topic Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF?? in Credit Cards

Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

Jwagner — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 15:48:15 GMT

I just had a strange interaction with WF. At least seemed odd to me.

I paid a WF Platinum card off about 6 weeks ago. It had a “meh” limit of 5k, but I was carrying a very high ratio on it at about 4.8. The interest rate is terrible, so I just paid it down to $0.

It’s sat at $0 since then (late May). I just happened to notice last night the limit had been lowered to $1200. (**bleep**?!?). I called this morning to ask about a SP to either return it to 5k, or higher. We requested 7.5, thinking they may counter.

“China” the rep did the usual questions and then said sorry, but to go further will require a HP, no go on a SP.

I have 0 INQ’s currently and I’m not burning one for a low tier WF card. F8 Scores are 760’s and 770’s and income is 313k (which they know, they were the primary bank for years).

Anyhow, declined the HP and asked that she close the account instead. She asked why, I said that I felt the limit lowering seemed punitive and I don’t have a reason given and also that a $1200 card is essentially unusable.

Her answer to that was, ‘we can close the account for sure, but if you do, you will never be eligible to open another one again.”

**bleep**??? I still closed the account, because it’s pointless to have such a low limit card when I have so many others that dwarf it.

Anyone ever get told that if close a card, you will NEVER be allowed to have one again? lol.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

GZG — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 16:00:52 GMT

@Jwagner wrote:
Her answer to that was, ‘we can close the account for sure, but if you do, you will never be eligible to open another one again.”

**bleep**??? I still closed the account, because it’s pointless to have such a low limit card when I have so many others that dwarf it.

Anyone ever get told that if close a card, you will NEVER be allowed to have one again? lol.

that sounds like CSR retention talk, probably doesn't have any basis in policy.

if anything WF's decision to balance chase might have a more adverse impact on them willing to offer you another card in the future than closing the account in good standing would.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

Jwagner — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 16:10:30 GMT

A DP I should add, that made it feel a little weird to me also.

I had a Propel card also at $5k. With the recent PC that WF did and switched everyone from the AmEx to the Visa, the CL went UP to $7500

So chasing the Platinum limit down to only 1.2 makes almost zero sense at all to me. My overall utilization is completely unaffected (and I just had SP CLI’s on all 3 Chase cards and a SP CLI on the Lowe’s card from 12 to 35k). That made this one card, completely inconsequential

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

SouthJamaica — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 16:30:16 GMT

@Jwagner wrote:
I just had a strange interaction with WF. At least seemed odd to me.

I paid a WF Platinum card off about 6 weeks ago. It had a “meh” limit of 5k, but I was carrying a very high ratio on it at about 4.8. The interest rate is terrible, so I just paid it down to $0.

It’s sat at $0 since then (late May). I just happened to notice last night the limit had been lowered to $1200. (**bleep**?!?). I called this morning to ask about a SP to either return it to 5k, or higher. We requested 7.5, thinking they may counter.

“China” the rep did the usual questions and then said sorry, but to go further will require a HP, no go on a SP.

I have 0 INQ’s currently and I’m not burning one for a low tier WF card. F8 Scores are 760’s and 770’s and income is 313k (which they know, they were the primary bank for years).

Anyhow, declined the HP and asked that she close the account instead. She asked why, I said that I felt the limit lowering seemed punitive and I don’t have a reason given and also that a $1200 card is essentially unusable.

Her answer to that was, ‘we can close the account for sure, but if you do, you will never be eligible to open another one again.”

**bleep**??? I still closed the account, because it’s pointless to have such a low limit card when I have so many others that dwarf it.

Anyone ever get told that if close a card, you will NEVER be allowed to have one again? lol.

No.

And I don't think it was true, either. Perhaps "China" was referring to there being no SUB if you apply again.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

FireMedic1 — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 17:48:23 GMT

@Jwagner wrote:
I just had a strange interaction with WF. At least seemed odd to me.

I paid a WF Platinum card off about 6 weeks ago. It had a “meh” limit of 5k, but I was carrying a very high ratio on it at about 4.8. The interest rate is terrible, so I just paid it down to $0.

It’s sat at $0 since then (late May). I just happened to notice last night the limit had been lowered to $1200. (**bleep**?!?). I called this morning to ask about a SP to either return it to 5k, or higher. We requested 7.5, thinking they may counter.

“China” the rep did the usual questions and then said sorry, but to go further will require a HP, no go on a SP.

I have 0 INQ’s currently and I’m not burning one for a low tier WF card. F8 Scores are 760’s and 770’s and income is 313k (which they know, they were the primary bank for years).

Anyhow, declined the HP and asked that she close the account instead. She asked why, I said that I felt the limit lowering seemed punitive and I don’t have a reason given and also that a $1200 card is essentially unusable.

Her answer to that was, ‘we can close the account for sure, but if you do, you will never be eligible to open another one again.”

**bleep**??? I still closed the account, because it’s pointless to have such a low limit card when I have so many others that dwarf it.

Anyone ever get told that if close a card, you will NEVER be allowed to have one again? lol.

How long was the util % high. Classic case of running a high balance too long and it spooks them. WF isnt the only one. Ever hear of Sync?

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

Jwagner — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 19:08:49 GMT

You know, that sounds quite plausible. That’s a pretty likely explanation for the weirdness I couldn’t figure out.

The UTIL sat there in the high 90s for a probably a YEAR? I had bought some business materials, had the card on auto-pay, etc. This last May, I was looking at the account and thinking “what in the heck, why is this balance just not dropping?!?” Thinking maybe someone was consistently just charging the card right back to its max. Nope.

the interest rate being **bleep** near 30%, the minimum auto pay was only covering interest. So I just paid the card to $0 on the spot, because - holy hell.

So yeah, your idea seems pretty plausible, with the card pretty much maxed for at least a year.

Still odd though that they did an auto-CLI of 50% when the PC’d the Propel (had a 0 balance) to Visa. I guess one card was cool, the other super Sus

— and of course, the very odd comment by the CSR, “china”, that if I close the account, I’ll never be eligible to reopen a new Platinum

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

FireMedic1 — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 19:53:38 GMT

@Jwagner wrote:
You know, that sounds quite plausible. That’s a pretty likely explanation for the weirdness I couldn’t figure out.

The UTIL sat there in the high 90s for a probably a YEAR? I had bought some business materials, had the card on auto-pay, etc. This last May, I was looking at the account and thinking “what in the heck, why is this balance just not dropping?!?” Thinking maybe someone was consistently just charging the card right back to its max. Nope.

the interest rate being **bleep** near 30%, the minimum auto pay was only covering interest. So I just paid the card to $0 on the spot, because - holy hell.

So yeah, your idea seems pretty plausible, with the card pretty much maxed for at least a year.

Still odd though that they did an auto-CLI of 50% when the PC’d the Propel (had a 0 balance) to Visa. I guess one card was cool, the other super Sus

— and of course, the very odd comment by the CSR, “china”, that if I close the account, I’ll never be eligible to reopen a new Platinum

Im not saying I was right. Just a combination of years and seeing such things happen. They made a bunch of money from interest. You'd think they would love that. But not really. Least that balance is off your back now. Less stress. Better life.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

Jeffster1 — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 22:52:00 GMT

I think the rep was wrong,

Aside from it sounding ridiculous, the fact is that WF is pretty forgiving.

I IIB my WF CC in my 13 in 2017. In late 2022, I was approved for a WF BILT card with a $30K SL.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

NoMoreE46 — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 23:40:32 GMT

Hey @Jwagner ,

Seems like that high utility combined with that duration were the reasons for the AA/ balance chase.

Regarding the CSR's (P.S., citing names isn't needed) comment about never being able to open a new Platinum card again - is true.

No one can open this card.

The Platinum is no longer offered. Their College Card, as well as their suite of Propel (365) offerings are also being sunsetted for what that is worth. Thus, I don't see any retention offers for these cards.

I don't think you have been 'black listed' given that you got a 50% CLI { Congrats ! } on your ?Autograph? card...

@Jwagner wrote:
You know, that sounds quite plausible. That’s a pretty likely explanation for the weirdness I couldn’t figure out.

The UTIL sat there in the high 90s for a probably a YEAR? I had bought some business materials, had the card on auto-pay, etc. This last May, I was looking at the account and thinking “what in the heck, why is this balance just not dropping?!?” Thinking maybe someone was consistently just charging the card right back to its max. Nope.

the interest rate being **bleep** near 30%, the minimum auto pay was only covering interest. So I just paid the card to $0 on the spot, because - holy hell.

So yeah, your idea seems pretty plausible, with the card pretty much maxed for at least a year.

Still odd though that they did an auto-CLI of 50% when the PC’d the Propel (had a 0 balance) to Visa. I guess one card was cool, the other super Sus

— and of course, the very odd comment by the CSR, “china”, that if I close the account, I’ll never be eligible to reopen a new Platinum

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

Jwagner — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 15:28:29 GMT

“Blacklisted” is the wrong word for sure. I was at a loss in the moment trying to figure out how to explain it. “Soft blacklisted” was the closest I could come to it at the instant.

“Punitive”, or seemingly so, would be a little more apt I suppose.

I paid the card off, nothing happens. Then a month later I empty all the cash out of the bank and wired it all to NFCU (it was definitely more than they had on hand physically). THEN, they took the AA and gutted the card (but as noted, raised another though??)

I now think it’s just a series a very random events that perfectly defined the meaning of coincidence.

As they say, correlation is not causation.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

NoMoreE46 — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 17:41:53 GMT

Gotcha @Jwagner and thanks.

Who knows?

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

LADave — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 03:54:06 GMT

@Jwagner wrote:

— and of course, the very odd comment by the CSR, “china”, that if I close the account, I’ll never be eligible to reopen a new Platinum

AFAIK the WF Platinum card hasn't been available to new applicants for a few years now. Perhaps that's what she meant?

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

GZG — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 03:58:03 GMT

@LADave wrote:
@Jwagner wrote:

— and of course, the very odd comment by the CSR, “china”, that if I close the account, I’ll never be eligible to reopen a new Platinum
AFAIK the WF Platinum card hasn't been available to new applicants for a few years now. Perhaps that's what she meant?

did they directly turn that card into the current reflect card?

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

UncleB — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 05:01:05 GMT

@LADave wrote:
@Jwagner wrote:

— and of course, the very odd comment by the CSR, “china”, that if I close the account, I’ll never be eligible to reopen a new Platinum
AFAIK the WF Platinum card hasn't been available to new applicants for a few years now. Perhaps that's what she meant?

I definitely think this is what the CSR meant in this case (and she was technically correct, since nobody can open a new WF Platinum Visa).

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

Lou-natic — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 14:23:34 GMT

Lets be real here WF did you a favor. They could disappear anytime now and the world would be a better place for it.

I'd close the other WF card you have and just forget they ever existed. You made the right move going from WF to NFCU.

Neil Armstrong didn't even leap that far on the moon. Dang.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 15:00:46 GMT

I think the missing peice is you moving almost everything out of WF. Considering your income, that was probably significant. WF is one of the only true relationship banks. That action may have affected their willingness to loan to you in the future. It also could trigger a limit decrease. So if your timeline is accurate, paid off card, 4 weeks later moved all your money out, notice at 6 weeks your limit is decreased, then you could very well be blacklisted from new products. Though I don't believe it's permanent. I'm going against the grain and will say it wasn't a miscommunication about the platinum card, but a miscommunication on the length of blacklist.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

LADave — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 15:25:17 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
I think the missing peice is you moving almost everything out of WF. Considering your income, that was probably significant. WF is one of the only true relationship banks. That action may have affected their willingness to loan to you in the future. It also could trigger a limit decrease. So if your timeline is accurate, paid off card, 4 weeks later moved all your money out, notice at 6 weeks your limit is decreased, then you could very well be blacklisted from new products. Though I don't believe it's permanent. I'm going against the grain and will say it wasn't a miscommunication about the platinum card, but a miscommunication on the length of blacklist.

I think you're onto something here.

The WF Platinum card isn't a Visa Signature as far as I can tell, so they don't have a motivation to keep the credit limit at a minimum of $5000.

There are data points from users who were told they were denied CLIs because they weren't keeping enough money at Wells Fargo (although I found that reason for denial to be inconsistently applied - I got a CLI later on without keeping a lot more money at WF). I've also seen a DP here from a WF credit card client who finally got a CLI soon after closing their WF checking.

Since most of their baking products aren't anything to write home about (other banks have features that are similar to theirs without penalizing their credit card customers), WF customers might want to consider closing their bank accounts with them after they've established credit cards with them.

If @Jwagner has stopped doing most of their banking with WF, they might get better credit card service with WF if they close their checking and/or savings with them, or if they reverse course and decide to go "all in" with Wells Fargo.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

Catbird_Seat — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 15:28:33 GMT

Not "soft" blacklisted, I'm on a permanent blacklist, lol.

WF has a very long memory, evidenced by my exeperience.

I had a CO CC & checking account go into longterm OD due to fraud that they would not correct, almost 30 years ago.

Last week I was curious to see if I could get approved for a Bilt card.

I applied, was denied & my denial letter states " accounts with WF were not paid as agreed {we look for a history of on-time payments}.

It's going to be 30 years this December & WF still remembers.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 16:03:40 GMT

@LADave wrote:
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
I think the missing peice is you moving almost everything out of WF. Considering your income, that was probably significant. WF is one of the only true relationship banks. That action may have affected their willingness to loan to you in the future. It also could trigger a limit decrease. So if your timeline is accurate, paid off card, 4 weeks later moved all your money out, notice at 6 weeks your limit is decreased, then you could very well be blacklisted from new products. Though I don't believe it's permanent. I'm going against the grain and will say it wasn't a miscommunication about the platinum card, but a miscommunication on the length of blacklist.
I think you're onto something here.

The WF Platinum card isn't a Visa Signature as far as I can tell, so they don't have a motivation to keep the credit limit at a minimum of $5000.

There are data points from users who were told they were denied CLIs because they weren't keeping enough money at Wells Fargo (although I found that reason for denial to be inconsistently applied - I got a CLI later on without keeping a lot more money at WF). I've also seen a DP here from a WF credit card client who finally got a CLI soon after closing their WF checking.

Since most of their baking products aren't anything to write home about (other banks have features that are similar to theirs without penalizing their credit card customers), WF customers might want to consider closing their bank accounts with them after they've established credit cards with them.

If @Jwagner has stopped doing most of their banking with WF, they might get better credit card service with WF if they close their checking and/or savings with them, or if they reverse course and decide to go "all in" with Wells Fargo.

Yeah, it appears that if you don't have DDA with them they tend to treat you better. I've always said it's because they're courting and trying to get you to open accounts. If you have DDAs and other products with them, they very much will use those to dictate how they'll treat your credit card accounts.

Re: Anyone ever get soft Blacklisted by WF??

steel_string — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 20:04:26 GMT

Usually, it's customers that blacklist Wells Fargo.