topic Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible in Credit Card Applications

Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 02:16:31 GMT

I was turned for three credit cards this year. Approved for more then 27. Anyway I was going through some old mail and I found the Regions denial letter from 6/2021. I looked at the reason for denial and it was not at all what I was expecting. I figured it would be due to amount of inquries or new credit but nope.

Too new to credit. Not enough eperience in unsecured credit cards.

LOL, me? now I know they had to be reading the wrong report. I have a Chase card that is now 42 years old. It used to have 13 numbers and a few decades ago it was changed to a now 16 number account. I mean what a slap in the face. If they needed to turn me down the truth would have been easier to swallow.

Thanks

Mark

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Anonymalous — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 03:54:58 GMT

What's the average age of your accounts? That 42 year card is a great anchor, but if you have 27 cards that are 0 years old, that would drag the average down to about 18 months.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 04:15:39 GMT

@Anonymalous wrote:
What's the average age of your accounts? That 42 year card is a great anchor, but if you have 27 cards that are 0 years old, that would drag the average down to about 18 months.

The average age is 13.5 years. I have 77 CC's and many of them are a few decades old. I have 55 old cards so the 27 new ones ended up with the age of 13.5 years as per EQ.

Thanks

Mark

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 04:17:53 GMT

That includes my 7 cards that where closed by Synchrony back in 10/2020 when they did the mass closings

Thanks

Mark

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Anonymalous — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 04:21:04 GMT

Wow, I have one and a half cards. But yes, that makes the rejection letter sound completely off base.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

coldfusion — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 12:51:48 GMT

An underwriter usually has at most about 2 minutes to review your application and credit history, make a decision, and if a denial quickly select 1-4 of the (IIRC roughly 80) industry-standardized and regulated boilerplate reasons that at first glance most accurately align(s) with the reason(s) for the denial.

"We aren't comfortable extending unsecured credit at this time to someone who opened 27 accounts in the last year" isn't on the list so the UW picked one that is on the list that has at least minimal alignment with the actual justification, which meets the legal requirement.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

FinStar — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:48:33 GMT

@coldfusion wrote:

An underwriter usually has at most about 2 minutes to review your application and credit history, make a decision, and if a denial quickly select 1-4 of the (IIRC roughly 80) industry-standardized and regulated boilerplate reasons that at first glance most accurately align(s) with the reason(s) for the denial.

"We aren't comfortable extending unsecured credit at this time to someone who opened 27 accounts in the last year" isn't on the list so the UW picked one that is on the list that has at least minimal alignment with the actual justification, which meets the legal requirement.

Exactly, and while most lenders can be very flexible (including Regions) with a variety of thick and established profiles, you don't always get a ticket to the gala. Besides, not much that can be done (other than remain salty) since this happened back in June so the point is moot.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

SoCalGardener — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 18:27:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Too new to credit. Not enough eperience in unsecured credit cards.

HA HA HA!! Knowing what I do about you, that's hilarious. And stupid.

Just FYI, you're not alone in the 'ridiculous denial reasons' department. Several recent CLI requests I made were denied, and among the [numerous] ridiculous reasons: no recent mortgage history (yeah, I know--because I own my $1M+ house OUTRIGHT). Whatever.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 20:24:30 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Too new to credit. Not enough eperience in unsecured credit cards.

HA HA HA!! Knowing what I do about you, that's hilarious. And stupid.

Just FYI, you're not alone in the 'ridiculous denial reasons' department. Several recent CLI requests I made were denied, and among the [numerous] ridiculous reasons: no recent mortgage history (yeah, I know--because I own my $1M+ house OUTRIGHT). Whatever.

Same here I am docked for not having a mortgage on my house. I have always owned yet I never ever had a mortgage and I am not going to get one now just to increase my scores.

I still am not happy about the reason for denial. Anyway my portfolio that I keep my cards in is totally full no room for any more cards and I only keep 3 cards in my wallet. Sugar one of my bichons got ahold of my portfolio last night and she chewed up 9 cards She even chewed up my Propel metal card . I was on the phone all morning getting replacements

The Discover chrome card is in a thousand pieces hmmm lol

Thanks

Mark

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

SoCalGardener — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 22:46:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Too new to credit. Not enough eperience in unsecured credit cards.

HA HA HA!! Knowing what I do about you, that's hilarious. And stupid.

Just FYI, you're not alone in the 'ridiculous denial reasons' department. Several recent CLI requests I made were denied, and among the [numerous] ridiculous reasons: no recent mortgage history (yeah, I know--because I own my $1M+ house OUTRIGHT). Whatever.
Same here I am docked for not having a mortgage on my house. I have always owned yet I never ever had a mortgage and I am not going to get one now just to increase my scores.

I still am not happy about the reason for denial. Anyway my portfolio that I keep my cards in is totally full no room for any more cards and I only keep 3 cards in my wallet. Sugar one of my bichons got ahold of my portfolio last night and she chewed up 9 cards She even chewed up my Propel metal card . I was on the phone all morning getting replacements
The Discover chrome card is in a thousand pieces hmmm lol

Oh no! Who cares about the cards--I just want to be sure Sugar is okay! BTW, I had a cat I named Sugar and then--irony of all ironies--he became diabetic. Had to give him insulin shots twice a day.

The whole 'lack of recent mortgage experience' thing is just too ludicrous to believe. If credit bureaus are going to dock you for not having recent loan experience, they should at least find out if you own your home outright and, if so, how much it's worth, then factor that in and THEN calculate your score. I mean if you're being weighed on how responsible you are with housing, shouldn't you get mega-bonus points for OWNING YOUR HOME OUTRIGHT?

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Anonymalous — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 00:55:13 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:
The whole 'lack of recent mortgage experience' thing is just too ludicrous to believe. If credit bureaus are going to dock you for not having recent loan experience, they should at least find out if you own your home outright and, if so, how much it's worth, then factor that in and THEN calculate your score. I mean if you're being weighed on how responsible you are with housing, shouldn't you get mega-bonus points for OWNING YOUR HOME OUTRIGHT?

You're looking at it the wrong way.

Use me as an example. I'm not young. I've been out of school and working for decades, and for that entire time I've always lived with my means. I've paid cash for everything, including cars and homes, and never paid even one bill late. And that's not even counting my professional experience.

But I don't have a FICO score. When I first pulled my credit reports about 6 months ago, Experian couldn't even associate my social security number with a person. The other two bureaus each had a random previous address for me, but under all the other sections, there was literally nothing. I was completely unscorable. So in many ways, my credit history was worse than someone who proved themselves fiscally irresponsible with a bankruptcy, multiple charge offs, and all that other fun stuff.

By any objective standard that looks at the totality of my history, I'm fiscally responsible. But the bureaus have no way of knowing that. They're not infalliable, and they don't know all those other things about me. Instead, they have a few data points that have been reported by a few other companies. And because I had never done anything that would flesh out the data points they look at, like take out a loan or get a credit card, they didn't know anything about me. And until they do (my card turns 6 months old next month), I'm an unknown. A wildcard.

And that's not a personal affront to me. They're making actuarial assessments based on limited data, not moral judgments about my character.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Crowhelm — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 14:38:54 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Too new to credit. Not enough eperience in unsecured credit cards.

HA HA HA!! Knowing what I do about you, that's hilarious. And stupid.

Just FYI, you're not alone in the 'ridiculous denial reasons' department. Several recent CLI requests I made were denied, and among the [numerous] ridiculous reasons: no recent mortgage history (yeah, I know--because I own my $1M+ house OUTRIGHT). Whatever.
Same here I am docked for not having a mortgage on my house. I have always owned yet I never ever had a mortgage and I am not going to get one now just to increase my scores.

I still am not happy about the reason for denial. Anyway my portfolio that I keep my cards in is totally full no room for any more cards and I only keep 3 cards in my wallet. Sugar one of my bichons got ahold of my portfolio last night and she chewed up 9 cards She even chewed up my Propel metal card . I was on the phone all morning getting replacements
The Discover chrome card is in a thousand pieces hmmm lol

Oh no! Who cares about the cards--I just want to be sure Sugar is okay! BTW, I had a cat I named Sugar and then--irony of all ironies--he became diabetic. Had to give him insulin shots twice a day.

The whole 'lack of recent mortgage experience' thing is just too ludicrous to believe. If credit bureaus are going to dock you for not having recent loan experience, they should at least find out if you own your home outright and, if so, how much it's worth, then factor that in and THEN calculate your score. I mean if you're being weighed on how responsible you are with housing, shouldn't you get mega-bonus points for OWNING YOUR HOME OUTRIGHT?

Totally agree. Also, we just moved recently, a little bit over a year ago. Sold in a hot market bought in a good market but not as red hot. Now it is taking off here as well, so we gained 160k over that time plus we paid around 60% of the new house price, so our mortgage is small, yet because it is only a year old one of the negatives is mortgage balance is too high compared to the original loan. LOL, that is beyond redicilous. Look at the overall value of the house and we are doing great. But when it comes down to it we all know why things are done this way, don't we?

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

SoCalGardener — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 16:55:44 GMT

@Anonymalous wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:
The whole 'lack of recent mortgage experience' thing is just too ludicrous to believe. If credit bureaus are going to dock you for not having recent loan experience, they should at least find out if you own your home outright and, if so, how much it's worth, then factor that in and THEN calculate your score. I mean if you're being weighed on how responsible you are with housing, shouldn't you get mega-bonus points for OWNING YOUR HOME OUTRIGHT?
You're looking at it the wrong way.

Use me as an example. I'm not young. I've been out of school and working for decades, and for that entire time I've always lived with my means. I've paid cash for everything, including cars and homes, and never paid even one bill late. And that's not even counting my professional experience.

But I don't have a FICO score. When I first pulled my credit reports about 6 months ago, Experian couldn't even associate my social security number with a person. The other two bureaus each had a random previous address for me, but under all the other sections, there was literally nothing. I was completely unscorable. So in many ways, my credit history was worse than someone who proved themselves fiscally irresponsible with a bankruptcy, multiple charge offs, and all that other fun stuff.

By any objective standard that looks at the totality of my history, I'm fiscally responsible. But the bureaus have no way of knowing that. They're not infalliable, and they don't know all those other things about me. Instead, they have a few data points that have been reported by a few other companies. And because I had never done anything that would flesh out the data points they look at, like take out a loan or get a credit card, they didn't know anything about me. And until they do (my card turns 6 months old next month), I'm an unknown. A wildcard.

And that's not a personal affront to me. They're making actuarial assessments based on limited data, not moral judgments about my character.

I hear you! My mother was in her 60s when she got her first--and ONLY--credit card. No, her ONLY credit of any kind! She--and her brother, a physician--had always paid cash for everything, and had absolutely no credit. After my uncle's wife died, and my cousin (his daughter) got involved in helping him take care of things, she got him to apply for various credit cards and such. My mom got her Discover card in 1991 and, like you, had absolutely NO credit history. Nothing. Blank. However--and this was 30 years ago, so don't carve this in stone--I believe they took into account the fact that she owned her [very expensive] home outright, and factored that in.

My whole point is that if fiscal responsibility as demonstrated by paying a mortgage is what they're looking for, then one should get mega-bonus points for OWNING their home outright. To me, that makes sense. No, it has nothing to do with making monthly payments on a loan, but it has EVERYTHING to do with being financially responsible.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Anonymalous — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 20:11:59 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:
My whole point is that if fiscal responsibility as demonstrated by paying a mortgage is what they're looking for, then one should get mega-bonus points for OWNING their home outright. To me, that makes sense. No, it has nothing to do with making monthly payments on a loan, but it has EVERYTHING to do with being financially responsible.

How would they know you own your home? It doesn't show up on any of the credit reports. That's why I don't take it personally. They're not assessing me as a total person, they're just using the limited information they have to make a risk assessment. There's an argument that they should be tracking other information, or at least be amendable to considering it -- and that's what things like Experian Boost are aimed at, and what fintech companies like Tomo have been experimenting with -- but it's also good when big companies don't know everything about everybody, so there's a real balance. Despite my long and perfect financial history in all areas except personal credit, I'm fine with having to build a credit history. It's a bit of a game, and it's one where the habits I've developed over a lifetime should serve me well.

Speaking of which, I bet you learned some good financial habits from your mom.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Crowhelm — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 20:36:39 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:
@Anonymalous wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:
The whole 'lack of recent mortgage experience' thing is just too ludicrous to believe. If credit bureaus are going to dock you for not having recent loan experience, they should at least find out if you own your home outright and, if so, how much it's worth, then factor that in and THEN calculate your score. I mean if you're being weighed on how responsible you are with housing, shouldn't you get mega-bonus points for OWNING YOUR HOME OUTRIGHT?
You're looking at it the wrong way.

Use me as an example. I'm not young. I've been out of school and working for decades, and for that entire time I've always lived with my means. I've paid cash for everything, including cars and homes, and never paid even one bill late. And that's not even counting my professional experience.

But I don't have a FICO score. When I first pulled my credit reports about 6 months ago, Experian couldn't even associate my social security number with a person. The other two bureaus each had a random previous address for me, but under all the other sections, there was literally nothing. I was completely unscorable. So in many ways, my credit history was worse than someone who proved themselves fiscally irresponsible with a bankruptcy, multiple charge offs, and all that other fun stuff.

By any objective standard that looks at the totality of my history, I'm fiscally responsible. But the bureaus have no way of knowing that. They're not infalliable, and they don't know all those other things about me. Instead, they have a few data points that have been reported by a few other companies. And because I had never done anything that would flesh out the data points they look at, like take out a loan or get a credit card, they didn't know anything about me. And until they do (my card turns 6 months old next month), I'm an unknown. A wildcard.

And that's not a personal affront to me. They're making actuarial assessments based on limited data, not moral judgments about my character.
I hear you! My mother was in her 60s when she got her first--and ONLY--credit card. No, her ONLY credit of any kind! She--and her brother, a physician--had always paid cash for everything, and had absolutely no credit. After my uncle's wife died, and my cousin (his daughter) got involved in helping him take care of things, she got him to apply for various credit cards and such. My mom got her Discover card in 1991 and, like you, had absolutely NO credit history. Nothing. Blank. However--and this was 30 years ago, so don't carve this in stone--I believe they took into account the fact that she owned her [very expensive] home outright, and factored that in.

My whole point is that if fiscal responsibility as demonstrated by paying a mortgage is what they're looking for, then one should get mega-bonus points for OWNING their home outright. To me, that makes sense. No, it has nothing to do with making monthly payments on a loan, but it has EVERYTHING to do with being financially responsible.

I will say this. Just owning your home outright does not necessarily show good financial skills (because after all it could have been just handed to you, family, etc.). However, if you had a mortgage and paid it off it should stay on your report for as long as you live or own the house and no other mortgage should be required to give you the mortgage points.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

SoCalGardener — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 20:54:45 GMT

@Anonymalous wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:
My whole point is that if fiscal responsibility as demonstrated by paying a mortgage is what they're looking for, then one should get mega-bonus points for OWNING their home outright. To me, that makes sense. No, it has nothing to do with making monthly payments on a loan, but it has EVERYTHING to do with being financially responsible.
How would they know you own your home? It doesn't show up on any of the credit reports. That's why I don't take it personally. They're not assessing me as a total person, they're just using the limited information they have to make a risk assessment. There's an argument that they should be tracking other information, or at least be amendable to considering it -- and that's what things like Experian Boost are aimed at, and what fintech companies like Tomo have been experimenting with -- but it's also good when big companies don't know everything about everybody, so there's a real balance. Despite my long and perfect financial history in all areas except personal credit, I'm fine with having to build a credit history. It's a bit of a game, and it's one where the habits I've developed over a lifetime should serve me well.

How would they know? By asking!

No, but seriously, some of my creditors--Discover and BofA come to mind, but I won't swear either way--ask for my housing payment and whether I own or rent, when I'm requesting a CLI. By putting $0 for my housing payment and "own" my home, voila!, they know.

And, yes, I definitely did learn a lot of good financial habits from my mom. Really, even moreso from HER mom, my grandmother. She was a very successful businesswoman, back in the '50s and '60s, when women just didn't do that. In the '60s and '70s when I'd go with her to check on one of her rental properties, or go to the bank, I saw how people respected her and what a stellar reputation she had. She, and my grandfather, lost everything in the Depression, and they learned from it. Big time. They passed that on! When he died suddenly, she took their already successful life and ran with it. Although I strongly disliked her (for reasons I won't go into here) and she was the reason I left home at 16, I respect her greatly for what she accomplished--and she never had credit of ANY kind!

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

SoCalGardener — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 20:59:03 GMT

@Crowhelm wrote:
I will say this. Just owning your home outright does not necessarily show good financial skills (because after all it could have been just handed to you, family, etc.). However, if you had a mortgage and paid it off it should stay on your report for as long as you live or own the house and no other mortgage should be required to give you the mortgage points.

You're making some good points. However, depending on how long ago you paid off a mortgage, it may or may not still be on your reports. I paid off my mortgage in 2007--and it fell off my credit reports a long time ago! So, no, that loan history does NOT stick with you.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Anonymalous — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 22:59:35 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:
And, yes, I definitely did learn a lot of good financial habits from my mom. Really, even moreso from HER mom, my grandmother. She was a very successful businesswoman, back in the '50s and '60s, when women just didn't do that. In the '60s and '70s when I'd go with her to check on one of her rental properties, or go to the bank, I saw how people respected her and what a stellar reputation she had. She, and my grandfather, lost everything in the Depression, and they learned from it. Big time. They passed that on! When he died suddenly, she took their already successful life and ran with it. Although I strongly disliked her (for reasons I won't go into here) and she was the reason I left home at 16, I respect her greatly for what she accomplished--and she never had credit of ANY kind!

If they respected her, she had credit. That was when reputation and personal credibility mattered, before it was all formalized and turned into algorithms.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Crowhelm — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 01:15:07 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:
@Crowhelm wrote:
I will say this. Just owning your home outright does not necessarily show good financial skills (because after all it could have been just handed to you, family, etc.). However, if you had a mortgage and paid it off it should stay on your report for as long as you live or own the house and no other mortgage should be required to give you the mortgage points.
You're making some good points. However, depending on how long ago you paid off a mortgage, it may or may not still be on your reports. I paid off my mortgage in 2007--and it fell off my credit reports a long time ago! So, no, that loan history does NOT stick with you.

No, I am fully aware that this is going on right now, I just said it shouldn't.

Re: Regions DECLINED the reason is impossible

Taurus22 — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 04:28:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Too new to credit. Not enough eperience in unsecured credit cards.

HA HA HA!! Knowing what I do about you, that's hilarious. And stupid.

Just FYI, you're not alone in the 'ridiculous denial reasons' department. Several recent CLI requests I made were denied, and among the [numerous] ridiculous reasons: no recent mortgage history (yeah, I know--because I own my $1M+ house OUTRIGHT). Whatever.
Same here I am docked for not having a mortgage on my house. I have always owned yet I never ever had a mortgage and I am not going to get one now just to increase my scores.

I still am not happy about the reason for denial. Anyway my portfolio that I keep my cards in is totally full no room for any more cards and I only keep 3 cards in my wallet. Sugar one of my bichons got ahold of my portfolio last night and she chewed up 9 cards She even chewed up my Propel metal card . I was on the phone all morning getting replacements
The Discover chrome card is in a thousand pieces hmmm lol
Thanks
Mark

Lol wow. 1st World problems right there. I own my home, I clear $1M annually, I have rental properties.... and I had to spend my morning replacing 9 of my 77 credit cards.... I'm sorry, but the humor in that is priceless.... If only I had those kind of problems.