Marvel MC Denied

[Anonymous]

Applied on 5/24/18 through Marvel site/Synchrony. Received the 7-10 day wait message. Called and was told it was declined, and I would receive the denial letter in the mail.

On 5/23/18 I applied for and received:

Navy Federal cashRewards instant approval for $25,000 at 11.15%.

Navy Federal CLOC instant approval for $15,000.

FICO 8 credit scores (from 05/23/2018) before applications were Equifax - 711; Transunion - 708; Experian - 715.

Oldest Account: 21 years, 8 months

Average Age: 12 years, 1 month

Newest Account: 3 years, 7 months

My credit report(s) showed 0 inquiries, 0 public records, 0 collections and 20 total accounts; 7 listed as open including a charge-off from Bank of America from 6.5 years ago (set to be removed from reports in August 2018). This was also the last late payment on record. From the myFICO 3B report, Equifax does not show the amount of the charge off and lists my utlilization at 1%. Both Transunion and Experian include the charge off amount of $6,944 in the utilization and shows that as 22%. From Experian.com directly it shows 0% utilization and does not include the charged off amount in total credit.

I have a current car loan through Navy Federal with a $42,000 balance of $70,000.

My only credit cards are a Discover card at $6,000, Citi at $4,260 and two Capital One Platinum cards at $4,500 and $300, all with zero balance.

My Transunion report showed one inquiry (from the above CLOC). The new card and LOC have not updated to my credit reports.

Just a data point for anyone who is interested. As always, YMMV.

[FinStar]

It would be interesting to see what the denial letter cites as the reasons. This could help others who may have a similar outcome.

I'm wondering if it was an actual decline vs. a request for additional verification, though. Either way, keep us posted.

[Anonymous]

I will be sure to update when the letter arrives. Until then, I wish everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day.

[Meanmchine]

Marvel and Ebates are Synchrony's flagship cards. Scores needed for these are 720+. YMMV

[Anonymous]

As promised, I recieved the letter from Synchrony today. Reason stated:

"In reaching this decision, your application was reviewed and denied for the following reason(s):

HIGH RISK SOURCE OF APPLICATION"

They didn't do a credit pull at all.

My conjecture is that I am currently overseas with the military (in Germany) and I applied from home with a foreign (i.e. non-U.S.) IP address. I didn't even think this would be an issue as my address is listed as APO, AE (Armed Forces in Europe).

I don't really need it so I don't know if it's worth it to try calling (although I don't think this will help in this situation) or just re-applying with a U.S. IP, unless I am now flagged in the system.

[Anonymous]

I believe you said that there was no HP if that's the case no harm in reapply when you come home. It's possible the computer flagged the IP as possible identity theft and because it wasnt U.S. based.

[Anonymous]

Banks and card issuers have been tightening up a lot on security/ID/fraud issues lately, which can be a real pain in the fundament when you make online purchases at sites based outside the U.S.. I've had several problems with my Apple FCU debit (not credit) Visa being flagged for possible fraud attempts because I made purchases through Amazon's Italian branch and from an Irish vendor via ABEBooks.com, though those were cleared up once I called Apple. I also had to call Penfed to remove a possible-fraud flag on my Power Cash Rewards Visa when I made a purchase at the French Amazon-like site Priceminister in March. And when I accepted a prequalified offer on a second Discover IT card in March, I had to call Discover to verify my ID before the process could be completed.

I'm wondering now if any other deployed service members or their dependents have had similar issues recently to the OP's when applying for credit cards. If there's a pattern of that, seems to me something's wrong here.