topic Re: Citi denial, help? in Credit Cards

Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:40:52 GMT

I recently applied for a citi platinum select student card and was denied. They pulled equifax and I received the following reason for denial:

-- "Your total credit obligations, which include outstanding credit lines, are too high to meet our approval guidelines, when compared to your stated income."

I felt this was untrue and tried to recon several times, eventually I ended up with some upper level who told me there was nothing they could do since they only receive a partial score, and that if I wanted a reconsider I would have to send them my report plus a letter explaining why.
(She also gave me an email address)

So I went ahead and got my equifax through my FICO my score is 729, outstanding debt is $23. I have 0 baddies, 7 month history with my WF student 1kcard limit, PIT each month.

Im having a really hard time understanding their reasoning for the denial!? I was wondering if you guys could help me understand this better, and assist me in writing the recon email? For example other then saying I want a recon because I feel you are wrong what else should I include?

Thanks for the help

Re: Citi denial, help?

MagicShot — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:45:18 GMT

Your stated income is too low to extend you more credit is what the denial means.

Re: Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:48:07 GMT

My income as a student is 7k, I don't understand how having 1k in available credit is too much? What bothers me is I know of people with less money and lower scores getting approved

Re: Citi denial, help?

MagicShot — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:53:31 GMT

So you dont have student loans at all either just 1k of availble credit? Have you checked all your reports not just TU? Citi likes to pull EX or EQ more than TU from what I have noticed. Citi Bank is also fairly conserative in their approvals. Took my 6 years of good credit to finally get a Citi Card.

Re: Citi denial, help?

MagicShot — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:54:45 GMT

What is your AA?

Re: Citi denial, help?

navigatethis12 — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:00:19 GMT

7000 is not a lot, and a lot of people in college overspend and end up in massive debt that they can not pay off. If they give you 1000 then that is 2000 you have in available credit. I really would not expect too many approvals with such a short history and low income.

Re: Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:01:47 GMT

I don't have any other loans/debts ect, only the WF card. I would really like to start a relationship with citi as I have heard great things about their prime cards for when I am out of school.

They specifically mentioned Equifax so that's the score I pulled (729)

Im not sure what AA means, age of account? If so its 7 been months (15% util)

Re: Citi denial, help?

kimmiller112 — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:02:56 GMT

Have you considered either the Discover More student card or Capital One's student card (I think it might be the Journey)? Citi can be very hard to get a credit card with.

Re: Citi denial, help?

bichonmom — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:12:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I recently applied for a citi platinum select student card and was denied. They pulled equifax and I received the following reason for denial:

-- "Your total credit obligations, which include outstanding credit lines, are too high to meet our approval guidelines, when compared to your stated income."

I felt this was untrue and tried to recon several times, eventually I ended up with some upper level who told me there was nothing they could do since they only receive a partial score, and that if I wanted a reconsider I would have to send them my report plus a letter explaining why.
(She also gave me an email address)

So I went ahead and got my equifax through my FICO my score is 729, outstanding debt is $23. I have 0 baddies, 7 month history with my WF student 1kcard limit, PIT each month.

Im having a really hard time understanding their reasoning for the denial!? I was wondering if you guys could help me understand this better, and assist me in writing the recon email? For example other then saying I want a recon because I feel you are wrong what else should I include?

Thanks for the help

You PIF your WF card each month, but is that after the statement prints? If so, then your CR will be showing a balance owing to WF, even though you PIF each month. Let's say, you charge $700 in July and at the end of the month, the statement cuts showing your $700 balance due 8/15. So, you PIF by the due date of 8/15. Normally, that's just fine. The problem is that FICO (and anyone seeing your CR) can't tell that you PIF each month. All they see is the $700 balance on a $1k card, which is close to the CL.

If you're going to be applying for credit, it's a good idea to PIF the balance *BEFORE* the statement cuts. That way, a balance of zero will be reported to the CRAs. Your FICO will be higher and anyone seeing your CR will see that you don't owe any money. (Or let a small balance of <10% report.)

It's also a good idea to pull your CR before you apply for a CC, to be sure everything looks okay and that your payments have updated on the CR.

Assuming all of that was done and you were still denied, then I'd try to recon again. I agree that $1k total CL w/ $7k income isn't much. Many people have total CLs that are 50% or greater of their annual income.

Re: Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:12:03 GMT

If your outstanding debt it 23/1000 dollars, your utilization should be around 2.3%. But in some of your other recent posts, you mentioned your utilizaton is 16%. Your TU report indicated 500/1000 (50% utilization). Do you know if they pulled your TU as well? Either way, having only 7k in income, means that even 1k more in CL's will be almost 30% of your income which starts to get a little grey for lenders. They do not want to extend too much credit in fear you might not be able to pay it back. Remember, a lot of the times denials issue very broad context reasons and can be interpreted several ways. Since your WF card is your only debt, my guess is their biggest concern is your income. Do you have any other income? The income you do receive, is it through employment or other means (this can affect their decision as well). Your credit history is very short as well which may have an impact.

Re: Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:22:26 GMT

Jd5189
I am a bit confused regarding the utilization, the 16% is the average across all months, I did the math with my statements.
The TU was for one month, I disputed this (the bank confirmed my dispute was valid) so that will go away
Now that $23 is what equifax says is outstanding, so is util just for the most recent or across the board?

I charge up to 60-70start percent but I pay in full before statement date, before I found this site I believed you had to show some balance under 20% on statement so I left some. Now I pay in full before statement date.

Re: Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:28:31 GMT

As far as your income, is 7k your working income or your total income?

Grants/scholarships can be considered income if they are given to you to use towards college - not sure if they are paid directly to the school.
Make sure you include that.

Congrats on being in school with no loans by the way!

Re: Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:33:56 GMT

That 7k is after I pay my tuition, if im allowed to include tuition it would be closer to 15k..but i wasn't sure if that's allowed, so I did not include it in my application.

Thanks by the way...I've worked hard to ensure that I have no debt at all.

Re: Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 23:43:01 GMT

Your salary is what your income tax form says... any and all money that you took in is your salary.

Re: Citi denial, help?

jsucool76 — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 23:58:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Your salary is what your income tax form says... any and all money that you took in is your salary.

This!

Just because you're spending your income, doesn't mean it's not income. You still have money coming in, and as long as you're spending less than you're making you're fine.

If you work, get any scholarships/grants (any money you don't have to pay back (I.E Cannot declare student loans or anything like that) you can count that as income. If you have an actual job, your income (if they ask for proof) can be shown through paystubs and stuff, and if you get scholarships and whatnot you can request a 1098-T from your school.

Re: Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:56:56 GMT

I'd update your income amount.

Just like mortgage/rent, car loans, anything, your income is exactly that - what you have coming in - doesn't matter what's left after you pay your bills (if your in the red or the black it doesn't change your income)

I'd update to show exactly what your making - which appears to be at least double what they think you have. I'd ask for a recon and state that you miscalculated your income - they may ask for proof but if you have a job/grants/etc that will be very easy to prove to them.

Re: Citi denial, help?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:12:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Jd5189
I am a bit confused regarding the utilization, the 16% is the average across all months, I did the math with my statements.
The TU was for one month, I disputed this (the bank confirmed my dispute was valid) so that will go away
Now that $23 is what equifax says is outstanding, so is util just for the most recent or across the board?

I charge up to 60-70start percent but I pay in full before statement date, before I found this site I believed you had to show some balance under 20% on statement so I left some. Now I pay in full before statement date.

Util is only based off of the most recent balances reported to the cras. No need to do the math from last statements just use the $23 that eq says is outstanding for your calculations.

Sorry that might be confusing. What I meant to say is no need to do any math from past statements, only your current statements factor into util calculations.