Simple. Every lender has different criteria and different UW requirements. Barclays is known for being one of the more conservative/stingier lenders out there, so no surprise there. Also you didn't specify whether there are any negatives in your file, no matter how small. Probably not if your scores are close to 800, but still pertinent.
Agree with above postings that Barclays is known to be a tougher lender with some profiles, and it's always tricky comparing results between two different banks and even between two different cards with the same bank (Wyndham and AAA). Underwriting standards certainly vary between banks and some cards are more lenient than others.
I'll add a few more observations and ask a few questions that may help to shed additional light on the subject.
As asked above, what derogatories if any do you show on your credit reports? Any BK, collections, late payments, etc?
How many inquiries do you have in the past six, twelve, twenty-four months on each CRB?
How many new accounts (personal) do you have in the past six, twelve, twenty-four months on each CRB?
I ask these two questions since approvals may be hampered by inquiries. And sometimes new accounts don't show on all three reports. However, if new accounts is high relative to profile, that could be the reason for the inhibited Barclays approvals. For an extreme example, let's say for inquiries you're 8/24 on EX but 1/24 on TU and 0/24 on EQ. Lender (A) pulls EX, and denies the card. Lender (B) pulls EQ and approves the card with a high limit. According to credit_is_crack's master listing, Barclays is known to pull EX in PA and GA while it often pulls TU in TX, NY, NM, NJ, FL, MN, and GA. Wells Fargo is known to pull any of the three bureaus including EQ (IL, NY), TU (GA, OH, WA, IL), and EX in many other states. Which CRB did each lender pull for you?
Making $50K or $500K doesn't factor into whether you get approved. Income primarily plays a role in your starting limit, but your debt situation is also considered. Making $80K to $90K is relative if you have high Debt-to-Income from a mortgage that was approved at the top of your qualification range, a high auto loan balance, or high student loan debts. Someone making $50K could qualify for a higher limit than someone making $100K under the right circumstances.
The prior banking and credit relationship with Wells Fargo probably went a long way with your higher SL with them, as well as the variation in underwriting criteria. I would guess that you've given them a fair chunk of your direct deposits and credit card charges in the past and they rewarded that in order to seek more of your business.
@Bandit5160 wrote:I am a Wyndham Hotels Rewards memeber and while I was booking a trip to the beach I saw a great offer for the Wyndham Rewards credit card. I travel a lot for both working and personal vacations so I applied. Barclaycard declined my app for this card but offered me a lesser tier card with an outrageous 31% APR and paltry $750 CL, which I declined. So for all intensive purposes a rejection, which I don't understand. I make an average of 80-90 thousand a year and my credit scores are all in the 760-790 range. Then a day later I appled for the AAA credit card since I have been an AAA premiere member for almost 20 years on account of the fact that I travel by car a lot for both work and pleasure. I was approved, but only for a $2000 CL. But I accepted the offer, as the card allows me to earn good points on my car insurance and AAA membership payments as well as gas, food, and lodging. Then finally a couple of days later still, as a Wells Fargo checking and savings account holder, I decided to apply for the new WF Bilt card. I already have the Propel , Active Cash, and Hotels.com cards from WF but they approved me for a whopping 18K CL, which ties with my Discover It cards for the highest CL I have right off the bat. The more cards I appled for, the better my results got, which is odd. Why were the results of my apps so different?
FYI, unless you were doing it as a sarcastic "get the phrase wrong because it's funny" thing (which I have heard in sitcoms before for this specific phrase, so maybe), the phrase is "intents and purposes", not "intensive purposes". Just a small piece of edu-macation for your future phrasing usage. 👍
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My thoughts on it are too that I counted 32 credit cards in your Sig Line with lots of those at a $5K CL or less. Really thats still a lot of cards and open CL's for only a $80K a year salary. So that many have come into play on both the denial and the low CL's.
