Citi Recon?

[Alucard]

I applied for the Citi Simplicity card as I currently have 2 cards with them (Costco and custom). My scores are roughly above 700 due to some expenses I've occurred this year and due to inflation and my COL increasing I've kept balances on a few cards (my utilization is still at 11%). Unfortunately I was declined but I planned to recon once I got my denial reason due to my relationship with citi but unfortunately I still haven't received the denial reason (I'm pretty sure there's a time limit on adverse action communication). Anyway while waiting for the letter I've received two pre-approvals from the for their Diamond Preferred and AAdvantage which is making me scratch my head as both letters were clearly generated after I requested the card. Is it possible they are telling me that while I did not qualify for one card that I would for the other two?

Let me know your thoughts.

[cashorcharge]

The Preapprovals you're receiving the mail we're likely note created/generated/decided in the very recent past....typically that data is pulled, compiled and then mailers are generated so it does take some time.  Additionally, while it may seem odd that they're egging on you with preapprovals and then decline you...is it possible that the change to your profile was recent?  Have you tried calling to see if they'll tell you the reason for the decline?  Not sure if Citi does that...I don't know....but that getting that info is your first step

[FinStar]

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@Alucard wrote:

I applied for the Citi Simplicity card as I currently have 2 cards with them (Costco and custom). My scores are roughly above 700 due to some expenses I've occurred this year and due to inflation and my COL increasing I've kept balances on a few cards (my utilization is still at 11%). Unfortunately I was declined but I planned to recon once I got my denial reason due to my relationship with citi but unfortunately I still haven't received the denial reason (I'm pretty sure there's a time limit on adverse action communication). Anyway while waiting for the letter I've received two pre-approvals from the for their Diamond Preferred and AAdvantage which is making me scratch my head as both letters were clearly generated after I requested the card. Is it possible they are telling me that while I did not qualify for one card that I would for the other two?

Let me know your thoughts.

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As mentioned upthread, if you look at the mailers, those are not pre-approved offers. Citi has a pre-qualification portal online as well, but it's not 100% solid. The mailers you received are likely the pre-selected variety which tend to be generated by a third party on behalf of a financial institution. So, in no way are they indicative or guaranteed that you'd be approved for those given that Simplicity was a no-go. 

Of course, you can either wait for the denial letter or you can call their automated application status line to obtain the reasons instead of waiting for the letter. This way you'll know whether it's due to some verification instance or something else. 

[nbnsraz]

You can certainly call and ask for reconsideration if you'd like. I personally thought they were slightly more stingy on approvals for Simplicity than they are for Diamond Preffered, probably because Simplicity is essentially the same, except fee free, which gives them less opportunities to recover from losses. The reason banks can offer settlements and payment plans for people who default is because they have inflated their balance with penalty APRs and fees, since Simplicity doesn't have those fees, I suspect they are a bit more picky about approvals on that card.

As far as the targetted mailers, I believe the approval odds on those are about 8/10. Actually just got one for Diamond Preferred myself and was approved for $8,900, even though they denied me a CLI on my existing card twice in the last year (it is my highest credit limit at 18k, so I can't blame them). I decided to go for the Diamond Preffered anyway because the offer had the intro 3% fee for transfers, vs the 5% on the website. 

[Alucard]

The APR in the mailers were exact and not a range which made me believe it was a pre-approval. 

[FinStar]

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@Alucard wrote:

The APR in the mailers were exact and not a range which made me believe it was a pre-approval. 

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Plenty of DPs on both scenarios which are not 100% guaranteed results. More often than not, individuals have reported multiple, staggered mailers with different 'solid' APRs for the same product.