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I haven't seen much on Bank of the West/BNP Paribas, so thought I'd add my experience.
I received a "you're preapproved" mailer with a reference to the offer being available to a "select group" of residents in my state. There are a couple dozen branches in my state according to the google machine, so it doesn't seem to be market expansion exercise or anything. Anyway...
It's a platinum MC w/ no annual fee and an 18-month intro rate of 0%. No other valuable features to speak of. I figured I'd go for it, as the 0% would be useful on a new card vs increasing utilization on existing cards via those BT offers.
Applying online w/ the invitation code got me a 7-10 day message. We'll see what happens.
For reference: FICO 9s are 772-791; overall utilitization of 17%; new car lease and 2 new cards (Apple and AmEx Gold) in last 9 months; income in low 6 figures.
I'll update when I get an answer. I've read this may be a soft pull process. Hope that's the case, especially if they decline me!
@DaisyAdair wrote:I haven't seen much on Bank of the West/BNP Paribas, so thought I'd add my experience.
I received a "you're preapproved" mailer with a reference to the offer being available to a "select group" of residents in my state. There are a couple dozen branches in my state according to the google machine, so it doesn't seem to be market expansion exercise or anything. Anyway...
It's a platinum MC w/ no annual fee and an 18-month intro rate of 0%. No other valuable features to speak of. I figured I'd go for it, as the 0% would be useful on a new card vs increasing utilization on existing cards via those BT offers.
Applying online w/ the invitation code got me a 7-10 day message. We'll see what happens.For reference: FICO 9s are 772-791; overall utilitization of 17%; new car lease and 2 new cards (Apple and AmEx Gold) in last 9 months; income in low 6 figures.
I'll update when I get an answer. I've read this may be a soft pull process. Hope that's the case, especially if they decline me!
Hi @DaisyAdair ,
Bank of the West/BNP Paribas "you're preapproved" mailers are pretty solid...IMO ,
as long as your profile has not drastically changed? ...since they pre-screened you.
They will almost always go to manual UW. Very rare to get an instant approval.
I have a Bank of the West/BNP Paribas Cash Back WMC, have had it many years!
I have a very long history with BoTW, as they held a 2nd Mortgage on my house back in the late 1980's.
You will most likely be approved with only a "SP" (They use TU EX ). <- edited
With your score and Income, I would say that;
You are likely to be approved, and get a decent starting credit limit.
Good Luck & keep us posted on your outcome.
I found this very interesting, considering BoW is being acquired by BMO Harris. Supposedly, it is to complete by end of year. Perhaps, BoW beefing up their existing credit card portfolio before everything goes through. ??? Hmmm, I just don't know. Like I said interesting! I have had 2 BoW Cashback cards for over 2 years now. Yep, both were SP approvals.
@M_Smart007 wrote:
@DaisyAdair wrote:I haven't seen much on Bank of the West/BNP Paribas, so thought I'd add my experience.
I received a "you're preapproved" mailer with a reference to the offer being available to a "select group" of residents in my state. There are a couple dozen branches in my state according to the google machine, so it doesn't seem to be market expansion exercise or anything. Anyway...
It's a platinum MC w/ no annual fee and an 18-month intro rate of 0%. No other valuable features to speak of. I figured I'd go for it, as the 0% would be useful on a new card vs increasing utilization on existing cards via those BT offers.
Applying online w/ the invitation code got me a 7-10 day message. We'll see what happens.For reference: FICO 9s are 772-791; overall utilitization of 17%; new car lease and 2 new cards (Apple and AmEx Gold) in last 9 months; income in low 6 figures.
I'll update when I get an answer. I've read this may be a soft pull process. Hope that's the case, especially if they decline me!Hi @DaisyAdair ,
Bank of the West/BNP Paribas "you're preapproved" mailers are pretty solid...IMO ,
as long as your profile has not drastically changed? ...since they pre-screened you.
They will almost always go to manual UW. Very rare to get an instant approval.
I have a Bank of the West/BNP Paribas Cash Back WMC, have had it many years!
I have a very long history with BoTW, as they held a 2nd Mortgage on my house back in the late 1980's.
You will most likely be approved with only a "SP" (They use TU).
With your score and Income, I would say that;
You are likely to be approved, and get a decent starting credit limit.
Good Luck & keep us posted on your outcome.
Thanks, @M_Smart007 ! My profile's not changed much in the past several months; if anything, it's incrementally improving each month. No big swings, though.
Good to know about the typical underwriting practices. They seem rather conservative compared to many. Interesting.
I'll keep everyone posted.
@Dave4fun wrote:I found this very interesting, considering BoW is being acquired by BMO Harris. Supposedly, it is to complete by end of year. Perhaps, BoW beefing up their existing credit card portfolio before everything goes through. ??? Hmmm, I just don't know. Like I said interesting! I have had 2 BoW Cashback cards for over 2 years now. Yep, both were SP approvals.
Hi, @Dave4fun - now that you mention it, I did read something about the BMO Harris deal. You could be right about fleshing out the existing book of business. Thanks for confirming the soft pull. Always a plus!
@DaisyAdair wrote:
@Dave4fun wrote:I found this very interesting, considering BoW is being acquired by BMO Harris. Supposedly, it is to complete by end of year. Perhaps, BoW beefing up their existing credit card portfolio before everything goes through. ??? Hmmm, I just don't know. Like I said interesting! I have had 2 BoW Cashback cards for over 2 years now. Yep, both were SP approvals.
Hi, @Dave4fun - now that you mention it, I did read something about the BMO Harris deal. You could be right about fleshing out the existing book of business. Thanks for confirming the soft pull. Always a plus!
BoTW is awaiting regulatory approval to be acquired by the Bank of Montreal and that approval is what is hoped to be accomplished by the end of 2022. If approval is given BoTW will be absorbed by BMO Harris.
I wonder if BoTW is inquiry-sensitive. I already have a BMO Harris Cashback MC, but I've always wondered about BoTW.
@coldfusion wrote:
@DaisyAdair wrote:
@Dave4fun wrote:I found this very interesting, considering BoW is being acquired by BMO Harris. Supposedly, it is to complete by end of year. Perhaps, BoW beefing up their existing credit card portfolio before everything goes through. ??? Hmmm, I just don't know. Like I said interesting! I have had 2 BoW Cashback cards for over 2 years now. Yep, both were SP approvals.
Hi, @Dave4fun - now that you mention it, I did read something about the BMO Harris deal. You could be right about fleshing out the existing book of business. Thanks for confirming the soft pull. Always a plus!
BoTW is awaiting regulatory approval to be acquired by the Bank of Montreal and that approval is what is hoped to be accomplished by the end of 2022. If approval is given BoTW will be absorbed by BMO Harris.
I got the same mailer that @DaisyAdair got. If I was in the market for a 0% interest card I'd probably find this very tempting. As of right now, it's just mildly interesting. If they gave me a pre-approval for their Cash Back card I'd find that a lot more compelling, since it gets 3% cash back on groceries (I have the WF Autograph to fill in the other 3% categories).
Update: Declined.
I received some mail correspondence from Bank of the West yesterday. I had been checking my email since the application date, and they never sent any acknowledgment of application or status, so I was actually thinking maybe the app went into the great beyond.
The declination reason was 'excessive obligations relative to income' or something similar. That was the only reason listed. They pulled Experian, and it seems it was a soft pull.
I'm not sure when they looked at my file to generate the pre-approval, but nothing has changed this year except a new auto lease and 2 new cards which don't carry a balance. And the lease started in March.
Does this indicate they're pre-approving based on score only and then running their internal DTI tolerance math upon application?
I can't see receiving a mailer in September for a determination that was generated before March. I guess it's possible, though.
Hope this is helpful to others!
On the banking side, I found BoTW a little disorganized and hit-or-miss on communications. I applied for checking and savings accounts online in the spring of 2021. Following up, I spent a total of two hours trying to get through to them to set up my account and verify opening. On the final call, I told them to just close fhe accounts and give me my $1000 total back. I had to make 2 calls to get the money sent back.
I was interested to see how their credit cards were (ie whether conservative or generous, and whether inquiry-sensitive) but this post confirms that their processes on the credit card side seem to be no better.
I have a BMO Harris Cashback MC with a SL of $12,000. I think BMO Harris has some work to do with BoTW when they take over. My great experience wifh BMO Harris stands in contrast to what I've experienced, and now read, about BoTW.
So sorry, @DaisyAdair , but there are better cards out there for you.