BOFA Unlimited 1.5 cash back denial

[RT209]

Took a chance when i knew I shouldn't have, but oh well. Ive been with BofA for almost 20 years checking and savings and I have a customized  cash rewards card for the 3% since 2004. Never been late, always paid, excellent history. I got suckered into the "special offers" marketing BS and applied and was flat out denied. My bofa customized cash card has a CL of 21,500. They even denied me a CLI a few months ago as well. Is BOFA just getting more stingy even if you have a relationship with them?  I know, inquires will be the main cause for rejection, since ive opened 5 cards in the last 12 months. I'm off to the garden for at least a year. 

[Puppetmaster]

@RT209 ,

I was just approved instantly for this card a few days ago with a CL of $6,500 despite having no banking relationship (at least not in the last 20 years) with BOA.  This was the last approval (there's still one more pending a manual review) in a spree of 5 (or 6 if the pending one is ultimately approved) new cards in a 3 day period, and I honestly was not expecting an approval due to a lot of very fresh inquiries and a few more less than a year ago.  At the time of my application my FICO scores were in the 730-736 range and my utilization was around 15%.  At that point I had no new accounts reported in about 20 months.  Maybe there are some data points here that can help by comparison.

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@RT209 wrote:

Took a chance when i knew I shouldn't have, but oh well. Ive been with BofA for almost 20 years checking and savings and I have a customized  cash rewards card for the 3% since 2004. Never been late, always paid, excellent history. I got suckered into the "special offers" marketing BS and applied and was flat out denied. My bofa customized cash card has a CL of 21,500. They even denied me a CLI a few months ago as well. Is BOFA just getting more stingy even if you have a relationship with them?  I know, inquires will be the main cause for rejection, since ive opened 5 cards in the last 12 months. I'm off to the garden for at least a year. 

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[SoCalGardener]

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@RT209 wrote:

Took a chance when i knew I shouldn't have, but oh well. Ive been with BofA for almost 20 years checking and savings and I have a customized  cash rewards card for the 3% since 2004. Never been late, always paid, excellent history. I got suckered into the "special offers" marketing BS and applied and was flat out denied. My bofa customized cash card has a CL of 21,500. They even denied me a CLI a few months ago as well. Is BOFA just getting more stingy even if you have a relationship with them?  I know, inquires will be the main cause for rejection, since ive opened 5 cards in the last 12 months. I'm off to the garden for at least a year. 

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I've been with BofA for 30 years, for all my banking, and they're definitely not getting stingy with me--they gave me a big CLI several weeks ago, on a CCR card I've had for eight years. I've been gardening for a long time; on the other hand, you've opened five cards in a year. I'm sure that had something to do with your denial. Just hang in there, come join us in the garden, and try again after awhile.

[s_haliz]

All members: 

Please know the basics. 

- How long you are with any Bank (with checking and/or savings account) won't matter and never factored in with the decision/approval 
- Inquiries and new cards within last 12 months has major impact! It shows that you need finance. 
- Never been late is also a consideration. 
- How much limit you have overall. 
- How much limit with that specific bank card that you are applying. 

Follow this and you would increase your approval odds. 

[FinStar]

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@s_haliz wrote:

- How long you are with any Bank (with checking and/or savings account) won't matter and never factored in with the decision/approval  -- Actually, it does for a variety of institutions and depending on assets/investments as well. 
- Inquiries and new cards within last 12 months has major impact! It shows that you need finance. -- It may have impacts with regard to the number of lenders that one has applied, but it depends on whether such inquiries are spread throughout the 3 CRAs and all lenders weigh things differently.  Algorithms make the decisions regardless and results will always be profile-specific
- Never been late is also a consideration. -- Self-explanatory for most applicants, but not a deterrent for many folks given that some members have been approved with prior derogatory marks (i.e. not the end of the world!) -- again, profile-specific.
- How much limit you have overall. -- For some lenders, you can achieve fantastic results if you strategize things, have the income, assets and history to support it.
- How much limit with that specific bank card that you are applying. -- The limit will be assigned by an algorithm -- could be low, could be high -- depends on the individual profile.

Follow this and you would increase your approval odds. 

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Some counter-points to some of the 'absolutes' you've provided @s_haliz.  Unless you have worked for 1,500+ banks globally, then the advice misses the mark to some extent.

[s_haliz]

"Actually, it does for a variety of institutions and depending on assets/investments as well."
Not in the initial application. However, if you get denied or seeking for higher CL, some CC comapnies used to ask assets/depoists etc. (circa 2001s) to see if you could qualify.  

"It may have impacts with regard to the number of lenders that one has applied, but it depends on whether such inquiries are spread throughout the 3 CRAs and all lenders weigh things differently.  Algorithms make the decisions regardless and results will always be profile-specific"
You have a point and you may be correct on what you just said. However, if you go through 100s and 1,000s of discussions in this forum, you may see majority of respondents have expressed what I just mentioned! 

"For some lenders, you can achieve fantastic results if you strategize things, have the income, assets and history to support it."
True. We have several (in addition to me), who just did that and are enjoying lots of perks and greater limits!

The limit will be assigned by an algorithm -- could be low, could be high -- depends on the individual profile.
Still at least few banks (i.e. Chase) assigns "max" number and then sticks to it. No more than that "magic" number! Period. For example, most cards limits the initial CL to $30K to $35K max (i.e. WF, Chase, AMEX, etc.). 

It is entirely possible that some smaller banks, CUs, and others may have loosen UW standards.