topic Re: United Explorer Denial in Credit Card Applications

United Explorer Denial

cczzll1611 — Sat, 16 Apr 2022 16:50:46 GMT

Denied for United Explorer, and pretty angry about it.

They pulled my Experian, which is at 698. Was over 700 but recently fell because I paid off my car loan.

I have United Gold status and $120k yearly income. The reason given when I called into Chase was high student loan debt ($100k total for masters and undergrad) and a charge off from 2015 that JUST fell off all my reports — but for some reason, apparently Chase could still see it. I was laid off in late 2014 and was unemployed until Dec. 2015 due to cutbacks across my industry at the time. Not great to have a charge off, but I was 25 and didn't know better. Have been rebuilding credit ever since, getting from low 500s in the last six years. Chase rep wasn’t very sympathetic, despite having no missed payments on any open accounts; my student loans were put into deferment when I was unemployed.

Have a credit card with $10k limit from Navy Federal since 2018. I don't work for DOD anymore, but did at the time. Oldest credit account is 15 years and 3 mo.

I travel long haul international flights multiple times a year for work and was hoping to put an upcoming business trip on this card and get the miles.

I've seen people with worse financial situations get this card. Just very upsetting that being super polite, upfront about my unemployment 7+ years ago AND having United status with high income isn't enough. Chase told me reapplying wouldn't do anything because of the charge off. Experian said there is no charge off on my account. So...I'm never getting this card, am I?

Re: United Explorer Denial

SDMarik — Sat, 16 Apr 2022 20:39:12 GMT

That stinks, sorry about the denial bud. There may have been other reasons for the denial, as issuers are only legally required to provide one. Was 698 your Fico Bankcard score or regular EX fico8?

Re: United Explorer Denial

FinStar — Sat, 16 Apr 2022 23:00:48 GMT

@cczzll1611 wrote:
Denied for United Explorer, and pretty angry about it.

They pulled my Experian, which is at 698. Was over 700 but recently fell because I paid off my car loan.

I have United Gold status and $120k yearly income. The reason given when I called into Chase was high student loan debt ($100k total for masters and undergrad) and a charge off from 2015 that JUST fell off all my reports — but for some reason, apparently Chase could still see it. I was laid off in late 2014 and was unemployed until Dec. 2015 due to cutbacks across my industry at the time. Not great to have a charge off, but I was 25 and didn't know better. Have been rebuilding credit ever since, getting from low 500s in the last six years. Chase rep wasn’t very sympathetic, despite having no missed payments on any open accounts; my student loans were put into deferment when I was unemployed.

Have a credit card with $10k limit from Navy Federal since 2018. I don't work for DOD anymore, but did at the time. Oldest credit account is 15 years and 3 mo.

I travel long haul international flights multiple times a year for work and was hoping to put an upcoming business trip on this card and get the miles.

I've seen people with worse financial situations get this card. Just very upsetting that being super polite, upfront about my unemployment 7+ years ago AND having United status with high income isn't enough. Chase told me reapplying wouldn't do anything because of the charge off. Experian said there is no charge off on my account. So...I'm never getting this card, am I?

While the reconsideration efforts did not pan out as expected, all you can do is give things time and you can reapply at some point. Since algorithms are evaluating a lot of factors with making a decision, comparing others' profiles to yours is a futile effort. United (or any) status is often times irrelevant when it comes to discussing a reconsideration with an analyst.

Since the reason(s) were not wrong when your credit reports were accessed by Chase, I would focus on the student loan debt since it sounds like (in their eyes) that was a potential red flag (i.e. overextension). And, regardless if it was/is defferred or not, it is still there and DTI will come into play for many lenders. On the upside, the charge off has been removed and that's one less item to worry about.

Re: United Explorer Denial

cczzll1611 — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 01:14:38 GMT

It was my FICO 8 score. My TransUnion and Equifax are higher, but only Experian was looked at.

I pay for Experian's credit services with the other two bureaus added, so the score should be pretty accurate.

Re: United Explorer Denial

cczzll1611 — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 01:26:39 GMT

The loans were only put into deferment when I was unemployed seven years ago, and that has no negative affect on your score. I mentioned this to show I wasn't delinquent on anything else but the one charge off I had at the time. Any money I had while unemployed went to rent and gas to drive to interviews.

Lots of people have student loans. I only make what I do because I got a graduate degree which is necessary for my field. I understand some people here might not have loans or look down on people who do, but I went to a top 20 school for both degrees (which cost $50,000+ a year) and am a child of immigrants who didn't go to college. I had/have no ability to just get money from family. This has all been done by myself and I think I've done a "darn" good job considering my circumstances. The loans covered what my scholarships in undergrad didn't, and my grad program was OOP/loans. I pay $800/mo to them, which is more than the minimum. I can't just pay more without sacrificing other things like groceries, rent, cell phone, current car loan, savings etc.

Surely people with student debt get credit cards. If not, then this system needs to be completely overhauled.

My concern is that, if the charge off is gone, why was Chase able to see it?

Re: United Explorer Denial

Remedios — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 01:30:54 GMT

Was it Chase card that got charged off in the past?

Re: United Explorer Denial

cczzll1611 — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 01:33:55 GMT

No. It was a credit card issued by my school's credit union that was controlled through Capitol One. Charge off amount was like $2500.

Re: United Explorer Denial

Remedios — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 01:55:00 GMT

If charge off isn't Chase card and Chase is aware of it, it's not off all reports. They cannot "see" what isn't reported, or what wasn't reported at the time you applied.

You're right about other people being approved with student loans, they aren't issue on their own unless they significantly increase DTI, but in the presence of other factors, everything is an issue.

With charge off removed, even if you paid off auto loan, there has to be other negatives present or really high utilization for scores not to be much higher.

Go over your reports and see what's reporting, upper 600s to low 700s aren't typical for mature clean profile.

If you couldn't get decision reversed during recon, give it time and try at some point in the future when your situation improves.

Re: United Explorer Denial

cczzll1611 — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 02:01:18 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
If charge off isn't Chase card and Chase is aware of it, it's not off all reports. They cannot "see" what isn't reported, or what wasn't reported at the time you applied.

You're right about other people being approved with student loans, they aren't issue on their own unless they significantly increase DTI, but in the presence of other factors, everything is an issue.

With charge off removed, even if you paid off auto loan, there has to be other negatives present or really high utilization for scores not to be much higher.

Go over your reports and see what's reporting, upper 600s to low 700s aren't typical for mature clean profile.

If you couldn't get decision reversed during recon, give it time and try at some point in the future when your situation improves.

When I first got the "7-10 business days" message on the automated line, I called Chase to confirm the denial. The man I spoke to was super helpful and suggested I call all the credit agencies to confirm my reports — which I did. All three said I had no charge offs, delinquincies or collections on my reports; one rep was kind of hard to get an answer from since it appeared English was not their first language, and they kept repeating "These items should fall off after seven years" and didn't understand I was asking to see if I had any charge offs still showing. Eventually they said "No," but maybe that was it? However, that was Equifax and not Experian. My Experian account shows nothing but my student loans, credit card and current car loan ($10k always paid on time).

It's just super frustrating because I thought I was on the right track. Disheartening to see people with like 10+ credit cards and I can't get more than the one I have. If I have this much trouble from unemployment, I feel terrible for anyone who was affected by the recession. I assume they were screwed just like I was.

Re: United Explorer Denial

SDMarik — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 02:10:08 GMT

There has to be something holding your score down, as mentioned before your score should be much higher. If chase claims they saw it, it has to be there somewhere. Are you 100% positive they didn't pull TU or EQ?

Is it possible for an issuer to HP a bureau and have a delay in it hitting your file?

Re: United Explorer Denial

Remedios — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 02:09:14 GMT

@cczzll1611 of course you can get more than one. It may not be Chase, but there are plenty of lenders who would approve you.

If this particular airline card isn't the only card that could be useful to you, I'd suggest you look at other lenders/options.

Denials aren't pleasant because they interfere with our plans, but make a lemonade in the form of another plan.

Since you only have one card, there is plenty of reawrds you could be getting with additional card, you just need to identify your spend pattern and see what would work for you.

Re: United Explorer Denial

cczzll1611 — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 02:20:25 GMT

@SDMarik wrote:
There has to be something holding your score down, as mentioned before your score should be much higher. If chase claims they saw it, it has to be there somewhere. Are you 100% positive they didn't pull TU or EQ?

Is it possible for an issuer to HP a bureau and have a delay in it hitting your file?

My only guess is my 30% usage on my one credit card and student loans. My score did dip significantly (20-30 points) when my first car loan was paid off in November.

Only Experian shows the hard pull.

Re: United Explorer Denial

cczzll1611 — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 02:22:27 GMT

No other card really makes sense for me, since I exclusively fly United. My airport is a hub. The airport my family lives by is a hub. My employer is based in NYC. My main overseas route is a major United hub. Other cards just don't have the good return on United that their cards have.

I guess all I can do is wait a year and see how things improve.

Re: United Explorer Denial

blossom_rebuilding — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 15:40:08 GMT

Sorry about this denial, OP. Your profile honestly sounds quite a bit like mine bck when I applied for this card at the end of 2018; relatively high income (yours is higher than mine was at the time), recently new clean profile, six figures in student loans. I also had pretty high utilization at the time; probably around 20%, but also a very long credit history. A few key differences that might have made the difference:

My score at the time of approval was higher than 700. I think it may have been in the 715-730 neighborhood. The hit that your score took due to the recently paid off loan may be a bit of bad timing. The score hit is temporary and will certainly rebound soon, so when it is solidly in the 700s several months running, it may be a good time to reapply.
I had old derogs (delinquencies and one charge off) that had been off of my credit report for probably about a year at the time that I applied. Maybe your derog was still too recent that it lingered somewhere, even if it should have been completely removed from your report. I have some old closed accounts sitting on my credit report past the seven year mark (no derogs though, thankfully), so maybe something similar happened when Chase pulled your report.
My application was pre-pandemic. I only mention that because I think we have seen surprises in profiles that would have been approved pre-pandemic appearing more risky now. I don't think it's necessarily right or fair, but I think given the similarities in our profiles, it might be a factor. As with everything, YMMV, so this is just an observation.

I hope you consider other travel card options, and maybe reapply in the future. Good luck to you!

Re: United Explorer Denial

KJinNC — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 17:56:03 GMT

30% utilization on your one card may concern them. Add the loan amount and the charge-off and I can see how this outcome might have happened.

There may not be another airline card that makes sense for you right now, but there could be a general travel card (eg Venture) or some other card type (eg Hilton, Marriott, dining, grocery, etc) that does make sense.

Good luck!

Re: United Explorer Denial

cczzll1611 — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 13:31:56 GMT

@blossom_rebuilding wrote:
Sorry about this denial, OP. Your profile honestly sounds quite a bit like mine bck when I applied for this card at the end of 2018; relatively high income (yours is higher than mine was at the time), recently new clean profile, six figures in student loans. I also had pretty high utilization at the time; probably around 20%, but also a very long credit history. A few key differences that might have made the difference:
My score at the time of approval was higher than 700. I think it may have been in the 715-730 neighborhood. The hit that your score took due to the recently paid off loan may be a bit of bad timing. The score hit is temporary and will certainly rebound soon, so when it is solidly in the 700s several months running, it may be a good time to reapply.
I had old derogs (delinquencies and one charge off) that had been off of my credit report for probably about a year at the time that I applied. Maybe your derog was still too recent that it lingered somewhere, even if it should have been completely removed from your report. I have some old closed accounts sitting on my credit report past the seven year mark (no derogs though, thankfully), so maybe something similar happened when Chase pulled your report.
My application was pre-pandemic. I only mention that because I think we have seen surprises in profiles that would have been approved pre-pandemic appearing more risky now. I don't think it's necessarily right or fair, but I think given the similarities in our profiles, it might be a factor. As with everything, YMMV, so this is just an observation.
I hope you consider other travel card options, and maybe reapply in the future. Good luck to you!

Thank you! This was all extremely helpful.

I agree that maybe waiting until everything is in the 710+ range is smarter. The charge off was from March 2015, so you are probably correct in thinking perhaps it's still visible in some way and/or fell off too recently.

I'm going to wait and see if, perhaps, I'll have some luck in the fall or winter in getting the card.

Re: United Explorer Denial

Hoben02 — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 15:09:31 GMT

If you don't have any other chase cards have you tried applying for one of the sapphire cards becuz those have transferable miles and one of the transfer partners is United. Also are you near a chase branch you can walk-in and see if you are preapproved to save yourself a pull

Re: United Explorer Denial

7774x — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 20:52:59 GMT

@cczzll1611 wrote:
@Remedios wrote:
If charge off isn't Chase card and Chase is aware of it, it's not off all reports. They cannot "see" what isn't reported, or what wasn't reported at the time you applied.

You're right about other people being approved with student loans, they aren't issue on their own unless they significantly increase DTI, but in the presence of other factors, everything is an issue.

With charge off removed, even if you paid off auto loan, there has to be other negatives present or really high utilization for scores not to be much higher.

Go over your reports and see what's reporting, upper 600s to low 700s aren't typical for mature clean profile.

If you couldn't get decision reversed during recon, give it time and try at some point in the future when your situation improves.

When I first got the "7-10 business days" message on the automated line, I called Chase to confirm the denial. The man I spoke to was super helpful and suggested I call all the credit agencies to confirm my reports — which I did. All three said I had no charge offs, delinquincies or collections on my reports; one rep was kind of hard to get an answer from since it appeared English was not their first language, and they kept repeating "These items should fall off after seven years" and didn't understand I was asking to see if I had any charge offs still showing. Eventually they said "No," but maybe that was it? However, that was Equifax and not Experian. My Experian account shows nothing but my student loans, credit card and current car loan ($10k always paid on time).

It's just super frustrating because I thought I was on the right track. Disheartening to see people with like 10+ credit cards and I can't get more than the one I have. If I have this much trouble from unemployment, I feel terrible for anyone who was affected by the recession. I assume they were screwed just like I was.

Don't let it bother you .. I have the Chase British Air card .. applied for the Explorer card .. Denied..Chase said ..too many new cards ..2 .. 760 score

Re: United Explorer Denial

Mdowning30 — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 12:17:27 GMT

I was denied for the United Gateway card earlier this month, win some lose some...