My letter to bank after being denied

[Anonymous]

I was denied for a Discover It card and am thinking of sending them the following letter. Any thoughts would be most helpful.

Thank you!

I am writing in regards to account number, which is an application for a Discover It made on XXXX. I received a response online which stated that I was denied due to “too many credit inquiries.” I would greatly appreciate it if you could reconsider my application, based on the following reasons.

My friends applied for the card, all of which were approved immediately, and have thoroughly enjoyed the benefits of the card and the service Discover has provided. I would greatly like to build a relationship with Discover and look forward to continuing the relationship for many years.

Personally, I have never once missed a payment on my credit cards and highly value the terms of the Discover It. That is why, when looking to separate my educational expenses from my personal expenses, and to get my first Discover credit card, the Discover It card was my first choice. While my credit history is small, I would like to grow and expand, and getting a Discover credit card is the first step towards that goal. I would love for this to happen with the financial backing of Discover.

Through my friends I have found Discover to be very generous in their credit limit for the personal card and am not in need of such a high credit line on that card.

I would greatly appreciate if someone could contact me directly regarding this inquiry. Email would be preferable. However, it is completely understandable that, if for confidentiality reasons, a phone call is necessary. I can be contacted at XXXXX or by phone at XXXXX. I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

[KneelBeforeZod]

Why write when you might be better calling and speaking with someone?

[Anonymous]

I did call twice. One person told me the denial looked "firm". I've never sent a letter, so not sure if this would be any better than the two phone calls.

[KneelBeforeZod]

How many INQ do you have?

With Discover, I would recommend just going into the garden for a while and letting those inquiries age or drop off if you have several. If the analyst won't budge, I'd doubt the letter will get any further.

Dont give up though - you'll get in soon with them. It took me a year of waiting with no INQs before they let me in.

[KneelBeforeZod]

BTW - I'm not trying to discourage you from sending a letter. I think it's great you're trying hard - Discover is not very RECON friendly in contrast to guys like Chase and Barclaycard in my opinion and experience.

[tbque]

OP, your letter is a great start but you haven't addressed the reason for the decline? You need to at least give some explanation of why so many inquiries? Were they the result of automobile shopping, etc.

[Anonymous]

very good point on addressing the inquiries. and thank you to everyone for your support.

When i applied for my first two cards in May, i had no credit card usage for 9 years and had a 23000 school loan with some missed payments so my EQ was 630 and EX 683, so those banks First Bank of Omaha and Chase gave me only 1000 CLs. After my CS jumped 50 to 70 points respectively, so I applied for 3 Citi cards which were approved. So 5 inquiries and 5 approvals until Discover denied me. i just wanted to get a little more credit, but that's my explanation. Not an explanation I would want to send to the bank.

[Anonymous]

You applied for two cards in May of this year? And if so, you are now with five cards total in August..

The letter is great but I'm pretty sure that the discover rep said its a firm decision because within the last four months you've managed to open 5 credit cards (congrats on that btw).

I think if you wait a few months, keep up with payments and such, you can reapply and there's a good chance you will be approved.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

Also keep in mind that when lenders reject you for too many inquiries, it often just means "we are not really that into you."

Seriously.  It is a catchall reason.  They have to give some FICO reason and they are not going to tell you that the real reason has to do with their internal scoring model.

Discover likes thin profiles.  They want to be the card you use all the time.  They are like a jealous lover.

Five new cards in a few months looks to them like you're sleeping around.

[ojefferyo]

You could send the letter, whoever gets it may read it and just shruggs at it since they are pretty firm on their decisions. However there is a very very slight chance they may overturn it. Only way to find out is to send it to them. Just be prepared that you may never even get a letter back.