topic Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card? in Credit Cards

How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

AndrewF — Mon, 11 May 2026 16:52:13 GMT

I burned Citi to the tune of like almost $7,000 during my bankruptcy 6 years ago.

I've been working on my credit rating, haven't had any other negatives since the bankruptcy in May 2020, and have used and paid in full and on time on all the credit cards I've opened since the bankruptcy discharged.

I managed to get my TU FICO 8 back up to 715, but my EQ is 698 right now and my EX is 685.

I know Citi has a "Nope." policy on all their non co-brand cards if you've ever burned them, but I've heard people say that they eventually got the Costco or Best Buy cards, or some other ones that are co-branded. So it appears that Citi has relaxed approval requirements for those.

Does anyone have experience with Citi for co-branded cards after a history with them like this? I don't want to do a hard pull and get declined.

What bureau do they tend to pull? Thinking if I should wait a few months until my EX is cleaner. They just told me no again on Early Exclusion for four discharged credit cards that TU deleted last month on April 1st.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 11 May 2026 17:40:03 GMT

Costco is core card not cobranded card. I don't know how citi will see your burning them others are more qualified to answer that question as never had such experience with Citi core vs retail. retail is Best Buy, Macys etc not Costco as that is core

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

sccredit — Mon, 11 May 2026 18:34:42 GMT

Just my personal experience. 7 years post discharge I was denied for the personal card. 8 years post discharge I was approved for the business card with a $25k limit. YMMV.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

ptatohed — Mon, 11 May 2026 18:39:55 GMT

@AndrewF wrote:
I burned Citi to the tune of like almost $7,000 during my bankruptcy 6 years ago.

I've been working on my credit rating, haven't had any other negatives since the bankruptcy in May 2020, and have used and paid in full and on time on all the credit cards I've opened since the bankruptcy discharged.

I managed to get my TU FICO 8 back up to 715, but my EQ is 698 right now and my EX is 685.

I know Citi has a "Nope." policy on all their non co-brand cards if you've ever burned them, but I've heard people say that they eventually got the Costco or Best Buy cards, or some other ones that are co-branded. So it appears that Citi has relaxed approval requirements for those.

Does anyone have experience with Citi for co-branded cards after a history with them like this? I don't want to do a hard pull and get declined.

What bureau do they tend to pull? Thinking if I should wait a few months until my EX is cleaner. They just told me no again on Early Exclusion for four discharged credit cards that TU deleted last month on April 1st.

AF, would the prequal tool help you?

https://online.citi.com/US/ag/cards/pre-qualify

Edit to answer your other question:

Citi Credit Reports Data

State Credit bureaus used

Alabama	Experian
Arkansas	Experian
Arizona	Equifax, Experian*, and TransUnion
California	Equifax, Experian*, and TransUnion
Colorado	Experian
Connecticut	Equifax* and Experian
Delaware	Equifax
Florida	Equifax and Experian*
Georgia	Equifax* and TransUnion
Hawaii	Equifax
Illinois	Equifax*, Experian, and TransUnion
Indiana	Experian
Iowa	Experian
Kansas	Equifax
Kentucky	Equifax* and Experian
Maryland	Equifax, Experian*, and TransUnion
Michigan	Equifax* and Experian
Minnesota	Equifax
Nevada	Equifax and Experian*
New Hampshire	Equifax and TransUnion
New Jersey	Equifax and Experian*
New Mexico	Experian
New York	Equifax, Experian*, and TransUnion
North Carolina	Equifax* and Experian
Ohio	Equifax and TransUnion
Oklahoma	Experian
Oregon	Equifax and Experian
Pennsylvania	Equifax, Experian*, and TransUnion
South Dakota	TransUnion
Tennessee	Equifax* and TransUnion
Texas	Experian* and TransUnion
Utah	TransUnion
Virginia	Equifax and Experian*
Washington	Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion
West Virginia	Equifax
Wisconsin	Experian

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

jj10939 — Mon, 11 May 2026 19:09:09 GMT

I got mine 4 years post BK and I burned them. IIRC, I believe the pre-qual didn't show any offers but I applied and was approved. I say go for it! It's only an inquiry and then you will know for sure.

The Costco is a core card but seems to be slightly easier to get than the others. The others were a no-go for me until exactly 7 years post discharge.

Good luck if you go for it. Let us know

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

AndrewF — Mon, 11 May 2026 19:45:18 GMT

South Dakota is an easy state to get residency in.

Maybe I should move there for a night at a hotel and have Citi pull TransUnion.

🤣

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

AndrewF — Mon, 11 May 2026 19:47:19 GMT

@jj10939 wrote:
I got mine 4 years post BK and I burned them. IIRC, I believe the pre-qual didn't show any offers but I applied and was approved. I say go for it! It's only an inquiry and then you will know for sure.

The Costco is a core card but seems to be slightly easier to get than the others. The others were a no-go for me until exactly 7 years post discharge.

Good luck if you go for it. Let us know

I got nothing when I checked pre-qualified offers.

But I guess I could try for it. Hard pulls aren't the end of the world but they are an oh darn it when you get declined.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

CreditCuriosity — Mon, 11 May 2026 19:51:17 GMT

I have 830-845 credit scores and never have had a prequal from CITI. With that said I have also never been turned down for a CITI card either on blind applying. Granted our situations are different, but citis prequal at least for me is garbage. Currently have 5 citi cards between personal and business. So as others stated you only really know if you try and will cost you likely a hp or two worse case scneario obviously your chances get better as the burn goes longer and longer between their loss.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

redpat — Mon, 11 May 2026 20:01:47 GMT

@AndrewF

No guts, no glory....

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

ptatohed — Mon, 11 May 2026 20:01:47 GMT

Too funny.

Just for fun, I did the pre-qual for S's and G's and the one and only one card that came up was the Costco card!

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

ElvisCaprice — Tue, 12 May 2026 00:21:58 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
Too funny.

Just for fun, I did the pre-qual for S's and G's and the one and only one card that came up was the Costco card!

If your 0/6 pulls, which I think you are. And you get the Costco Card for a go on the pre app, your golden. Pick your CC with Citi.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

AndrewF — Tue, 12 May 2026 02:21:05 GMT

Applied:

DENIED - Bankruptcy

They said their decision was based on Equifax.

No new hard pulls are showing on any of the bureaus. Maybe on an internal blacklist?

Capital One used to do no pull declines on me for about a year after discharge.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

DeeBee78 — Tue, 12 May 2026 03:33:31 GMT

@AndrewF wrote:
Applied:

DENIED - Bankruptcy

They said their decision was based on Equifax.

No new hard pulls are showing on any of the bureaus. Maybe on an internal blacklist?

Capital One used to do no pull declines on me for about a year after discharge.

Sorry to hear. If no HP after a couple of hours, definitely on the internal blacklist. I am on Discover's internal blacklist despite never burning them and having my $0 balance card closed by them for non usage. Every time I've applied or used the prequal I get no hard pull an immediate denial with the reason being STATUS OF EXISTING / PRIOR DISCOVER CARD ACCOUNT.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

ways2go — Tue, 12 May 2026 05:22:34 GMT

Citi must have an internal blacklist. I went bankrupt on them around 1990 for about 3k. I never tried to get a card from them until around 2013 under a pre-qualified letter. I went online to apply online , I filled it out and hit submit, and the screen gave the thinking screen and a chat came up, someone came online and asked where I lived at 1990. It closed and it came up declined. So they must have one. Fast forward I had the Costco Amex and when Citi took it over, they gave me the Citi Costco with the same limit of 14k, and it is up to 22k. I haven't tried to get a regular citi card though.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

ElvisCaprice — Tue, 12 May 2026 05:43:20 GMT

@AndrewF wrote:
Applied:

DENIED - Bankruptcy

They said their decision was based on Equifax.

No new hard pulls are showing on any of the bureaus. Maybe on an internal blacklist?

Capital One used to do no pull declines on me for about a year after discharge.

No problem, Citi did you a favor. The Citi Costco CC is inferior (closed mine last year) with rewards to alternative CC's. Get a general 3% CC like the Robinhood Gold or AVEN Visa. Meanwhile use the Paypal debit for 5% at Costco. Use a 5% gas CC or get creative with the Paypal debit on shop cards. There are other options.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

DeeBee78 — Tue, 12 May 2026 07:46:34 GMT

@ways2go wrote:
Citi must have an internal blacklist. I went bankrupt on them around 1990 for about 3k. I never tried to get a card from them until around 2013 under a pre-qualified letter. I went online to apply online , I filled it out and hit submit, and the screen gave the thinking screen and a chat came up, someone came online and asked where I lived at 1990. It closed and it came up declined. So they must have one. Fast forward I had the Costco Amex and when Citi took it over, they gave me the Citi Costco with the same limit of 14k, and it is up to 22k. I haven't tried to get a regular citi card though.

I'm about to go through something similar. After I close on my house next month I'm applying for the Apple Card before it transitions to Chase. I'm already preapproved, so I know I'll get it. Problem is I burned Chase 6 1/2 years ago, but have since settled the debts. I'm curious to see if they let me keep the account or close it on me.

Citi just doesn't like me despite my perfect history with them. I've had the Costco Visa for over 8 years now and have never once gotten a CLI. CLD? Twice lol.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

jj10939 — Tue, 12 May 2026 14:42:28 GMT

Darn. Sorry to hear it didn't work out this time. At least now you know and hopefully you can try again in a year or so.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

AndrewF — Thu, 14 May 2026 16:39:27 GMT

Update, they did hard pull Equifax but nothing showing on the other bureaus.

I don't care about Equifax hard pulls. They just don't matter to me because I'm not applying for a mortgage.

I have never seen a landlord or a credit card company other than Capital One hard pull Equifax so my other reports currently have five hard inquiries with one falling off next month and two falling off in August, and Equifax has two.

Re: How easy is it to get a Costco Citi Visa card?

ElvisCaprice — Fri, 15 May 2026 05:15:54 GMT

@AndrewF wrote:
Update, they did hard pull Equifax but nothing showing on the other bureaus.

I don't care about Equifax hard pulls. They just don't matter to me because I'm not applying for a mortgage.

I have never seen a landlord or a credit card company other than Capital One hard pull Equifax so my other reports currently have five hard inquiries with one falling off next month and two falling off in August, and Equifax has two.

I like Citi CC's, so your lucky, as I , to have Equifax being pulled by them. Wells Fargo, along with the Cap 1 triple pull, also pull Equifax for myself. Good to keep track of, like I do in my signature, for future apps.