Denied Citi and BOA DPs

[Kahnawake007]

They already did the hard pull on you. Even though it's frustrating, I would call again. Some people have better luck on the second or third try. Why waste a hard pull on nothing if there's a possibility of getting something?

Waiting 6 months would require them to hit you with another hard pull. Take a step back and try to see it through their eyes. They will see that they denied you once already less than a year ago. Actually, less than 6 months ago. Now you're coming back again? This gives them red flags on you for "credit seeking" as well as "too many inquiries in x amount of time" then they can turn around and say "too many new accounts on your record". Catch 22 to deny you without actually looking at your record. 
Not always the case, but happens more often than usual in these pandemic times. 

I am assuming that you do not have any of the bureaus locked or frozen. Also assuming that you do not have any of the secondary agencies (lexisnexis, sagestream, etc) locked or frozen. 

Them asking about public records are generally simple questions like what colour was your x-year vehicle? What month was your sibling born? In what state does family member live?

In most cases all they need is a copy of your ID. In some cases, they will also ask for a selfie with you holding your ID. Only heard of one case where they asked for a video of you holding the ID.

Long story short (too late, I know) I would fight it and call them back again. You already have your foot in the door, why walk away now? It's not just Citi, many bank's customer service reps don't know manure from shoe polish so we call a couple of times, staggered dates and times, better chances of not getting that some one again. 

[coldfusion]

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@Srivera718 wrote:

A mobile device which is how I've applied for all my cards. I understand why they have this policy in place, the logic of me not being able to verify myself is what was frustrating. The lady told me to wait two months and reapply but I'm curious what would be different then. 

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Hopefully your mobile device was connected to your home WiFi network when you applied and not just to a cellular network.  If your network traffic is being passed over a cellular network when you apply,  geolocation services can inaccurately report your approximate location which will flag the application as being potentially fraudulent.

Your best next step should be to get copies of all of your credit reports including Innovis and Sagestream as well as a copy of your LexisNexis consumer report and carefully review them looking for inaccuracies, and if there are inaccuracies dispute them off. 

LexisNexis needs to be checked as it is considered a source of truth not just for a subset of the info commonly found in credit reports but also as a reference for screening questions like "Which one of the following addresses were you previously associated with?". 

At this point calling Citibank again would almost certainly be ineffective. 

[Srivera718]

That's great advice and I'm definitely going to call again. I felt the be same way about the hard pull being done already, why waste it. But the lady on the phone refused to tell me what needed to be verified or any information really. Which is crazy because you can apply over the phone which means they would've taken this information over the phone. Would going in person to a branch be any better than calling?

[Srivera718]

Reading and looking into it Citi appears to have a very confusing, frustrating and nonsensical fraud department. I think I'll try a couple times just cause they pulled my report and what's to lose at this point but I'm wary of Citi cards at this point. I've read of people getting the card and immediately having fraud notifications and their card declined. 

[Kahnawake007]

Going into a branch and actually asking for and talking with a banker (not a teller) could help a lot as they will undoubtedly have you in person with your ID and can easily prove you are who you claim to be. 

The banker may or may not have the authority to approve you there on the spot. But they should at the very least be able to run down any lose ends about what got flagged and how to correct it, as well as be able to give a letter of recommendation to the underwriter. Make sure to bring any validating info. Probably won't need it, but to have things like tax returns and utility bills and such can't hurt. That way you're beyond prepared and won't have to come back to validate something later. 

[FinStar]

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@Kahnawake007 wrote:

Going into a branch and actually asking for and talking with a banker (not a teller) could help a lot as they will undoubtedly have you in person with your ID and can easily prove you are who you claim to be. 

The banker may or may not have the authority to approve you there on the spot. But they should at the very least be able to run down any lose ends about what got flagged and how to correct it, as well as be able to give a letter of recommendation to the underwriter. Make sure to bring any validating info. Probably won't need it, but to have things like tax returns and utility bills and such can't hurt. That way you're beyond prepared and won't have to come back to validate something later. 

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@Kahnawake007- Unfortunately, a relationship banker doesn't have the authority over any application overrides. It's the lending/UW department that does. Typically, if the application is initially submitted with a banker, any initial verification requirements can usually be addressed. However, once an application was already declined, if it's something simple that can be addressed, they can reach out to the appropriate department or provide the applicant with the information on who to contact, but they do not provide such things as a letter of recommendation to an UW. The OP can try visiting a Citi branch and see if it yields any results.

[Srivera718]

Out of curiosity and my fiancé having a relationship with Bank of America I checked the online pre approval portal and dicovered I was pre approved for pretty much any card I want. I'm not traveling alot at the moment and usually go after cards with good cash back rates. Which BOA card is best?

[FinStar]

Just as a cautionary FYI, the Bank Of America tool you are using is not a pre-approval portal. It's a recommendation landing page that provides an array of pre-selected CCs (not pre-approved) that yields personalized offers based on preliminary input criteria.

[K-in-Boston]

While there can still be preapprovals that pop up while signed into your account, FinStar is spot on.  The preapproval page was much more valid when it would display an actual APR or a small APR range until a few years ago when they switched it to essentially being a marketing tool.

As for which BOA card is the best, that will depend on a number of factors.  As you are looking for cash back, that will likely exclude their higher tier travel cards.  It would really depend on what categories you are spending in, whether you qualify for the Preferred Rewards program based on combined BoA/Merrill Lynch/Merrill Edge account balances, and if you do which tier you are in.  With combined balances over $100k, BoA does have a few options that can be hard to beat for cash back.

[Hoben02]

The best earnings card is the bofa customized cash card base is 3% with no status. Can do up to 5.25% if you get status with bofa. There should be a category you can use