@Anonymous wrote:Small-giraffe was kind enough to post the Citi number that allowed me to check my denial reasons, without having to wait for the 7-10 day letter.
The second reason they stated was too many recently opened accounts. Understandable.
The FIRST reason was "lack of recent credit activity". What?
I have 15 CCs & use almost all of them to varying degrees. I have one sock drawered Amex that I intend to close before the annual fee hits. A few get monthly small auto charges to keep them alive. A few others get bursts of spend every 2-3 months for the same reason. At least 5 are used for monthly spend.
While I haven't been doing AZEO, I have been PIF, and on most, before the statement cuts. I thought it was helping me, but was it actually harming my profile for new credit? I don't recall ever seeing that denial reason and it didn't stop anyone else from granting me new credit and extending CLI.
Should I switch to waiting to pay after my statement date on everything? Does that apply to Amex as well? It gets a lot of my monthly spend, but it also has a $25k CL so I have enough room to let it report and still stay under 10%.
I'm shocked that was the first reason listed.
If the first reason I got was lack of recent credit activity -- when I had in fact been quite active -- I would try paying one of the accounts after the statement cuts rather than before.
@Yasselife wrote:AZEO is optimal before applying for new credit. Keep the utilization below 5-8% on each card. Your profile sounds excellent so I would think the denial has to do with your experience in the past as AU, as you mentioned. I wish I could give you an advice but seems like I should be the one listening to you, lol; maybe even adding you to my account as AU so you can get back in. Best of luck.
Thank you for the biggest laugh about this situation! FICO should jump on the opportunity to come out with a dating app set up. People could look for their perfect FICO match based on scores, length of history, and AU needs. 
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Small-giraffe was kind enough to post the Citi number that allowed me to check my denial reasons, without having to wait for the 7-10 day letter.
The second reason they stated was too many recently opened accounts. Understandable.
The FIRST reason was "lack of recent credit activity". What?I have 15 CCs & use almost all of them to varying degrees. I have one sock drawered Amex that I intend to close before the annual fee hits. A few get monthly small auto charges to keep them alive. A few others get bursts of spend every 2-3 months for the same reason. At least 5 are used for monthly spend.
While I haven't been doing AZEO, I have been PIF, and on most, before the statement cuts. I thought it was helping me, but was it actually harming my profile for new credit? I don't recall ever seeing that denial reason and it didn't stop anyone else from granting me new credit and extending CLI.
Should I switch to waiting to pay after my statement date on everything? Does that apply to Amex as well? It gets a lot of my monthly spend, but it also has a $25k CL so I have enough room to let it report and still stay under 10%.
I'm shocked that was the first reason listed.
If the first reason I got was lack of recent credit activity -- when I had in fact been quite active -- I would try paying one of the accounts after the statement cuts rather than before.
That's the thing and why it confuses me so much. While I have been PIF on most before the statement cuts, I wasn't on all of them - specifically to let some spend report. I looked through some of it today and I have been routinely letting at least $1500 report. It has reported as 1-2% utilization, depending on source and moment in time. So since I am showing activity, they seem to not believe it's enough activity. If it's not enough activity, how much is enough for Citi? My total CLs are $135k+.
The too many new accounts I can buy, but the first one seems so odd. That leads me back to still questioning if I'm Citi doomed for life because of internal records of my many years long ties to someone credit undesirable.
Either way, I'm definitely shifting to letting my accounts all report and paying like a normal credit user who doesn't read here lol. I'm also officially gardening for the foreseeable future. But full confession - I just added one more before locking the door. I used to be an authorized user on his Nordstrom store card. I missed it. Got approved for the Nordy Visa, 10K.
OK, NOW the door is locked and the gardening begins. I think I better freeze my reports.
@Anonymous wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Small-giraffe was kind enough to post the Citi number that allowed me to check my denial reasons, without having to wait for the 7-10 day letter.
The second reason they stated was too many recently opened accounts. Understandable.
The FIRST reason was "lack of recent credit activity". What?I have 15 CCs & use almost all of them to varying degrees. I have one sock drawered Amex that I intend to close before the annual fee hits. A few get monthly small auto charges to keep them alive. A few others get bursts of spend every 2-3 months for the same reason. At least 5 are used for monthly spend.
While I haven't been doing AZEO, I have been PIF, and on most, before the statement cuts. I thought it was helping me, but was it actually harming my profile for new credit? I don't recall ever seeing that denial reason and it didn't stop anyone else from granting me new credit and extending CLI.
Should I switch to waiting to pay after my statement date on everything? Does that apply to Amex as well? It gets a lot of my monthly spend, but it also has a $25k CL so I have enough room to let it report and still stay under 10%.
I'm shocked that was the first reason listed.
If the first reason I got was lack of recent credit activity -- when I had in fact been quite active -- I would try paying one of the accounts after the statement cuts rather than before.
That's the thing and why it confuses me so much. While I have been PIF on most before the statement cuts, I wasn't on all of them - specifically to let some spend report. I looked through some of it today and I have been routinely letting at least $1500 report. It has reported as 1-2% utilization, depending on source and moment in time. So since I am showing activity, they seem to not believe it's enough activity. If it's not enough activity, how much is enough for Citi? My total CLs are $135k+.The too many new accounts I can buy, but the first one seems so odd. That leads me back to still questioning if I'm Citi doomed for life because of internal records of my many years long ties to someone credit undesirable.
Either way, I'm definitely shifting to letting my accounts all report and paying like a normal credit user who doesn't read here lol. I'm also officially gardening for the foreseeable future. But full confession - I just added one more before locking the door. I used to be an authorized user on his Nordstrom store card. I missed it. Got approved for the Nordy Visa, 10K.
OK, NOW the door is locked and the gardening begins. I think I better freeze my reports.
It wouldn't be the dollar amount. For this purpose $5 would be as good as $1500.
Well here's some detective work for you: were any of the cads reporting a statement balance
(a) store cards,
(b) Chase cards,
(c) US Bank, Vantage West, or DCU cards,
or
(d) credit union cards?
If so, you should know that store cards and credit union cards can sometimes get overlooked by the algorithms, Chase cards report a zero balance whenever they are paid to zero, even mid-cycle, US Bank and DCU report the balance on the 1st of the month regardless of statement date, and Vantage West reports the balance from the 5th of the month regardless of statement date.
What you really need to do is go over the accounts section of your credit report, to see what's reporting what..... and when.
FWIW I don't buy into the meme that paying after the statement cuts is the "natural" and "normal" way to pay. To me that's a "pre-internet" way to pay, since that was the only logical way to do it when we relied on paper statements. It's perfectly fine if you like doing that, but some of us find it more "natural" and "normal" to pay before the statement. I don't even look at my statements. For me, they are old news. They are history.
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Small-giraffe was kind enough to post the Citi number that allowed me to check my denial reasons, without having to wait for the 7-10 day letter.
The second reason they stated was too many recently opened accounts. Understandable.
The FIRST reason was "lack of recent credit activity". What?I have 15 CCs & use almost all of them to varying degrees. I have one sock drawered Amex that I intend to close before the annual fee hits. A few get monthly small auto charges to keep them alive. A few others get bursts of spend every 2-3 months for the same reason. At least 5 are used for monthly spend.
While I haven't been doing AZEO, I have been PIF, and on most, before the statement cuts. I thought it was helping me, but was it actually harming my profile for new credit? I don't recall ever seeing that denial reason and it didn't stop anyone else from granting me new credit and extending CLI.
Should I switch to waiting to pay after my statement date on everything? Does that apply to Amex as well? It gets a lot of my monthly spend, but it also has a $25k CL so I have enough room to let it report and still stay under 10%.
I'm shocked that was the first reason listed.
If the first reason I got was lack of recent credit activity -- when I had in fact been quite active -- I would try paying one of the accounts after the statement cuts rather than before.
That's the thing and why it confuses me so much. While I have been PIF on most before the statement cuts, I wasn't on all of them - specifically to let some spend report. I looked through some of it today and I have been routinely letting at least $1500 report. It has reported as 1-2% utilization, depending on source and moment in time. So since I am showing activity, they seem to not believe it's enough activity. If it's not enough activity, how much is enough for Citi? My total CLs are $135k+.The too many new accounts I can buy, but the first one seems so odd. That leads me back to still questioning if I'm Citi doomed for life because of internal records of my many years long ties to someone credit undesirable.
Either way, I'm definitely shifting to letting my accounts all report and paying like a normal credit user who doesn't read here lol. I'm also officially gardening for the foreseeable future. But full confession - I just added one more before locking the door. I used to be an authorized user on his Nordstrom store card. I missed it. Got approved for the Nordy Visa, 10K.
OK, NOW the door is locked and the gardening begins. I think I better freeze my reports.
It wouldn't be the dollar amount. For this purpose $5 would be as good as $1500.
Well here's some detective work for you: were any of the cads reporting a statement balance
(a) store cards,
(b) Chase cards,
(c) US Bank, Vantage West, or DCU cards,
or
(d) credit union cards?
If so, you should know that store cards and credit union cards can sometimes get overlooked by the algorithms, Chase cards report a zero balance whenever they are paid to zero, even mid-cycle, US Bank and DCU report the balance on the 1st of the month regardless of statement date, and Vantage West reports the balance from the 5th of the month regardless of statement date.
What you really need to do is go over the accounts section of your credit report, to see what's reporting what..... and when.
FWIW I don't buy into the meme that paying after the statement cuts is the "natural" and "normal" way to pay. To me that's a "pre-internet" way to pay, since that was the only logical way to do it when we relied on paper statements. It's perfectly fine if you like doing that, but some of us find it more "natural" and "normal" to pay before the statement. I don't even look at my statements. For me, they are old news. They are history.
Thank you for the super useful information. They make it so complicated! I don't have any credit union cards, but I do have Chase & USB, and retail cards. In another thread, I just broke down what reported recently by bank & retail CCs. I didn't even realize the info you provided about Chase, USB, etc.
I agree about "natural" or not to pay before or after the statement date. I do everything by app now and it feels silly to wait for a specific date when I no longer need to wait for a statement in the mail. Since I'm in the apps frequently, I had shifted to paying as it clears - especially with my most frequent use cards, like Amex.
So what I'm reading is that I need to go over my CCs again and see which ones reporting date (bank cards) are consistent, and pick at least one of those to be my guaranteed reporting card - correct? Would AmexBCP be a good CC for that purpose?
@Anonymous wrote:
@FalconSteve wrote:As long as you paid your accounts and removed yourseld as AU from all of his accounts, his bad habits will not affect you.
I did indeed, and none of his accounts are showing up on my reports.
Yes but Citi has its own record, and a long memory.
@FalconSteve wrote:I've worked at a credit union and my Dad currently works at one. He has also worked at several banks and CUs. I double checked with him. Records of outside accounts are govered by multiple federal laws and there Citi is not a credit reporting agency so they cannot keep they records.
I think @SouthJamaica meant internal records pertaining to their (Citi's) respective accounts, not *all* accounts.
