topic Re: Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open? in Credit Card Applications

Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open?

youngandcreditwrthy — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 17:04:29 GMT

TLDR:

opened Bloomie's Amex, I fudged on the addy bc my street sign recently changed to denote the direction (like N,E, S, W) type uh thing.( Still received my card in the mail. )
verified my ID by sending a code to my phone and verified and account opened.
upon receipt of pretty new Bloom's Amex , I call for a CLI, they say my "phone no isnt eligible to be used to verify my ID to process the cli req and that if I call the CRAs, they'll know what to do" but why was I allowed to use my # to verify upon acct open then??

of course, the person sounded like a moron but was polite.

I actually went and checked the credit report that they use and they're surprisingly was not a phone number listed, which is very weird. I've had the same phone number for 20+ years.

credit scores all over 700+ with bankcard ficos 720+

so I called the credit reporting agency in question and ask them how to add a phone number to my credit report. They tell me that the only way to do that is to add a fraud alert. Considering that recently an identity theft related debt popped back up on my Equifax report, but didn't really lower my score but I did have it removed, I could see maybe why putting a fraud alert could help but nevertheless, what does that have to do with verifying my phone number on my credit report for a credit line increase?

and fun fact… When you do have a fraud alert on your credit report… Creditors will often block you from credit line increases and opening new accounts becomes more difficult which I don't plan on doing for the next nine months anyway but still… Does this make any sense at all?

anyone else ?

PS: I must mention both Bloomingdale's Amex and Macy's. Amex have hooked me up with discounts. I got discounts in the mail when I received the card. I didn't even know existed. already made like $600 in discounts and another hundred or two in star money/bloomies equiv.

Re: Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open?

FicoMike0 — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 02:49:36 GMT

Did you get the phone # thing fixed?

I had a problem with my fidelity account. They texted me a code, but I never got it. Took several calls to fix it, but their phone reps are great. When I went in to check the # on the app, it only displayed the last 4 digits, which were correct. We finally found out that they had my present 7 digit number, with the area code from an old number I once had.

Re: Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open?

AndySoCal — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 03:43:58 GMT

Login to your Citi account view your profile verify what phone number is on the profile. If the number in question is missing add it. Citi will verify the number with a code

Re: Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open?

youngandcreditwrthy — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:57:43 GMT

@AndySoCal yup phone no is correct.

I did check my Exp and Eq reports and what do ya know... Eq doesn't have my phone no and Exp has three phone no's that are completely. WRONG. I tried calling them and they were disconnected.

I have an uncle with the same exact name (except middle) and sometimes our credit profiles get mixed around (his credit profile is probably better as he has a mortgage that's mostly paid off at this point and zero revolving debts.) Id bet hes 800+

but no @FicoMike0 I did not get it figured out. Ive been seeing you gotta wait til 31 or 32 days of account opening anyway to get major CLIs on the bloomies amex or macy;s amex. Interestingly when I called the other, they gave me no issues requesting a CLI, but it got denied saying "insufficient time" Ive got another week or two to wait to hit that 32 day mark just to be safe, and then if at that point, im getting the same issue, Ill call the credit reports that have the wrong info. and try to correct it without a fraud alert.

experian had me add a fraud alert with my phone number citing "that's the only way to add a phone no onto my report" which I know isn't true. but then all my reports had fraud alerts which i might add will stop you from getting clis and make you current creditors nervous and potentially cause AA so I was quick to remove those fraud alerts as there is no reason for them to be there.

just wish the people handling such sensitive information werent so stupid and understand the implications on our/my financial well being that their inaction or improper action, could potentially have.

like another example, Experian tries to make you wait a full 25 months as opposed to 24 months to remove inquiries. Can you spell I L L E G A L. REMOVE after TWO YEARS no EXCEPTIONS.

IDK how its possible but the CRA have gotten worse in the last 10 to 12 years.

Re: Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open?

youngandcreditwrthy — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 15:15:07 GMT

I figured it out...

they were talking about the "credit profile" section of the manage your account section for these accounts. not sure how my info did not feed over, but it was a misunderstanding in language...

rep said my credit report needed a fraud alert to have a phone number.. but she meant that my credit profile SECTION (the thing in the account that tracks your percentage of setting the account up with the autopay and alerts, etc.)

so silly.

Re: Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open?

AndySoCal — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 23:08:25 GMT

@youngandcreditwrthy Having an elect on our credit report defeats the whole purpose for the alert. It would not be wise to put an alert on your credit profile without a way to contact you.

https://www.transunion.com/fraud-alerts

scroll down to the section on more about alerts.

Re: Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open?

TrapLine — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 04:28:16 GMT

Not to hijack your posting ... had the same problem with USB for my e-mail account. For over eleven years USB blocked me from opening any new products without going in an seeing an in person banker (no telephone, online or mobile). One banker said US Bank could not verify me? I had no idea what they were talking about and no one ever explained. In fact USB required me to bring in my birth certificate, social security card, current DL with picture, utility bill and a pass port then the in bank banker would allow me to acquire new services (not convenient).

What I did after trying several times was get a new e-mail account and pursued verification with that. USB accepted the new e-mail account and verified. Now I can make changes and so on inperson, telephone, online and mobile. Go figure???

Re: Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open?

youngandcreditwrthy — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 13:18:14 GMT

@TrapLine the above poster doesnt even understand what Im saying because its so convoluted. You get it!

I didn't need any fraud alert on my report at all.

the overseas rep used the wrong term and said my credit report needed a new phone number, cra said to add a fraud alert with a phone number lol..

but it was just that my 'credit profile' section of their 'manage my account' wasn't completed on their end (and I dont know how because I had to verify my ID to open the accounts).

This is a prime example of someone speaking english well but not understanding the terminology and/or lacking an expansive vocab. my individual credit report(s) are far different than their little "credit profile" section of the "my account" thing on THEIR portal (citi's macys amex/bloomingdales amex).

Ive noticed this happening a lot lately... I have an assistant who speaks english super well, very polished, but she was using the wrong terminology for something, and I didn't even think twice because her accent is so americanized. heh

Folks sometimes dont understand the words they use lol

Oh well, removing the fraud alerts from my reports. it has prevent me from getting clis in the past and caused existing creditors to want to verify my ID.

Re: Citi tells me they can't verify my phone no after having done so to open?

TrapLine — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 17:53:45 GMT

@youngandcreditwrthy

Glad you followed back. You explain an item that has not really been discussed much and yet many of us have had situtations that we thought were clear and defined but not so clear to the Csrs. What we do not always know and you just mentioned it is, what the other side of our situation sees, and potentially through different lenses thus we have a situation.

Another interested piece of history for JP Morgan Chase customers. In the event a Chase customer has Business and Personal credit cards and desires to link the two landing pages, they may need a request to Chase for a link to the two accesses for the landing pages. Chase places a code (like and account number) under the Business Account (you normally do not run across the number) to link.

How I found out about this is I requested Chase to remove several old accounts numbers from my online. I called the Chase Csrs and worked to get all the old account numbers removed (wonderful). But oops, I found out I lost access to my Business landing page. Did not know they had inadvertently removed the link. Called back in and it took three different calls and three different Csrs to finally realize the Landing Page Link between Business and Personal was gone. Once that was noticed, they were able to replace it and I was fully back on line.

Now, I could not explain this or even hint at ideas on this as I had no knowledge of how they linked the two landing pages. Hark ... you never know?