topic Re: Affinity FCU Denial in Personal Finance

Affinity FCU Membership Denial

MickeyGMoney — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 05:04:58 GMT

I recently heard of and gained interest in the nice Affinity Cash Rewards Card. I tried applying for membership (paying the $5 donation), but the application was denied. The tab says "Auto Denial." Anyone have experience with getting approved after a similar denial?

Re: Affinity FCU Denial

GatorCowboyLion — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 15:40:41 GMT

You should call recon 800.325.0808

Re: Affinity FCU Denial

spiritcraft1 — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 15:43:53 GMT

Did they do a hard pull on EX?

Re: Affinity FCU Denial

MickeyGMoney — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 15:48:27 GMT

@GatorCowboyLion wrote:
You should call recon 800.325.0808

I've seen some posts say that the customer service reps only say "I can't give you any more reason than the flat denial." Maybe it's worth a shot though.

Re: Affinity FCU Denial

MickeyGMoney — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 16:06:00 GMT

@spiritcraft1 wrote:
Did they do a hard pull on EX?

I was just trying to open a savings account and planned to go back and apply for the credit card later. No hard pull was done for the account application.

Re: Affinity FCU Denial

Elpadrino1 — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 02:14:09 GMT

Something similar happened to me. I was denied at first, attempted again with the option to pre-fill my info by taking pic of Drivers Licens and it worked that way. Only two other reasons I have heard, were; not able to confirm identity and if a person has too many inquiries or negative items with Chexsystems.

Re: Affinity FCU Denial

Taurus22 — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 01:09:49 GMT

I would call Affinity and see what the issue is. That's strange. Have you opened many savings/checking accounts recently, or had any become delinquent? Those would trigger flags on Chex Systems. If not, it may be something that a CSR can help you work through.....their staff is extremely nice and helpful.

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

sourpuss29 — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 10:15:47 GMT

They denied my application for membership back in...June, I think it was; and even though it surprised me, I didn't bother calling in order to try and get more info. A month later, I got into Navy, so I DEFINITELY consider the Affinity smackdown to be a blessing in disguise.

Re: Affinity FCU Denial

MickeyGMoney — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 11:08:52 GMT

@Taurus22 wrote:
I would call Affinity and see what the issue is. That's strange. Have you opened many savings/checking accounts recently, or had any become delinquent? Those would trigger flags on Chex Systems. If not, it may be something that a CSR can help you work through.....their staff is extremely nice and helpful.

About 5 months ago I opened a few more banking accounts since I moved away from my local CU and wanted to take advantage of some higher rates. If this was an issue, hopefully in a few more months they'll let me.

EDIT: I've never had any deliquencies. So I'm taking your advice as me having a few new bank accounts seems sketchy to them.

EDIT2: I went and asked ChexSystems for a copy of my report. No negative info on there. It reminded me I've had a lot of addresses in the last 5 years (finishing school and moving apartments a few times after school) which may seem sketchy but wasn't a problem for any other FI.

Re: Affinity FCU Denial

MickeyGMoney — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 10:48:44 GMT

@Elpadrino1 wrote:
Something similar happened to me. I was denied at first, attempted again with the option to pre-fill my info by taking pic of Drivers Licens and it worked that way. Only two other reasons I have heard, were; not able to confirm identity and if a person has too many inquiries or negative items with Chexsystems.

I'll try pre-filling with my license the next time I apply, thanks for the tip!

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

north1 — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 16:47:51 GMT

If you're near a branch, they're not Chex-sensitive in person as long as you keep your inquiries within the last 30 days to a minimum.

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

MickeyGMoney — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 19:00:17 GMT

So I tried again over the phone and got a denial again.

"We’re sorry to inform you that we are unable to authenticate you at this time. This decision is based on the information provided in your
application."

The person on the phone also told me, looking at my last denial, that it was due to discrepancies in the information I provided on the application. I had looked at ChexSystems after my previous denial, all the information on there matched what I put in the application.

I saw somewhere on doctor of credit that Affinity FCU is not Chex inquiry sensitive, however, it seems most likely that many inquiries is looking like fraudlent behavior to them. The first time I applied and was denied, I had 5 inquiries (6 total on Chex minus the new one for Affinity) which were mostly on there for credit related things.

I mainly wanted to open a banking account with them to start a relationship before applying for their credit card in about 10 months. I will probably not get a banking account by then since the Chex inquiries will take a while to fall off. Anyone think I still have a shot at the credit card even without a bank account?

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

creditfan — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 19:16:17 GMT

same here a few months ago. Called in and they couldn't tell the reason why, the only thing they can suggest was to reapply. No bother

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

MickeyGMoney — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 19:20:42 GMT

@creditfan wrote:
same here a few months ago. Called in and they couldn't tell the reason why, the only thing they can suggest was to reapply. No bother

A different guy on the phone one time was dancing around it saying he reeally wanted to tell me more because he believes it's a system error or something. It was all very vague, but I believe he was hinting that there was some sort of suspected fraud or scamming issues and I think he said he could tell it's an error because of the location (no clue what he was getting at). I don't know what that could be other than having 5 inquiries in Chex.

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 23:10:10 GMT

I was accepted earlier this month and had 8 chex inquiries since April 20'

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

sugarcreek67 — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 01:43:13 GMT

I joined in August with a LOL number of chex Inq's but I uploaded my license to prefill the app. My membership app took 3 days or so to be approved. That cash rewards card is worth waiting 3-4 months and trying again for membership. What may have spooked them was the several address's in a given period of time.

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

MickeyGMoney — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 12:28:32 GMT

@sugarcreek67 wrote:
I joined in August with a LOL number of chex Inq's but I uploaded my license to prefill the app. My membership app took 3 days or so to be approved. That cash rewards card is worth waiting 3-4 months and trying again for membership. What may have spooked them was the several address's in a given period of time.

Hey, did you mean to write addresses or applications? I do have a lot of addresses (I graduated 3.5 years ago so I had been moving for internships and new apartments each school year, started a new job, changed apartments/jobs after 6 months, then moved states to follow the company to Florida). I suppose having a few bank accounts/addresses that are spread out could spook them.

DP: When I was advised to try applying on the phone, they gave me the digital branch number 908.860.3737.

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

sugarcreek67 — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 12:36:31 GMT

@MickeyGMoney wrote:
@sugarcreek67 wrote:
I joined in August with a LOL number of chex Inq's but I uploaded my license to prefill the app. My membership app took 3 days or so to be approved. That cash rewards card is worth waiting 3-4 months and trying again for membership. What may have spooked them was the several address's in a given period of time.
Hey, did you mean to write addresses or applications? I do have a lot of addresses (I graduated 3.5 years ago so I had been moving for internships and new apartments each school year, started a new job, changed apartments/jobs after 6 months, then moved states to follow the company to Florida). I suppose having a few bank accounts/addresses that are spread out could spook them.

DP: When I was advised to try applying on the phone, they gave me the digital branch number 908.860.3737.

The numerous address changes may have been what spooked them. You may wish to try calling in again and requesting to speak to someone in the new accounts department. Perhaps explaining your reason for multiple address changes to the people that make the decisions on new accounts may help you get a membership. If they still decline, then give it a few months and try again. Affinity has been very good to me in the short time I have been with them.

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

MickeyGMoney — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 12:46:45 GMT

@sugarcreek67 wrote:
@MickeyGMoney wrote:
@sugarcreek67 wrote:
I joined in August with a LOL number of chex Inq's but I uploaded my license to prefill the app. My membership app took 3 days or so to be approved. That cash rewards card is worth waiting 3-4 months and trying again for membership. What may have spooked them was the several address's in a given period of time.
Hey, did you mean to write addresses or applications? I do have a lot of addresses (I graduated 3.5 years ago so I had been moving for internships and new apartments each school year, started a new job, changed apartments/jobs after 6 months, then moved states to follow the company to Florida). I suppose having a few bank accounts/addresses that are spread out could spook them.

DP: When I was advised to try applying on the phone, they gave me the digital branch number 908.860.3737.
The numerous address changes may have been what spooked them. You may wish to try calling in again and requesting to speak to someone in the new accounts department. Perhaps explaining your reason for multiple address changes to the people that make the decisions on new accounts may help you get a membership. If they still decline, then give it a few months and try again. Affinity has been very good to me in the short time I have been with them.

I just sent them a message asking to speak with someone from the new accounts department and giving a brief explanation of why I have so many addresses. Every other time I've called and asked if there's any way to be reconsidered or get more information on why I was denied, they tell me they can only see that there are discrepencies on the info I entered on the application and that anyone else I would talk to sees the same info and so would not be able to help. I wonder if anyone has been able to get a hold of a person who could override a denial.

Re: Affinity FCU Membership Denial

xenon3030 — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 01:20:33 GMT

My first application got denied a few months ago. I applied again and got approved after ~1-2 days. This time, I kept my credit profiles unlocked till final approval (I guess, they may re-run the credit checks each time they review). They asked a few additional information that I was never asked at the other places while opening a checking account, like scan of social security card and a recent paystub.