First off let me say I didn't expect to get approved and therefore should not have applied. I am in hardcore rebuild mode and my reports are still MESSY and will be for the next few months at least. The only reason I applied was because I could not find any data points on this new card and thought it might be somewhat helpful to the community before I hit the garden for a bit. I was invited to apply because I have a money market account with them (they have competitive rates you should check them out). Not sure when it will open to public or if it already has.
Data Points
Pulled Experian
Experian FICO score 553
Some delinquent student loans
1 Charge off from chase - just under 6 years old but unsettled
1 Collection from third party debt collector (originally for Citi credit card) - just under 6 years old but unsettled
3 inquiries (2 falling off January, 1 from recent Discover Secured app)
AAoA over 9 years
AoYA over 4 years (my new cash rewards and discover secured haven't reported for the first time yet)
Only reporting credit card is a Quicksilver with 4.5 years of perfect history (but high utilization...maxed out status)
Like I said I wasn't expecting to get approved with this type of profile but my only reason for rejection was: Charge offs > 0.
The rejection wasn't immediate. I received their "Thanks for applying, we will review message". Took less than 12 hrs for the follow-up email rejection explaining why.
I called for a recon (lol) and first rep said they don't do that. Second rep got me a recon and they told me if I could get the charge off removed they could approve me and that was the only thing holding them back. I was pretty surprised because they could have said a number of things but this was the only thing they were sticklers about.
It's possible Sallie Mae Evolve might not be that strict of a card but definitely not enough evidence to know yet. The rewards are not as good as other cards so I imagine people with profiles over 670 will just go for other cards anyway. Might be possible someone with high 500's / very low 600's could get approved if they don't have any charge off's showing on report. Hopefully this helps someone out there.
