Hi all,
I just want to share my data point with you.
Today I have applied online for the "Citi Prestige" card and I was instantly declined.
This is my credit situation:
FICO8: 742
oldest account: 2years 1month
average age of accounts: 1 year 6 months
number of credit card accounts: 3 (#1 2y1m, 6.5K, #2 1y6m 24K, #3 10m 7.5K)
total utilization: 2.27% (1K of 44K)
number of hard pulls: 1 (18 months old)
income: 80k
Never been a citi customer before.
No other negative (or positive) info on my credit report.
The denial stated that in 7-10 days I will receive a letter with the reason for the denial. On the same day I called the automated line for application status (888-201-4523) that told me that the reason for my denial is "Too few satisfactory credit references were recorded on your credit report."
I tried to have my denial reconsidered by calling 605-331-1698, which is a number that redirects to 800-695-5171. A customer service representative asked for my application number (which is not given during the denial), then for my full SSN. She told me that I will receive the reason for my denial in 7-10 days and that there is nothing she can do to before that. I insisted to know more details for the reason and she told me to wait. I asked if there was anything I could do like getting a small credit line to start or the Citi Premier card instead, or anything else. Nothing can work to overturn such decision.
Then I have read other threads here and on other forums and found out that the automated number for the application status (301-733-5501 and 888-201-4523) if you press 0 multiple times, you can speak with a representative, so I tried again.
The talk with the representative went similar to the previous call. This time she was recommending me to apply for a secured card. Following advice I have found on this forum, I explained to her that I already had cards with relatively high limits, but I would like to move such expenses to a card that works better when I travel, and using a secured card would not have been very efficient. I have also explained that I don't like to open "many cards" to have the "satisfactory references" if I don't need them. Three was enough. She understood and put me on hold, then transferred me to a "credit analyst". Once transferred the conversation with the credit analyst started from the beginning. I had to re-explain everything, why I only have three accounts, why I need the Citi Prestige, etc. She let me talk and when I was done, she told me she see what she can do. I was put on hold a couple of minutes. When she came back she told me that the decision cannot be overturn because I have too few accounts and the system does not let her override that. At the end she recommended me to wait for the denial letter and call the number on the letter to talk with an "Experian representative". After hearing I thanked her for her time and politely ended the conversation.
Probably I have to practive better my "recon talk", but I think she probably tried to approve me, but her "level" was not high enough or maybe my problem is more serious than I think. Does anyone have experience on this or am I just wasting my time since my credit file is simply too thin for the Citi Prestige?
Unfortunately I cannot find recent data points for the Citi Prestige, otherwise I would not have wasted a hard pull. Citi website prequalifies me for the Citi Premier though.
