topic Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now? in Credit Cards

Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

BeEasyMark — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 23:57:18 GMT

Chase no longer wants me as a customer and closed all of my bank accounts and closed my Chase Sapphire Reserve. They won't tell me why but I know it is because Chase doesn't like banking customers in my industry.

I have opened up accounts at Citi and am an authorized user on a Amex Platinum. My main goal is to accumulate points to transfer to Singapore Airlines.

With Chase not being an option, what combination of Citi and Amex cards should I go for to fill out all rewards categories?

Thanks.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

SG43 — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:04:28 GMT

Ouch. I hope I am not a target soon, as my industry is frequently targeted.

I had bad experiences with citi so can't help you there. I've been very happy with My amex platinum, business plus and nfcu flagship.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

Loquat — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:06:57 GMT

Travel protections aside, you could pick up the Citi Premier. Has a decent bonus at the moment. Only $95 AF and multiplier is 3x on airfare, hotels, gas, grocery store, and dining. Also has a $100 hotel credit when spending over $500 and booking through the ThankYou portal.

World Elite Mastercard so you get some benefits and Singapore is a 1:1 transfer partner.

If you value travel protection then you'll have to look at Amex and none of their cards offer the exact protection as that of Chase but you can get some trip delay/cancellation on a couple of their $450+ annual fee cards.

I'm sure others will chime in with more suggestions.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

K-in-Boston — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:08:05 GMT

If you are in an industry where Chase has deemed you a risk, you will likely encounter the same elsewhere with banking. Perhaps not mixing banking with credit cards may be a better idea, assuming that your credit card purchases are not explicitly related.

For Amex and Citi, it would simply be a matter of which earnings and perks make sense for your spending and lifestyle. With Amex, you have all of the chargecards, the ED/EDP revolving cards that can be combined with the charge cards, and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant (or Business) to choose from. (Marriott points transfer 2.4:1 to KrisFlyer when you move in 60k increments.) With Citi, you have Premier and Prestige, as well as Double Cash and Rewards+ that can earn TYPs to combine with them.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

BeEasyMark — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:16:43 GMT

Yes, I didn't consider that my personal banking relationship would be affected by my business accounts being flagged. They closed 4 personal accounts and 8 business accounts of mine. The only relationship I have with Chase now is my auto loan. Now all of my business accounts are with smaller credit unions while my personal accounts are with Citi and BofA.

I'm planning to go for the Citi "trifecta" and then fill in any gaps with Amex cards starting with the Citi Prestige.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

Aim_High — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:20:43 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
If you are in an industry where Chase has deemed you a risk, you will likely encounter the same elsewhere with banking.

Sorry for the Chase closure @BeEasyMark.

This begs the question for me, though. What industries do banks have risk issues with, @K-in-Boston ? I've heard talk of members getting some selected card closures or a CLD here or there since the pandemic started, but this is the first complete shutdown I've read about. I had no idea this was common.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

K-in-Boston — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:27:29 GMT

So that we don't get off on the wrong foot in this thread, the industries are usually related to one of The 5 Things We Don't Talk About or certain types of agriculture that may vary by state but may have federal regulations that impact banking.

Edit: A post was removed that went up at the same time I posted this. See above for explanation. Thanks!

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

FinStar — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:27:48 GMT

@Aim_High wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
If you are in an industry where Chase has deemed you a risk, you will likely encounter the same elsewhere with banking.
Sorry for the Chase closure @BeEasyMark.

This begs the question for me, though. What industries do banks have risk issues with, @K-in-Boston ? I've heard talk of members getting some selected card closures or a CLD here or there since the pandemic started, but this is the first complete shutdown I've read about. I had no idea this was common.

Something to keep in mind as well, any transactions (or actions) that took place which were flagged by internal algorithms. So, the industry-type could have been deemed potentially risky with proactive monitoring, but we only know that at this point Chase has decided to end their relationship. The AA could've been due to reputational risk or other factors.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

FinStar — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:30:42 GMT

@BeEasyMark wrote:
Yes, I didn't consider that my personal banking relationship would be affected by my business accounts being flagged. They closed 4 personal accounts and 8 business accounts of mine. The only relationship I have with Chase now is my auto loan. Now all of my business accounts are with smaller credit unions while my personal accounts are with Citi and BofA.

I'm planning to go for the Citi "trifecta" and then fill in any gaps with Amex cards starting with the Citi Prestige.

Was the prior AmEx charge-off situation already settled/fixed?

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/American-Express-Charge-off/m-p/5718591

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

BeEasyMark — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:39:13 GMT

I think so...previous charged-off Amex accounts have been fully paid removed from my report. The last time I called Amex, they said I should just reapply. I haven't done so because I had a stubborn student loan with Navient with lates on my report. I got an email from Navient's in-house counsel today saying that they will remove the tradeline from my reports! Now my reports are squeeky clean.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 02:43:08 GMT

It may be that Chase is very sensitive to certain industries. I know from my own experience where I use my card to transfer funds to a predictive website, which is considered investing, Chase will decline the transaction where all my other cards won't get declined when used.

One possible way to guage which lender might be more lenient is to look at how they handle other things. How strict are they? For example, which issuers OK transactions on other iffy sites. Which ones do not charge cash advance fees for purchasing lottery tickets at convenience stores. Which ones are easier to get CLIs, etc. Thinking that way, Chase and Cap One are tougher and therefore might not be the best issuers to use.

Of course that's not a fail-safe way to approach it, but if you have no idea and have to guess, it might be a way to approach it.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 03:15:44 GMT

Presumably OP has checked credit reports and reviewed recent transactions. I think it's fairly rare for Chase (or any bank) to suddenly discover someone's industry or suddenly decide they don't like that person's industry. Has something changed (e.g. changing name from "Honest Bob's Donuts" to "Money Laundering R Us" for example!)

ETA: but very much agree with keeping credit cards and banking with separate institutions, particulary if you are doing something than an issuer may decide not to like

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

Remedios — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 04:22:55 GMT

As previously stated, post was removed clarifying the nature of the business.

OP isn't doing anything "shady", but in his line of work, it's hard to find banking institution.

Most if those where I live depend on one or two credit unions willing to do business with type of industry they are in.

Let's move on from type of industry because my hints have stopped 4 letters short of spelling it.

Here are random otter and polar bear 🐻‍❄️🦦

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 04:57:44 GMT

Since you're already an AU, I recommend the AMEX Plat. Currently it has a historically high SUB offer on Resy.com, or just google: Resy AMEX. 75K MR points after $5K spend in 6 months; not the usual 3 months. In addition to their normal benefits, they're offering 20% back as statement credit on dining in first 12 months of card ownership, up to $300 cash back. Also they are 10x points on U.S. gas stations and supermarkets (not Costco, Walmart, Target, etc.) in first 6 months on up to $15K in purchases. Unless you're targeted for the 100K or 125K MR point offer on Card Match, this is one of the best offers ever. Though not confirmed by AMEX, most credit gurus expect this offer to appear on AMEX's website in a few days, to allow folks to use referrals and the ability to earn MR points. However if you can't wait, Resy.com is the way to go. There's also an increased offer on the AMEX Gold if that's more suits your organic daily spend.

I figured you should just leverage that relationship you already have with AMEX.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

K-in-Boston — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 20:52:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Since you're already an AU, I recommend the AMEX Plat. Currently it has a historically high SUB offer on Resy.com, or just google: Resy AMEX. 75K MR points after $5K spend in 6 months; not the usual 3 months. In addition to their normal benefits, they're offering 20% back as statement credit on dining in first 12 months of card ownership, up to $300 cash back. Also they are 10x points on U.S. gas stations and supermarkets (not Costco, Walmart, Target, etc.) in first 6 months on up to $15K in purchases. Unless you're targeted for the 100K or 125K MR point offer on Card Match, this is one of the best offers ever. Though not confirmed by AMEX, most credit gurus expect this offer to appear on AMEX's website in a few days, to allow folks to use referrals and the ability to earn MR points. However if you can't wait, Resy.com is the way to go. There's also an increased offer on the AMEX Gold if that's more suits your organic daily spend.

I figured you should just leverage that relationship you already have with AMEX.

American Express doesn't consider AUs to have any type of relationship with them, unfortunately. (Although a previously bad relationship can prevent one from becoming an authorized user.) The only benefit to being an Amex AU when applying for a primary Amex card would be any positive impact to a credit report, which is only one of numerous considerations Amex makes in the underwriting process.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

sjt — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 19:17:22 GMT

Sorry that you have to go through all this.

I would definitely keep your personal and business accounts at separate banks.

Re: Chase has kicked me out...where to now?

joltdude — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 20:15:35 GMT

A friend of mine ran a small ISP out of his house years ago, and ran into similar problems but with CC processors... because it was considered a high risk for chargebacks... oddly enough.. he was able to be grandfathered into one of the floral credit card processors (Think it was teleflora) before they thought that buisness/merchant category had a too high a rate of chargebacks and fraud.... Id be seeing if i can find a credit union thats friendly to your industry... and id definitely keep multiple accounts ... dont rely on one checking or card account...

Good luck

-J