Update:
I tried my first reconsideration -- with Citi. Morehouse had me thinking -- which is that, actually, I was prequalified with Citi, for the Rewards +. And sure enough, I found the mailers.
I called the reconsideration line and, sure enough, it's all because the credit pulls from my apps last week fell on my Experian. The person was as nice as can be, but (of course) they couldn't tell me anything about their process or what to do next -- other than to wait.
They did say that Citi randomly picks credit reports, so based on that it would seem that if Citi had pulled TU or EQ -- I may have been approved.
The Experian report just happened to have a lot of inquiries on it and, adding in the declines and pendings, by the time I apped with Citi, their system wasn't going for it -- and they he can't override it. It sounds they would, if they could though -- the decision was just based on inquiries.
So, I have some options:
1. I have inquiries that are going to fall off of Experian. In fact, I have one that persists on my Experian report that I'm going to have to contact them about, that should have been off. Altogether, out of 10 inquiries I now have, 6 will be gone by October. And I could and should perhaps reapply with Citi then.
2. I could write a letter to Citi for reconsideration. I've read in different places that writing a letter sometimes is better than calling. I'm tempted to do this, because I really would rather not let an inquiry go to waste for two years (I really thought Citi was a lock, based on the mailers I got).
I may take both paths with Citi, but I really hate having a credit card company pull twice from a report -- such as in October. So, I'm going to try writing the letter. If anyone has any suggestions on how I might craft the letter, I'd appreciate it. I may post a new topic elsewhere to solicit suggestions.
One thing they said was that the reason they get concerned with inquiries is that when an applicant has a bunch of them, they could end up with many cards in a months time -- and they like to see how someone handles credit. In this case, I wasn't going to end up with a bunch of cards I didn't want; these were all cards I had a plan for, if I was approved for them all (including Citi). But I also expected I'd be declined for a couple of them; they were perhaps just a bit beyond my "reach", I had a feeling, but not impossible, I just planned on and was comfortable with declines, especially to get the decline letters back for more information.
I dunno -- I feel like there is a good basis for a reconsideration letter to Citi in all this. LOL. So I'm going to give it a shot.
On my U.S. Bank application, I called in and found out I was declined. So, I'm calling U.S. Bank a little later, and asking them to take a second look. Reading up on reconsideration for them, but I have a feeling Citi might be my best bet. Wish me luck with all these; totally new to them! Thanks!
