about the denial. Good luck on your reconsideration.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

blindambition — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 20:48:58 GMT

Good luck on recon. Hope that decision is overturned. Thanks for providing DP on CLI process!!

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

cashorcharge — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 21:16:37 GMT

Sending you good vibes on the recon! Seems counterintertuitive to your latest position with credit. Good luck!!

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Cpmcmxc — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 21:37:25 GMT

Thanks everyone for all your positive notes, I appreciate it.

Firstly, Golden1's lending team can be reached directly at 1-800-849-2579. After spending the last 30 or so minutes working with underwriting, I was informed that the credit union now uses the Fico 2 version, which showed my score being signficantly lower (657) than my Fico 8 of 715. Additionally, I was told that my high balances on loans were also what was affecting my approval, which included a previous loan that I had for about a year to consolidate accounts (paid off as of January of this year) and my student loans which are currently deferred. They asked if I was able to prove that my last major loan was paid in full, as well as that my student loans were actually in deferrment, which I did via their secured email. After going back to the underwriter, I was ultimately declined my CLI request due to my score being under their minimum threshold of 670 (F2) to qualify.

I'll admit, I am a little disappointed and irritated, as I wouldn't have applied for the increase at all had I known that they were now using Fico2. Alas, that's part of the game - better luck next time (if there even is one).

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

blindambition — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 21:56:47 GMT

Sorry about the denial, but they provided useful criteria for future CLI consideration.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Mr_Mojo_Risin — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 22:04:51 GMT

I'm sorry to hear it. Yeah those mortgage scores can be drastically different than ones FICO 8 or 9.

I think they're kind of old and outdated.

I wish you luck next time.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

CreditMagic7 — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 22:13:22 GMT

So sorry after those efforts they still gave you a disappointment on that particular type/version of FICO alone. Anymore some places to me seem to be just a racket no matter if their customer is progressing for them with usage, proving other cards with higher SL, income, so on and so forth.

I would just move on and research alternative or current lenders and almost guarantee that setback was their policy of choosing lower rated versions of FICO and leave it at that.

One door closes but another is waiting to open for you. Thank You for sharing that experience with the forum.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

AllZero — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 22:30:55 GMT

@Cpmcmxc wrote:
Thanks everyone for all your positive notes, I appreciate it.

Firstly, Golden1's lending team can be reached directly at 1-800-849-2579. After spending the last 30 or so minutes working with underwriting, I was informed that the credit union now uses the Fico 2 version, which showed my score being signficantly lower (657) than my Fico 8 of 715. Additionally, I was told that my high balances on loans were also what was affecting my approval, which included a previous loan that I had for about a year to consolidate accounts (paid off as of January of this year) and my student loans which are currently deferred. They asked if I was able to prove that my last major loan was paid in full, as well as that my student loans were actually in deferrment, which I did via their secured email. After going back to the underwriter, I was ultimately declined my CLI request due to my score being under their minimum threshold of 670 (F2) to qualify.

I'll admit, I am a little disappointed and irritated, as I wouldn't have applied for the increase at all had I known that they were now using Fico2. Alas, that's part of the game - better luck next time (if there even is one).

Thank you for sharing the data points. From reading the older posts, I think they were using EX8? The older scoring model EX2 unfortunately can be quite sensitive.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

BAD_UP — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 23:35:36 GMT

Sorry for the CLI denial and thanks for the DP's🎉👍

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Curious_George2 — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:48:00 GMT

The outcome stinks, especially since you've made progress with scores and put so much thought and effort into the CLI attempt. I'm really sorry about that.

Thank you so much for sharing these exquisite details with the community! This might be the most helpful G1 post I've seen here, and it answers some specific questions I have wondered about when considering this card. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for taking one for the team!

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Cpmcmxc — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 16:19:14 GMT

Thank you, and they absolutely did - so it's not really a total loss. I think I was/am more disappointed that I didn't have all the information going into the CLI request that may have saved me a hard inquiry. But hey, what can you do. If nothing else, both I and the myFICO community will be more prepared in the future for these kinds of scenarios.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Cpmcmxc — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 16:22:48 GMT

@CreditMagic7 wrote:
So sorry after those efforts they still gave you a disappointment on that particular type/version of FICO alone. Anymore some places to me seem to be just a racket no matter if their customer is progressing for them with usage, proving other cards with higher SL, income, so on and so forth.

I would just move on and research alternative or current lenders and almost guarantee that setback was their policy of choosing lower rated versions of FICO and leave it at that.

One door closes but another is waiting to open for you. Thank You for sharing that experience with the forum.

Thanks @CreditMagic7 - I appreciate the vote of confidence and optimism. Truth be told, aside from this experience Golden1 has been hands-down the best financial institution I have ever worked with. Their customer service is almost always stellar, and I virtually never have issues with their products. So hopefully someone reading my experience doesn't get discouraged from applying - I just wanted to make sure others knew what they were getting themselves into.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Cpmcmxc — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 16:25:39 GMT

@AllZero wrote:
@Cpmcmxc wrote:
Thanks everyone for all your positive notes, I appreciate it.

Firstly, Golden1's lending team can be reached directly at 1-800-849-2579. After spending the last 30 or so minutes working with underwriting, I was informed that the credit union now uses the Fico 2 version, which showed my score being signficantly lower (657) than my Fico 8 of 715. Additionally, I was told that my high balances on loans were also what was affecting my approval, which included a previous loan that I had for about a year to consolidate accounts (paid off as of January of this year) and my student loans which are currently deferred. They asked if I was able to prove that my last major loan was paid in full, as well as that my student loans were actually in deferrment, which I did via their secured email. After going back to the underwriter, I was ultimately declined my CLI request due to my score being under their minimum threshold of 670 (F2) to qualify.

I'll admit, I am a little disappointed and irritated, as I wouldn't have applied for the increase at all had I known that they were now using Fico2. Alas, that's part of the game - better luck next time (if there even is one).
Thank you for sharing the data points. From reading the older posts, I think they were using EX8? The older scoring model EX2 unfortunately can be quite sensitive.

That's correct - when I originally opened the credit card a couple of years ago, I remember the agent I spoke to confirming that the FICO 8 score was what was used to qualify me, as well as the score matching on my credit disclosures. TBF, I don't fault the CU for being more conservative during a pandemic, I just wish they had been a little more transparent somehow in the change in qualifications for their products. All things considered though, I will stay a G1 customer.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

CreditMagic7 — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 16:43:16 GMT

@Cpmcmxc wrote:
@CreditMagic7 wrote:
So sorry after those efforts they still gave you a disappointment on that particular type/version of FICO alone. Anymore some places to me seem to be just a racket no matter if their customer is progressing for them with usage, proving other cards with higher SL, income, so on and so forth.

I would just move on and research alternative or current lenders and almost guarantee that setback was their policy of choosing lower rated versions of FICO and leave it at that.

One door closes but another is waiting to open for you. Thank You for sharing that experience with the forum.
Thanks @CreditMagic7 - I appreciate the vote of confidence and optimism. Truth be told, aside from this experience Golden1 has been hands-down the best financial institution I have ever worked with. Their customer service is almost always stellar, and I virtually never have issues with their products. So hopefully someone reading my experience doesn't get discouraged from applying - I just wanted to make sure others knew what they were getting themselves into.

Thanks @Cpmcmxc

I'm kind of an old hat in these forums and your satisfaction overall pretty much lines up with some reviews & posts members have had about Golden 1 to their preference & liking. We do appreciate the heads up what to expect where concerns line increase requests though. I didn't want to sound like being down on them at all. It's just that FICO distributes a variety of Scoring Tables & Scores and sometimes they seem to inhibit cardusers based on that alone. Not really so much anymore, especially with the Prime Banks. But credit unions definitely seem to go their own route on the category of FICO Scores they use which is naturally their perogative.

I do wish you better results next time and again appreciate your sharing this info for others who might can use it to tailor their own reasonable time when to approach them for a line boost and their chances at approval or wait.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

SweetCreditObsession — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 02:52:32 GMT

Thank you for sharing Golden 1 DPs.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

SweetCreditObsession — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 02:54:10 GMT

Wow, I wonder when they switched to Fico2.

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Curious_George2 — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 15:22:43 GMT

@SweetCreditObsession wrote:
Wow, I wonder when they switched to Fico2.

Yeah. And I wonder why they did it. I know we often say that 5/4/2 is a more conservative model than the newer ones, but I'm skeptical about that as an FI's reason for this kind of switch.

Some people (*looks in mirror*) have higher mortgage scores than 8's. Also, it's not like the new models were designed to be more risky; they were designed to be more accurate. So here we see a lender intentionally moving from a more accurate risk prediction tool to a less accurate one. Finally, there is a much simpler way to reduce risk in CC lending: raise the F8 scores required for any particular type of application.

Do FI's pay FICO less for the older score versions? If they are already using 5/4/2 scores for mortgage lending, can they save a buck by repurposing those scores for other types of loans?

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Andy77 — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 16:25:20 GMT

Do they Fico 2 or Fico Bankcard Score 2?

My scores are very different: Fico 2 687 and Fico Bankcard Score 2 is 649

Thank you

Re: My Golden1 Credit Union CLI Experience

Steveo777 — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 18:57:56 GMT

Sorry to hear about your experience at G1. If it's of any consolation to you, I have banked with them for 6 years and have been denied a credit card and an auto loan, and in both cases they said I don't meet their minimum scores. Yet, they showed me a 737 Vantage score in my mobile app when I logged in. I tried the recon thing, but the truth is, that credit union lives and dies by what your score is and they will not deviate from it. When I went in to open an IRA account, the lady who helped me said I was a 655 score on Experian Vantage 2.0 and I needed to be 670 minimum. That's not even a FICO score they are using. I won't be able to tell when I meet their criteria because I have no way to check my Vantage 2.0 score.