topic Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...? in Credit Card Applications

Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

JM22 — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 22:35:50 GMT

Hi everyone,

I've been a long time follower of myfico, but never had much of a reason to post until today. I was on Amazon this afternoon and saw the $150 gift card offer and prequal link. I thought why not try? Once it said I was prequalified I thought it would be fine and was just wondering what my starting limit might be..... denied. I know its never a given, but it just seems strange with the relationship I already have with Chase.

I have had a Chase checking account for about 4 years, have the CSP (my only Chase cc so far) which I opened about 8 months ago. I always pay my statements in full. I'm well below the 5/5 rule. I do have a lot of inquiries within the last year and was late on my mortgage almost 2 years ago by mistake. I called to recon and was connected with an anayst that went through my report with me asking for explanations. She asked how I planned to pay my $7,000 current credit card balance and I explained that I use credit cards for everything and pay the full statement amount. Anyway, in the end she told me that she would submit my reconsideration report and I would hear something in 2 weeks. I was thinking she would end up just telling me that I was accepted on the spot.

I'm just curious if anyone else has had this happen. I really don't feel great about this right now and not sure if there is anything more I can do.

My stats: Pulled experian, Score 696, 21 INQ, Util 18%, Income 115k

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

OmarGB9 — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 22:56:16 GMT

I'm thinking it was all those inquiries. What were they for?

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

JM22 — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 23:11:19 GMT

Yeah I was thinking that didn't look good.... I did a reconsolidation loan last year, but the amount of inquiries is pretty much me getting a store card every time I buy something big so I can get 5% off or whatever. I know its dumb.....

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

NoMoreE46 — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 02:48:22 GMT

Edit - I see those 21 inquires but to clairify you mean that you are under Chase's 5/24 instead of 5/5?

@JM22 wrote:
Hi everyone,

I've been a long time follower of myfico, but never had much of a reason to post until today. I was on Amazon this afternoon and saw the $150 gift card offer and prequal link. I thought why not try? Once it said I was prequalified I thought it would be fine and was just wondering what my starting limit might be..... denied. I know its never a given, but it just seems strange with the relationship I already have with Chase.

I have had a Chase checking account for about 4 years, have the CSP (my only Chase cc so far) which I opened about 8 months ago. I always pay my statements in full. I'm well below the 5/5 rule. I do have a lot of inquiries within the last year and was late on my mortgage almost 2 years ago by mistake. I called to recon and was connected with an anayst that went through my report with me asking for explanations. She asked how I planned to pay my $7,000 current credit card balance and I explained that I use credit cards for everything and pay the full statement amount. Anyway, in the end she told me that she would submit my reconsideration report and I would hear something in 2 weeks. I was thinking she would end up just telling me that I was accepted on the spot.

I'm just curious if anyone else has had this happen. I really don't feel great about this right now and not sure if there is anything more I can do.

My stats: Pulled experian, Score 696, 21 INQ, Util 18%, Income 115k

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

JM22 — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 14:14:30 GMT

Yes I did mean 5/24... my bad!

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

uncredited — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 15:13:12 GMT

That's an interesting DP. If it helps, back in July, myself and one other MF member applied for that card on the same day. Both received pre-qual. On app, I was denied, they were approved. Both of us had young files (1.5 years give or take at the time almost to the month.) They had Chase checking, I have no Chase relationship. Both had squeaky clean files, mine thinner, theirs thicker. Both scores higher than yours currently (but Chase doesn't use that they have their own score), both incomes (I believe) lower. Both utils lower than yours. The card is supposedly easier UW than the core Chase cards, which you're already in the door with.

Theirs was not only approved but with a fairly high SL and relatively low APR.

Mine was rejected ostensibly on the grounds of account age, which was within a month of the same age as theirs. I assume thickness played a role in the difference, and that Chase checking helped theirs.

In your case, older file, thicker file, Chase relationship, higher income.... but higher util, lower score (they don't use), and many inquiries....

The inquiries or high util is probably the cluprit, but it's an interesting case where everything they wanted from me didn't help you! Some people get this card over 5/24. Some get denied based on 5/24. Some say this card gets people in the door with Chase that aren't in the door, other's say this card doesn't. UW seems to be a bit mysterious on this card. Maybe based on certain trends or patterns/values on the Amazon account side as well?

I'm curious what comes of your recon and/or deny letter. I'll be retrying the card sometime in the next year.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

JM22 — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 15:58:50 GMT

@uncredited that is interesting.... sorry to hear you were denied. Did you try recon? One thing on the Amazon side is that I also have an Amazon Synchrony card with a 6k limit, but I doubt that is a factor.

I know I've been in a "seeking credit" mode for the last 6 months and only had my CSP since April, so I would have never thought to apply if there was no prequal. I've made sure to stay under the 5/24 in case an opportunity like this came up with Chase.

I did call into the verification line this morning and the rep told me that the application is still pending and I will receive something in writing within the next few days.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

uncredited — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 16:46:15 GMT

@JM22 wrote:
@uncredited that is interesting.... sorry to hear you were denied. Did you try recon? One thing on the Amazon side is that I also have an Amazon Synchrony card with a 6k limit, but I doubt that is a factor.

I know I've been in a "seeking credit" mode for the last 6 months and only had my CSP since April, so I would have never thought to apply if there was no prequal. I've made sure to stay under the 5/24 in case an opportunity like this came up with Chase.

I did call into the verification line this morning and the rep told me that the application is still pending and I will receive something in writing within the next few days.

I didn't try recon on mine. Recon is usually another HP, and since they rejected on age of accounts (and maybe thinness of file, it was unclear), that wasn't a factor that was going to change so it would likely be a wasted HP. For you with so many inq an an existing Chase relationship, It's worth the try (and who'd notice another HP in that pile?! ) For me I had a grand total of 2 EX HPs including theirs, so a third one wasn't worth the risk for an unlikely reversal. Ultimately I ended up waiting a few mo and trying for an FNBO card that was denied purely on thinnness of file, and then went for Amex BCE which I just got, so I'm in the garden until May or so when I'll likely retry Chase. Have to love when a bank tells you they won't take you until you do more business with their competitors first....so you do...

I wonder if that 6mo old CSP has something to do with it. It's just over 6 months so I wouldn't think it's too new an account for them, and it falls within the 5/24, 2(chase)/6 rules without trouble, but I wonder if there's any tightening in terms of either new accounts in 12 months, or additional Chase accounts in 12 months? At least when combined with a "credit seeking" profile with many inqus.

I was in the same boat with the prequal. Based on what I'd heard with Chase in general I had presumed my file was too young for Chase, but I'd heard that the Amazon card had easier UW, so I figured i'd give the prequal a try. I was surprised when it returned a pre-qual approval, and figured that meant I was in good standing, combined with an Amazon account so old it goes back to when they only sold books, music, and electronics. I wouldn't have applied otherwise, and the denial reasons are obvious reasons the pre-qual should have not been provided for (account age and/or number of accounts should have been the easiest baseline to not give a pre-qual for.) Concensus is that their prequal is reliable, but I keep seeing DPs from people that get prequal and are denied. A prequal is never absolute, but to me, there's a difference between a prequal that looks like everything is good but a deeper look at app yields a red flag, vs a prequal that is given when the grounds for denial are right on the first line of the cover sheet of the SP. It seems like a different algorithm must be used for the prequals. I'm bucking consensus of people far more wizened than myself here, but I'm still of the opinion that "Chase Amazon prequal = marketing" more than solid prequal.

On the opposite ends of the spectrum is FNBO that did NOT give me prequals and also did not approve and app, Amex that did give me prequals and did approve app, and Citi that did NOT give me prequals but DID approve app. In contrast the Chase Amazon prequal tool seems to hand out prequals easily for profiles they'll later deny. Though I know of at least one MF member that has a young file but numerous accounts that did not get a prequal, so they don't hand them out to everybody, but they do seem to hand them out too generously. In both our cases, I don't think there was anything beyond the basic soft pull data that lead to denial that the prequal should not have picked up on if it were a "real" prequal checking the same critera apps do.

Fingers crossed that your recon worked. Pending status but written letter, could mean info request?

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

biznob — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 17:45:05 GMT

I was preapproved on Prime Day to only be denied due to INQ's.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

JM22 — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 22:30:30 GMT

Yeah so I did try this prequal link a couple of times in the past year, so something must have changed? I just did the prequal again and still pre qualified. I've never been prequalified or preapproved for anything in my life and been denied. I don't know exactly what info soft credit pulls obtain, but I would think it would see how many inquiries I have on my file.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

uncredited — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 23:12:01 GMT

@JM22 wrote:
Yeah so I did try this prequal link a couple of times in the past year, so something must have changed? I just did the prequal again and still pre qualified. I've never been prequalified or preapproved for anything in my life and been denied. I don't know exactly what info soft credit pulls obtain, but I would think it would see how many inquiries I have on my file.

That's interesting that it's still showing pre-qualified for a card they just denied from the same prequal like it's not even cross referencing their internal info (or the internal info is just slow to update.).

I don't know how it got the reputation of being a solid prequal. Everything about it seems barely more real than BofA's famous "everyone is qualified" results.

Soft pull is identical to a hard pull, actually, (as far as I know) it's just not flagged as queried and visible to third parties, so they know absolutely everything during prequal they would for HP app, other than that they may pull a different CR that sees less inquiries and may not pull Chex or something. But in my case all 3 reports were the same at the time except for one inquiry that produced the newest account, and age, not inquiries was the denial reason.

Prequal not being certain is a given but I've always presumed that meant because they're not checking ALL the data sources with scrutiny yet, not because of anything on the primary CR data that they had for the SP. This prequal seems to produce too many denials for basic CR reasons than a "solid" one should.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

JM22 — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 23:21:27 GMT

@uncredited completely agree with you on that. Hopefully this helps someone else who might try for this with a pre-qual. Like I mentioned earlier, I would not have expected to be approved for any major card with my recent history.

I'll post as soon as I have an update on the recon!

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

FinStar — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 03:14:48 GMT

An item to keep in mind, while in the past we've seen a lot of approval success stories regarding some of Chase pre-approved offers whether for any of their core cards or the Amazon Visa, especially since they typically bypassed the '5/24 restriction', it is fairly possible that UW algorithms are continuously adjusting given economic and other factors. AI typically makes the UW decision unless the application requires a judgemental or manual review.

Hopefully, the reconsideration review may work in your favor, but temper expectations.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

JM22 — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 16:17:33 GMT

I definitely don't have high hopes. I called into the lending dept yesterday asking for an update. When I mentioned that I had a pending recon request he transferred me to another analyst (super sweet woman) who did another recon with me. She told me that the name on the app was my middle name (that is my name on Amazon and it defaulted, which I didn't notice), so she couldn't find it at first. I also cannot find the app as pending on my online Chase account. After chatting she put me on hold for about 10 minutes and told me that she would push this up for further review. I called in this morning to the automated line and it still says that the application is under review with the 7-10 day message (as it did before I called in yesterday for the "second" recon).

If/when I get an actual decline notification, then I may try to recon one more time. Based on my income and credit score (she told me my Experian Chase version was 705) I think I could convince someone.... I just don't want to piss Chase off.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

JM22 — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 15:41:21 GMT

Quick update: I called last Thursday and was told that my application was rejected after the recon. I then called the "Business Analyst Recon" backdoor number to give it one more shot. I was on hold for probably 20 minutes total with this guy. He went off hold toward the middle to ask me the same questions that were asked before.

1. How do you plan to pay of the 7k in credit card balances? Explained that I don't ever carry balances, except on my Lowe's card where I purchased a fence recently with a 18 months 0% financing promo.

2. Why so many inquiries in the past year? I just said I am a recent homeowner, so added a few store cards to make improvements. Purchased a new car. Looked into HELOC and debt consolidations loans over the span of a few months, so added inquiries.

3. It looks like you were late on a mortgage payment last year. Why? I was getting married around that time and had forgotten to switch autopay to another checking account. It was a dumb mistake during a crazy time and I definitely learned my lesson.

I also added that I take my relationship with Chase very seriously and want to do a majority of my business with them.

I was denied on the spot....at least this number gave me the answer while I was on the line. If anyone thinks I should try again based on my answers above, I will, but it seems I am out of luck on this one.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

uncredited — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 17:28:55 GMT

@JM22 wrote:
Quick update: I called last Thursday and was told that my application was rejected after the recon. I then called the "Business Analyst Recon" backdoor number to give it one more shot. I was on hold for probably 20 minutes total with this guy. He went off hold toward the middle to ask me the same questions that were asked before.

1. How do you plan to pay of the 7k in credit card balances? Explained that I don't ever carry balances, except on my Lowe's card where I purchased a fence recently with a 18 months 0% financing promo.

2. Why so many inquiries in the past year? I just said I am a recent homeowner, so added a few store cards to make improvements. Purchased a new car. Looked into HELOC and debt consolidations loans over the span of a few months, so added inquiries.

3. It looks like you were late on a mortgage payment last year. Why? I was getting married around that time and had forgotten to switch autopay to another checking account. It was a dumb mistake during a crazy time and I definitely learned my lesson.

I also added that I take my relationship with Chase very seriously and want to do a majority of my business with them.

I was denied on the spot....at least this number gave me the answer while I was on the line. If anyone thinks I should try again based on my answers above, I will, but it seems I am out of luck on this one.

Sorry to hear the recons didn't change your luck

I still find it unacceptable that they would yield prequals on a a file that they very clearly don't think meets the UW for the card. Maybe at one time it was relaible, but at this point I think it's obvious forum advice should stop considering that prequal anything but marketing. Neither you nor I should have ever received a prequal based on their rejection reasons in both cases, and there are certainly other similar stories about this card in this forum.

In your case it sounds like util/DTI is their biggest hangup, followed by the mortgage late. Did the mortgage late show up as a 30day late on the report, or was it just after the grace period but not an actual 30 day late? They mentioned inqs, but reading between the lines, I'm assuming they'd have been ok with them in the absence of the other two. But for an existing core customer in good standing, I'm surprised that did not help.

This card supposeldy has easier UW than the core cards, but, it seems to me they're applying full-chase scrutiny for a card they see as below their core cards. I'm wondering if they "played nice" for a brief time when Amazon was on the rocks with them and are now back to the same strictness on it that got them in trouble with Amazon to begin with. If two recons didn't help, I'd be surprised if a third would. Someone else may have alternate advice, but....probably not. Especially if they're hitting you with HPs each time?

For myself, I honestly don't know if I'll re-try again in 6mo. The plan was yes, but, it does seem like they're back to being pretty strict with the card, and I just can't tell if I'll meet the requirements still next time around if they're getting stricter.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

SouthJamaica — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 17:32:15 GMT

@JM22 wrote:
Quick update: I called last Thursday and was told that my application was rejected after the recon. I then called the "Business Analyst Recon" backdoor number to give it one more shot. I was on hold for probably 20 minutes total with this guy. He went off hold toward the middle to ask me the same questions that were asked before.

1. How do you plan to pay of the 7k in credit card balances? Explained that I don't ever carry balances, except on my Lowe's card where I purchased a fence recently with a 18 months 0% financing promo.

2. Why so many inquiries in the past year? I just said I am a recent homeowner, so added a few store cards to make improvements. Purchased a new car. Looked into HELOC and debt consolidations loans over the span of a few months, so added inquiries.

3. It looks like you were late on a mortgage payment last year. Why? I was getting married around that time and had forgotten to switch autopay to another checking account. It was a dumb mistake during a crazy time and I definitely learned my lesson.

I also added that I take my relationship with Chase very seriously and want to do a majority of my business with them.

I was denied on the spot....at least this number gave me the answer while I was on the line. If anyone thinks I should try again based on my answers above, I will, but it seems I am out of luck on this one.

Sorry. Seems so strange to me that you were approved so recently for the CSP, which is harder to get, and then denied for the Prime. Oh well, yes you might as well save your breath, you've certainly given it the college try. When Chase turns me down, as they always do, I give up much sooner. I applaud your effort.

BTW if you're looking for something good to use on Amazon.com, folks here speak very highly of Affinity FCU's 5% card.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

Remedios — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 17:57:36 GMT

@JM22 wrote:
Hi everyone,

I've been a long time follower of myfico, but never had much of a reason to post until today. I was on Amazon this afternoon and saw the $150 gift card offer and prequal link. I thought why not try? Once it said I was prequalified I thought it would be fine and was just wondering what my starting limit might be..... denied. I know its never a given, but it just seems strange with the relationship I already have with Chase.

I have had a Chase checking account for about 4 years, have the CSP (my only Chase cc so far) which I opened about 8 months ago. I always pay my statements in full. I'm well below the 5/5 rule. I do have a lot of inquiries within the last year and was late on my mortgage almost 2 years ago by mistake. I called to recon and was connected with an anayst that went through my report with me asking for explanations. She asked how I planned to pay my $7,000 current credit card balance and I explained that I use credit cards for everything and pay the full statement amount. Anyway, in the end she told me that she would submit my reconsideration report and I would hear something in 2 weeks. I was thinking she would end up just telling me that I was accepted on the spot.

I'm just curious if anyone else has had this happen. I really don't feel great about this right now and not sure if there is anything more I can do.

My stats: Pulled experian, Score 696, 21 INQ, Util 18%, Income 115k

If you're paying in full and you currently have $7000 in outstanding balances, that means in a year you'd be spending $84,000.

Since you cannot pay your mortgage with cards, when that amount is subtracted from your income, you're pretty much at $0.00, raising DTI issue.

Maybe this is an of month for you, maybe you had additional expenses, but Chase's proprietary algorithm looks at both percentages and raw dollar amounts. Yours happen to be high in both aspects, aggregate utilization at 18% already has a penalty baked in scoring.

So, you have one of their cards already - they may balk at extending additional credit in the presence of 20+ inquiries, especially with what appears as high DTI.

You can try later when your balances are lower and inquiries become un-scorable and/or drop off.

As far as prequal, thats just a handshake. It's not a signed deal until HP is performed and report is analyzed.

It only established you're below 5/24, you don't have BK or very recent negative. It's just a toy, really.

Re: Amazon Visa - Prequalified then Denied...?

JM22 — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 19:04:50 GMT

Thanks everyone-

@uncredited It does show as 30 days on my credit report unfortunately. They also did not pull my credit again after the recon, but just looking now its already dropped down to $6k util total. I also agree that this specific pre-qual seems to be bogus.

Thanks @SouthJamaica. I already have the Amazon store card, so I don't really need this. I like shopping at Whole Foods and figured this would be a good card to have and grow. I have the Amex Gold so 5% at Whole Foods probably isnt a whole lot better than what I already get at grocery stores in general.

@Remedios I appreciate your insight. I didn't think about the DTI factor since about $3k of that is on my Lowes card for my new fence and is interest free for 18 mos. I thought explaining that situation would help, but I guess not. Also my wife is an authorized user for my CSP, Amex Gold and Citi Costco so it definitely bumps the spend up. It's not just my income paying the bills for these fortunately lol. We also did just buy new tires at costco, so that probably made things look worse too.

Oh well, I am going to freeze my reports and just wait for these inquiries to drop. Hopefully I can hold out for a while this time!