topic Re: DENIED Citi Prestige in Credit Card Applications

DENIED Citi Prestige

CreditPacMan — Mon, 04 May 2015 21:20:55 GMT

So I am in the process of reassessing my credit needs and as a result I decided to try my luck with Citi - their bonus offer was very appealing and I pulled the trigger and applied .. I was denied instantly.

The reason was : TOO MANY INQUIRIES.

I called and asked to talk to a manager in their credit department .. He very honestly told me we need to see less than 5 inqs in the past 6 months .. and he also mentioned that my FICO score is too low for them (EX 640 which is what they pulled). He said get it around 670 and no inqs in the past 6 months .. and you may see a different outcome!

Too bad for now .. I want to get in with Citi. I will try in November again.

It's good to mention .. that the majority of inqs were from last year car shopping.

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 21:49:23 GMT

Why did you go for their top end card to try to get an in with them with your score?

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

CreditPacMan — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:01:31 GMT

I didn't know they have a minimum score ..I've seen people get approved with similar scores. Also - they just gave me this reason .. last July I got the exact same reason ( and my score was 710). It went down due the new accounts I opened and some of them have balances.

@Anonymous wrote:
Why did you go for their top end card to try to get an in with them with your score?

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:07:18 GMT

Sorry to hear. Citi is very picky with new accounts and inquiries. Wait until your new accounts age a bit and inquiries are over 6 months. Your score should be higher also. A lot of new accounts will drop your score down quite a bit but it will bounce back quickly as long as you use your new accounts wisely.

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:12:00 GMT

Sorry to hear.. Citi is pretty sensitive to inquiries. Before you apply again, wait for your scores to go up a bit also..

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

CreditPacMan — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:15:19 GMT

Yeah I will try again in 6 months. They wanted to see less than 5 inqs .. I won't apply for more cards so I should have zero inqs (hopefully ). The thing that's keeping my score down is my utilization .. which I'm working to reduce significantly (within the next 4 months).

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:18:05 GMT

@altayar wrote:
So I am in the process of reassessing my credit needs and as a result I decided to try my luck with Citi - their bonus offer was very appealing and I pulled the trigger and applied .. I was denied instantly.

The reason was : TOO MANY INQUIRIES.

I called and asked to talk to a manager in their credit department .. He very honestly told me we need to see less than 5 inqs in the past 6 months .. and he also mentioned that my FICO score is too low for them (EX 640 which is what they pulled). He said get it around 670 and no inqs in the past 6 months .. and you may see a different outcome!

Too bad for now .. I want to get in with Citi. I will try in November again.

It's good to mention .. that the majority of inqs were from last year car shopping.

It depends on your profile, Income and score. I have 5 INQ this year so far and they approved me for the Citi Prestige.

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

CreditPacMan — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:24:53 GMT

Well I got my answers from them .. I wanted to hear it clearly what they need. This manager that I talked to .. said don't apply for new accounts for the next 6 months .. this should take you score up .. and there is a good chance this decision would be different.

I've never actually been able to get a straight answer like this from any other lender .. for example AMEX doesn't give any information .. they stick to the script they have!

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:30:13 GMT

@MIA I assume your score is quite a bit higher then 670 though?

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:35:03 GMT

@CreditCuriousity wrote:
@Anonymous I assume your score is quite a bit higher then 670 though?

@CreditCuriousity, Yes

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 23:31:53 GMT

Some people are approved with a lot of inquiries but they have managed their credit well over the years.

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

CreditPacMan — Mon, 04 May 2015 23:52:45 GMT

Yeah Citi has not been my friend .. and I thought Barclay was inq sensitive!

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 01:18:13 GMT

@CreditPacMan wrote:
Yeah Citi has not been my friend .. and I thought Barclay was inq sensitive!

Citi is just difficult to get into for most people... But I am sure your time will come. Hang in there...

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 01:37:53 GMT

Does citi blacklist you if you had charge off on their gas card and/or simplicity MasterCard.

Should never applyl even if no inquiries and 700's FICO ?

i wonder

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 11:55:16 GMT

I've never seen anyone approved of Prestige with a FICO 8 score of 640, and 6 or more inquiries in the past 6 months. A denial was 100% going to happen and you knew it. Poor judgement.

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

CreditPacMan — Tue, 05 May 2015 13:13:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've never seen anyone approved of Prestige with a FICO 8 score of 640, and 6 or more inquiries in the past 6 months. A denial was 100% going to happen and you knew it. Poor judgement.

Not really .. I don't have experience with Citi so I didn't know it. I've been approved with the score for AMEX two years ago so you never know .. Each lender is different.

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2015 14:18:31 GMT

Oh well, live and learn. In general not such a good idea to try to get in by applying for the most expensive card. Citi is inq sensitive, seriously.
And you may look up stats of people approved of any particular card in the approval section to avoid such a mismatch in the future. Make sure your profile is on par with or better than those approved.

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

FinStar — Wed, 06 May 2015 02:54:34 GMT

@CreditPacMan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I've never seen anyone approved of Prestige with a FICO 8 score of 640, and 6 or more inquiries in the past 6 months. ~~A denial was 100% going to happen and you knew it. Poor judgement.~~
Not really .. I don't have experience with Citi so I didn't know it. I've been approved with the score for AMEX two years ago so you never know .. Each lender is different.

Right, so even if you had a ballpark of data points, one still never knows. No worries OP, just let some things age and eventually you'll get in with Citi. As far as inquiries go, and based on what the above poster mentioned, it's not entirely accurate. And, you're absolutely right, every lender has different UW criteria - even for some of their own cards. Thank goodness the above poster is not a UW for CITI lol

Now, in some instances inquiries can swing the pendulum depending on your overall profile and if other items don't support the approval. IME, I applied for Prestige (and so have others) with lots more inquiries and were approved, but it's all relative - our profiles are thicker and scores are higher (amongst a few factors). Needless to say, there's always the option with TY Premier (that 50K bonus would likely be around for a while) or, if you want the Prestige, you can always give it another shot down the road.

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

CreditCuriosity — Wed, 06 May 2015 03:07:01 GMT

It still appears if you wanna pay the steep AF for the Presitge card Citi appears to be a bit more forgiving with Inquiries and probably underwritting. Maybe letting the greed get to them.. Saying their expernsive AF card is the hardest to get probably isn't true.. I would venture as it is just a guess that other Citi cards maybe even being the DC with a decent limit is harder to get.. Just my 2 cent and just a uneducated guess... I have seen people with 20 recent inquires literraly get approved for it though, won't happen on other cards of theirs for the most part, but obviously credit profiles are all different..

Re: DENIED Citi Prestige

CreditPacMan — Wed, 06 May 2015 04:18:51 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
@CreditPacMan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I've never seen anyone approved of Prestige with a FICO 8 score of 640, and 6 or more inquiries in the past 6 months. ~~A denial was 100% going to happen and you knew it. Poor judgement.~~
Not really .. I don't have experience with Citi so I didn't know it. I've been approved with the score for AMEX two years ago so you never know .. Each lender is different.
Right, so even if you had a ballpark of data points, one still never knows. No worries OP, just let some things age and eventually you'll get in with Citi. As far as inquiries go, and based on what the above poster mentioned, it's not entirely accurate. And, you're absolutely right, every lender has different UW criteria - even for some of their own cards. Thank goodness the above poster is not a UW for CITI lol

Now, in some instances inquiries can swing the pendulum depending on your overall profile and if other items don't support the approval. IME, I applied for Prestige (and so have others) with lots more inquiries and were approved, but it's all relative - our profiles are thicker and scores are higher (amongst a few factors). Needless to say, there's always the option with TY Premier (that 50K bonus would likely be around for a while) or, if you want the Prestige, you can always give it another shot down the road.

Thanks. I actually don't have a preference for the Prestige .. In fact the Thank You premier has the same points structure and bonus offer. The only difference is the AA lounge access and the $250 yearly travel credit. Having said that - I will do what they wanted .. no inqs for 6 months .. higher score (hopefully in the 700s) and re-apply.