topic Re: citicards rejection in Credit Cards

citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:07:07 GMT

I'm in the rebuilding statge and just applied for a citicard and got rejected. I thought I had a good shot at approval.

This is part of the email I got from them:

The application was processed by a credit scoring system
that assigned a numerical value to various items on your
application and your credit bureau report. The
information did not score a sufficient number of points for
approval. The low scoring area(s) were:

o Your credit report shows one or more accounts recently
past due.

o Your credit report shows too few credit references.

I checked my EX and the recent late they must be referring to is from 4/2008.

My report does have baddies..paid collection from 2007. various lates from 2004-2006. everything is closed/paid. 2 are listed as "settled".

I did find a collection that belongs to my ex wife on there, but I have disputed it.

What does too few credit refs mean?

The only open accounts I have are: I'm an AU on sisters amex and I have a care credit account that is current.

my scores are 646/649/?

Re: citicards rejection

smallfry — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:10:23 GMT

Recent lates and not enough credit cards.

Re: citicards rejection

pattycake — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:10:42 GMT

Could be that you don't have enough open credit with solid payment history to qualify you for a new account. Have you tried Capital One? They might approve you with those scores, although they tend to pull all three CBs. Some CCC's won't touch you if you have a baddie from less than 2 years ago, so I'd recommend a rebuilder card.

Orchard is a good way to go, too, but you won't want to keep them forever.

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:11:17 GMT

It means you don't have enough existing open accounts. AU is not a credit reference, because it is not your account. So you only have 1 account, CareCredit.

This CCC wants more accounts as references with history.

Having a late in 2008 is pretty recent, epecially with other derogs.

Re: citicards rejection

BungalowMo — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:17:28 GMT

From everything I've heard, CITI likes big scores & cleaner reports than what you or I have I was declined in Jan with #'s similar to yours...more baddies, but older than yours. *sigh*

While it's not a "great" card, like pattycake mentioned, I have a starter card...Credit one. You are likely to be approved (I was 4 yrs ago with lower scores than yours & fresher baddies) $350 to start but CLI's every 6 mos. First one I got was 1.5 yrs into it because I didn't know better! Now I call every 6 mos & that one is up to $850. For now, I hang on to it for the age. $6 fee per mo is worth it for now.

Message Edited by BungalowMo on 08-01-2009 11:17 AM

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:14:43 GMT

They also don't like too many inquiries.

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:16:36 GMT

I haven't tried capitol one, this is the 1st card I've tried in many years (except for the care credit).

I'm trying to get back on my own...and away from the AU. The carecredit account is helping with that.

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:20:47 GMT

I can try to have the 2008 late removed. its a closed account (car-paid off) so who knows if they will (ford).

I'm open to advice...whay would you do?

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:25:21 GMT

Go with a Credit Union secured card.

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:27:19 GMT

with a starter card, you cl increases over time? I'm not familiar how they work. I dont plan on charging up a storm when I get a card, just rebuilding my credit.

another q: how bad of a hit do you think I took with this rejection?

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:29:37 GMT

my credit union unfortunatley does not service their own cards. they use fia (I think thats the name). I looked into my cu first since I have a few accts with them. I didnt apply because they dont have their own cards.

Re: citicards rejection

pattycake — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:31:35 GMT

@BungalowMo wrote:
From everything I've heard, CITI likes big scores & cleaner reports than what you or I have I was declined in Jan with #'s similar to yours...more baddies, but older than yours. *sigh*

While it's not a "great" card, like pattycake mentioned, I have a starter card...Credit one. You are likely to be approved (I was 4 yrs ago with lower scores than yours & fresher baddies) $350 to start but CLI's every 6 mos. First one I got was 1.5 yrs into it because I didn't know better! Now I call every 6 mos & that one is up to $850. For now, I hang on to it for the age. $6 fee per mo is worth it for now.
Message Edited by BungalowMo on 08-01-2009 11:17 AM

Credit One is a good rebuilder, as is Orchard or one of the CU secured cards. They aren't cheap, but for rebuilding, they are the Holy Grail. I had Orchard and Credit One (back in 2004 they were First National Bank of Marin). While there aren't as many options as there used to be, rebuilders are still out there, so I highly recommend getting two and then keeping your payment history as clean as possible. I also recommend visiting the rebuilding your credit section of this site. Best of luck to you - I never would have been able to get my scores to the 700 club had I not started following the advice of these boards, and my FICOs were in the 400's back in 2002.

Mo - I'm surprised you haven't gotten a better offer from Citi. I got a Citi card with FICOs lower than yours, but that was in 2006.

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:33:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
my credit union unfortunatley does not service their own cards. they use fia (I think thats the name). I looked into my cu first since I have a few accts with them. I didnt apply because they dont have their own cards.

Look around at other CU options. Don't just accept what is handed to you, find someone who has the "full services" you need.

If you can qualify for membership, NFCU is where you need to be. If not, you can consider BoA secured or 99/500 or look at other CU's. Alliant doesn't offer secured cards and PenFed I'm not sure.

Re: citicards rejection

BungalowMo — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:34:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
with a starter card, you cl increases over time? I'm not familiar how they work. I dont plan on charging up a storm when I get a card, just rebuilding my credit.

another q: how bad of a hit do you think I took with this rejection?

With my card, like I said...I just let the $6 fee post each mo, then pay it. but $6 on a $350 card is a higher util than $6 on an $850 card. See what I mean? Just keep getting the $100 inc every 6 mos. Helps with my age & overall util.

How bad of a hit? Just 1 inq on one CRA, right? If that's the case & you didn't already have a few inq on that cra, the hit should be 1 point drop (YMMV)..well that's what I got recently for hard inq on EQ for a 1500 CLI. (already had 2 inq this year on that report)... I'd say that was worth 1 point.

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:37:16 GMT

thanks. I'm going to check into credit one and orchard now. will also spent more time in the rebuilding section of the forum. I guess I can never read/leard enough..maybe I should have picked everyones brain before applying for the citi card.

Re: citicards rejection

BungalowMo — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:39:28 GMT

@pattycake wrote:
@BungalowMo wrote:
From everything I've heard, CITI likes big scores & cleaner reports than what you or I have I was declined in Jan with #'s similar to yours...more baddies, but older than yours. *sigh*

While it's not a "great" card, like pattycake mentioned, I have a starter card...Credit one. You are likely to be approved (I was 4 yrs ago with lower scores than yours & fresher baddies) $350 to start but CLI's every 6 mos. First one I got was 1.5 yrs into it because I didn't know better! Now I call every 6 mos & that one is up to $850. For now, I hang on to it for the age. $6 fee per mo is worth it for now.
Message Edited by BungalowMo on 08-01-2009 11:17 AM

Credit One is a good rebuilder, as is Orchard or one of the CU secured cards. They aren't cheap, but for rebuilding, they are the Holy Grail. I had Orchard and Credit One (back in 2004 they were First National Bank of Marin). While there aren't as many options as there used to be, rebuilders are still out there, so I highly recommend getting two and then keeping your payment history as clean as possible. I also recommend visiting the rebuilding your credit section of this site. Best of luck to you - I never would have been able to get my scores to the 700 club had I not started following the advice of these boards, and my FICOs were in the 400's back in 2002.

Mo - I'm surprised you haven't gotten a better offer from Citi. I got a Citi card with FICOs lower than yours, but that was in 2006.

Mine started with marin too!

I know what you mean about CITI...they pulled EX, but I know my FICO was a 671 from lender pull. That's why I figured they liked higher #'s & cleaner reports. Maybe they just don't like me

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:40:40 GMT

I'll check out NFCU to see if I would qualify...a boa secured card is through fia isnt it? I thought fia wasnt a good company. what is 99/500? thank you

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:43:19 GMT

Yes, BoA uses FIA.

99/500 is a builder program in which you pay a $99 fee and get a $500 limit. At the end of the year, if you have paid on time and maintained the account, you get your $99 back, so it is "partially" secured.

BoA graduates their secured cards (if in good standing) after the first year and they tend to grow.

Many CU's (local and otherwise) offer secured as well. The good thing about CU's is that they tend to grow well and treat you as a person with your CU history, not just a FICO number and CR.

Re: citicards rejection

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 15:46:53 GMT

thanks.

dot qualify for nfcu membership. boa offered me a secured card a couple of years back which I didnt accept. that was before I joined here.

Re: citicards rejection

pattycake — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:44:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
thanks.
dot qualify for nfcu membership. boa offered me a secured card a couple of years back which I didnt accept. that was before I joined here.

There's no harm in calling and asking for qualifications. You need to start somewhere with your fresh, new leaf!