Wanted to get a new card and know that HSBC pulls Equifax exclusively. I bank with them and have their Advance mastercard. The score reported on the letter they sent me was 773 out of 850 and the reason for denial was "Insufficient number of credit references provided."
I recently paid down a bunch of balances which brought my overall scores down and utilization to 0%. Might this have been the issue?
Tried to get to recon through the chat to no avail. Alas!
Brokerages: 
I did see the SP on Experian! My score just went up massively after letting all of my cards balances report on Oct 1 (still just 1% utilization) I should've waited to apply. It's fine though, just part of the credit card collector game!
They're not even giving you the recon line number anymore and reps say credit decisions are final. I guess might have to do with them closing down and firing their staff.
"Insufficient number of credit references" is a denial reason I have not seen before. Now I have no clue what is listed on your reports but there are a few possibilities. First as you mentioned having nothing report a balance is concerning to banks especially one that is looking for high value clients. Another option is just that you do not have enough accounts that are vouching for you. More banks saying they like you can go a long way with new lenders. Also if you have a short credit history that might show up as there is no point in an account that says it has been open and current for 2 months. We might be able to explain it better if we had more details on what info you have reported.
