topic Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results? in Credit Card Applications

Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

Bandit5160 — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 19:11:04 GMT

I am a Wyndham Hotels Rewards memeber and while I was booking a trip to the beach I saw a great offer for the Wyndham Rewards credit card. I travel a lot for both working and personal vacations so I applied. Barclaycard declined my app for this card but offered me a lesser tier card with an outrageous 31% APR and paltry $750 CL, which I declined. So for all intensive purposes a rejection, which I don't understand. I make an average of 80-90 thousand a year and my credit scores are all in the 760-790 range. Then a day later I appled for the AAA credit card since I have been an AAA premiere member for almost 20 years on account of the fact that I travel by car a lot for both work and pleasure. I was approved, but only for a $2000 CL. But I accepted the offer, as the card allows me to earn good points on my car insurance and AAA membership payments as well as gas, food, and lodging. Then finally a couple of days later still, as a Wells Fargo checking and savings account holder, I decided to apply for the new WF Bilt card. I already have the Propel , Active Cash, and Hotels.com cards from WF but they approved me for a whopping 18K CL, which ties with my Discover It cards for the highest CL I have right off the bat. The more cards I appled for, the better my results got, which is odd. Why were the results of my apps so different?

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

OmarGB9 — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 19:42:42 GMT

Simple. Every lender has different criteria and different UW requirements. Barclays is known for being one of the more conservative/stingier lenders out there, so no surprise there. Also you didn't specify whether there are any negatives in your file, no matter how small. Probably not if your scores are close to 800, but still pertinent.

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

jcooks — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 19:51:18 GMT

What were the reasons for denial? Also, if your sig is correct, you have a lot of cards open. Barclays doesn't like that too much. Plus you already have established relationships with both BoA and WF. But to frankly answer your question about different results on your apps...they're different banks.

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 20:00:16 GMT

@Bandit5160 wrote:
I am a Wyndham Hotels Rewards memeber and while I was booking a trip to the beach I saw a great offer for the Wyndham Rewards credit card. I travel a lot for both working and personal vacations so I applied. Barclaycard declined my app for this card but offered me a lesser tier card with an outrageous 31% APR and paltry $750 CL, which I declined. So for all intensive purposes a rejection, which I don't understand. I make an average of 80-90 thousand a year and my credit scores are all in the 760-790 range. Then a day later I appled for the AAA credit card since I have been an AAA premiere member for almost 20 years on account of the fact that I travel by car a lot for both work and pleasure. I was approved, but only for a $2000 CL. But I accepted the offer, as the card allows me to earn good points on my car insurance and AAA membership payments as well as gas, food, and lodging. Then finally a couple of days later still, as a Wells Fargo checking and savings account holder, I decided to apply for the new WF Bilt card. I already have the Propel , Active Cash, and Hotels.com cards from WF but they approved me for a whopping 18K CL, which ties with my Discover It cards for the highest CL I have right off the bat. The more cards I appled for, the better my results got, which is odd. Why were the results of my apps so different?

I had a similar physical Wyndham mailer for probably exactly the same card you were offered, similar APR and easy sub. Probably would've gotten toy limit like you lol. Didn't pursue!

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

Aim_High — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 20:48:28 GMT

Agree with above postings that Barclays is known to be a tougher lender with some profiles, and it's always tricky comparing results between two different banks and even between two different cards with the same bank (Wyndham and AAA). Underwriting standards certainly vary between banks and some cards are more lenient than others.

I'll add a few more observations and ask a few questions that may help to shed additional light on the subject.

As asked above, what derogatories if any do you show on your credit reports? Any BK, collections, late payments, etc?

How many inquiries do you have in the past six, twelve, twenty-four months on each CRB?

How many new accounts (personal) do you have in the past six, twelve, twenty-four months on each CRB?

I ask these two questions since approvals may be hampered by inquiries. And sometimes new accounts don't show on all three reports. However, if new accounts is high relative to profile, that could be the reason for the inhibited Barclays approvals. For an extreme example, let's say for inquiries you're 8/24 on EX but 1/24 on TU and 0/24 on EQ. Lender (A) pulls EX, and denies the card. Lender (B) pulls EQ and approves the card with a high limit. According to credit_is_crack's master listing, Barclays is known to pull EX in PA and GA while it often pulls TU in TX, NY, NM, NJ, FL, MN, and GA. Wells Fargo is known to pull any of the three bureaus including EQ (IL, NY), TU (GA, OH, WA, IL), and EX in many other states. Which CRB did each lender pull for you?

Making $50K or $500K doesn't factor into whether you get approved. Income primarily plays a role in your starting limit, but your debt situation is also considered. Making $80K to $90K is relative if you have high Debt-to-Income from a mortgage that was approved at the top of your qualification range, a high auto loan balance, or high student loan debts. Someone making $50K could qualify for a higher limit than someone making $100K under the right circumstances.

The prior banking and credit relationship with Wells Fargo probably went a long way with your higher SL with them, as well as the variation in underwriting criteria. I would guess that you've given them a fair chunk of your direct deposits and credit card charges in the past and they rewarded that in order to seek more of your business.

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

CreditCuriosity — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 21:24:03 GMT

My guess is credit seeking/utilization although without more input from yourself it is hard to tell. Also echo WF hates me, well doesn't hate me, but doesn't like me as I have excessive credit and they don't think they will make anything off me despite a higher income and > 800 fico I always get turned down so I simply quit applying as I accept I am not the client they want. Each lender is different. Barclay's has always been good to me, although I currently don't hold any of their cards. Just lick your wounds and move on as if you been in the credit game as long as some of us one here you have either been declined or been given a tiny limit where you felt like you deserved more. We all have egos, but lenders will put them in check for us all at some point.

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

unsungivy — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 00:10:21 GMT

@Bandit5160 wrote:
I am a Wyndham Hotels Rewards memeber and while I was booking a trip to the beach I saw a great offer for the Wyndham Rewards credit card. I travel a lot for both working and personal vacations so I applied. Barclaycard declined my app for this card but offered me a lesser tier card with an outrageous 31% APR and paltry $750 CL, which I declined. So for all intensive purposes a rejection, which I don't understand. I make an average of 80-90 thousand a year and my credit scores are all in the 760-790 range. Then a day later I appled for the AAA credit card since I have been an AAA premiere member for almost 20 years on account of the fact that I travel by car a lot for both work and pleasure. I was approved, but only for a $2000 CL. But I accepted the offer, as the card allows me to earn good points on my car insurance and AAA membership payments as well as gas, food, and lodging. Then finally a couple of days later still, as a Wells Fargo checking and savings account holder, I decided to apply for the new WF Bilt card. I already have the Propel , Active Cash, and Hotels.com cards from WF but they approved me for a whopping 18K CL, which ties with my Discover It cards for the highest CL I have right off the bat. The more cards I appled for, the better my results got, which is odd. Why were the results of my apps so different?

FYI, unless you were doing it as a sarcastic "get the phrase wrong because it's funny" thing (which I have heard in sitcoms before for this specific phrase, so maybe), the phrase is "intents and purposes", not "intensive purposes". Just a small piece of edu-macation for your future phrasing usage. 👍

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

Bandit5160 — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 05:00:24 GMT

No, I didn't say that phrase wrong to be funny. I just screwed it all up and said it wrong and now I feel like an idiot! But live and learn.

'Anyway, I am still waiting to find out exactly why Barclay's didn't approve me. I should get a letter very soon. I have more than enough credit already. It's an ego thing, as someone suggested. And getting credit cards and earning rewards from them is a big hobby of mine too!

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

bigseegar — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 11:28:57 GMT

My thoughts on it are too that I counted 32 credit cards in your Sig Line with lots of those at a $5K CL or less. Really thats still a lot of cards and open CL's for only a $80K a year salary. So that many have come into play on both the denial and the low CL's.

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

Bandit5160 — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 20:42:44 GMT

@bigseegar wrote:
My thoughts on it are too that I counted 32 credit cards in your Sig Line with lots of those at a $5K CL or less. Really thats still a lot of cards and open CL's for only a $80K a year salary. So that many have come into play on both the denial and the low CL's.

True. If I think about it I can see it from a bank's point of view. I am really fortunate to have the large amount of credit I have. I am blessed to be able to keep all the cards current by paying the statement balance on them most of the time. And when I do carry a balance I pay it off as soon as a get my next big work check from one of those infamous 84 hour weeks. As an independent contractor I don't always have steady work and have even resorted to unemployment for a few weeks at times. So this credit is nice to have. And 80-90K is just an average. I have made as low as 60K and as high as 110K in the past ten years. Truthfully, I sometimes wish I could be like my beautiful exotic dancer friend and have rich but deluded and dumb men buy me a car and give me thousands and thousands in cash as well as other gifts, but hey, you can't have everything. Plus she just turned 30 and that ship will sail soon enough and then what? Sorry, I am drifting off topic. Anyway, I obviously spread my spending out onto many cards and have few big bills. But enough is enough and I am not going to app for any more cards for at least two years now. That way I'll have no inquiries if I do app for another at some point.

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

Aim_High — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 01:48:06 GMT

@Bandit5160 wrote:
@bigseegar wrote:
My thoughts on it are too that I counted 32 credit cards in your Sig Line with lots of those at a $5K CL or less. Really thats still a lot of cards and open CL's for only a $80K a year salary. So that many have come into play on both the denial and the low CL's.
True. If I think about it I can see it from a bank's point of view. I am really fortunate to have the large amount of credit I have. I am blessed to be able to keep all the cards current by paying the statement balance on them most of the time. And when I do carry a balance I pay it off as soon as a get my next big work check from one of those infamous 84 hour weeks. As an independent contractor I don't always have steady work and have even resorted to unemployment for a few weeks at times. So this credit is nice to have. And 80-80K is just an average. I have made as low as 60K and as high as 110K in the past ten years ... enough is enough and I am not going to app for any more cards for at least two years now. That way I'll have no inquiries if I do app for another at some point.

@bigseegarmakes another excellent point. I hadn't stopped to add up your cards when I posted earlier but those 32 cards show a CL somewhere around $196K TCL. Depending on the variable income figure above, that's still somewhere around 2x income. As I mentioned earlier, when combined with the debt picture and recent new inquiries and new accounts, I could see lenders becoming more hesitant to approve new lines of credit. While I imagine we have many members with more than 2X income in limits, overall profile comes more and more into play as cards are added. Your gardening plan will probably help future approvals.

Care to share those data points on inquiries and/or new accounts? I'm curious if that was a factor as well.

Re: Can someone explain this vastly different credit app results?

wingennis — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 23:34:38 GMT

You're not an idiot for misspeaking. Congratulation on the things you did get approved for.