United Explorer Denial

[cczzll1611]

Denied for United Explorer, and pretty angry about it. 

They pulled my Experian, which is at 698. Was over 700 but recently fell because I paid off my car loan. 

I have United Gold status and $120k yearly income. The reason given when I called into Chase was high student loan debt ($100k total for masters and undergrad) and a charge off from 2015 that JUST fell off all my reports — but for some reason, apparently Chase could still see it. I was laid off in late 2014 and was unemployed until Dec. 2015 due to cutbacks across my industry at the time. Not great to have a charge off, but I was 25 and didn't know better. Have been rebuilding credit ever since, getting from low 500s in the last six years. Chase rep wasn’t very sympathetic, despite having no missed payments on any open accounts; my student loans were put into deferment when I was unemployed.

Have a credit card with $10k limit from Navy Federal since 2018. I don't work for DOD anymore, but did at the time. Oldest credit account is 15 years and 3 mo. 

I travel long haul international flights multiple times a year for work and was hoping to put an upcoming business trip on this card and get the miles. 

I've seen people with worse financial situations get this card. Just very upsetting that being super polite, upfront about my unemployment 7+ years ago AND having United status with high income isn't enough. Chase told me reapplying wouldn't do anything because of the charge off. Experian said there is no charge off on my account. So...I'm never getting this card, am I?

[SDMarik]

That stinks, sorry about the denial bud. There may have been other reasons for the denial, as issuers are only legally required to provide one. Was 698 your Fico Bankcard score or regular EX fico8?

[FinStar]

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@cczzll1611 wrote:

Denied for United Explorer, and pretty angry about it. 

They pulled my Experian, which is at 698. Was over 700 but recently fell because I paid off my car loan. 

I have United Gold status and $120k yearly income. The reason given when I called into Chase was high student loan debt ($100k total for masters and undergrad) and a charge off from 2015 that JUST fell off all my reports — but for some reason, apparently Chase could still see it. I was laid off in late 2014 and was unemployed until Dec. 2015 due to cutbacks across my industry at the time. Not great to have a charge off, but I was 25 and didn't know better. Have been rebuilding credit ever since, getting from low 500s in the last six years. Chase rep wasn’t very sympathetic, despite having no missed payments on any open accounts; my student loans were put into deferment when I was unemployed.

Have a credit card with $10k limit from Navy Federal since 2018. I don't work for DOD anymore, but did at the time. Oldest credit account is 15 years and 3 mo. 

I travel long haul international flights multiple times a year for work and was hoping to put an upcoming business trip on this card and get the miles. 

I've seen people with worse financial situations get this card. Just very upsetting that being super polite, upfront about my unemployment 7+ years ago AND having United status with high income isn't enough. Chase told me reapplying wouldn't do anything because of the charge off. Experian said there is no charge off on my account. So...I'm never getting this card, am I?

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While the reconsideration efforts did not pan out as expected, all you can do is give things time and you can reapply at some point. Since algorithms are evaluating a lot of factors with making a decision, comparing others' profiles to yours is a futile effort. United (or any) status is often times irrelevant when it comes to discussing a reconsideration with an analyst.

Since the reason(s) were not wrong when your credit reports were accessed by Chase, I would focus on the student loan debt since it sounds like (in their eyes) that was a potential red flag (i.e. overextension). And, regardless if it was/is defferred or not, it is still there and DTI will come into play for many lenders. On the upside, the charge off has been removed and that's one less item to worry about.

[cczzll1611]

It was my FICO 8 score. My TransUnion and Equifax are higher, but only Experian was looked at. 

I pay for Experian's credit services with the other two bureaus added, so the score should be pretty accurate. 

[cczzll1611]

The loans were only put into deferment when I was unemployed seven years ago, and that has no negative affect on your score. I mentioned this to show I wasn't delinquent on anything else but the one charge off I had at the time. Any money I had while unemployed went to rent and gas to drive to interviews. 

Lots of people have student loans. I only make what I do because I got a graduate degree which is necessary for my field. I understand some people here might not have loans or look down on people who do, but I went to a top 20 school for both degrees (which cost $50,000+ a year) and am a child of immigrants who didn't go to college. I had/have no ability to just get money from family. This has all been done by myself and I think I've done a "darn" good job considering my circumstances. The loans covered what my scholarships in undergrad didn't, and my grad program was OOP/loans. I pay $800/mo to them, which is more than the minimum. I can't just pay more without sacrificing other things like groceries, rent, cell phone, current car loan, savings etc. 

Surely people with student debt get credit cards. If not, then this system needs to be completely overhauled. 

My concern is that, if the charge off is gone, why was Chase able to see it?

[Remedios]

Was it Chase card that got charged off in the past? 

[cczzll1611]

No. It was a credit card issued by my school's credit union that was controlled through Capitol One. Charge off amount was like $2500. 

[Remedios]

If charge off isn't Chase card and Chase is aware of it, it's not off all reports. They cannot "see" what isn't reported, or what wasn't reported at the time you applied. 

You're right about other people being approved with student loans, they aren't issue on their own unless they significantly increase DTI, but in the presence of other factors, everything is an issue. 

With charge off removed, even if you paid off auto loan, there has to be other negatives present or really high utilization for scores not to be much higher. 

Go over your reports and see what's reporting, upper 600s to low 700s aren't typical for mature clean profile. 

If you couldn't get decision reversed during recon, give it time and try at some point in the future when your situation improves. 

[cczzll1611]

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@Remedios wrote:

If charge off isn't Chase card and Chase is aware of it, it's not off all reports. They cannot "see" what isn't reported, or what wasn't reported at the time you applied. 

You're right about other people being approved with student loans, they aren't issue on their own unless they significantly increase DTI, but in the presence of other factors, everything is an issue. 

With charge off removed, even if you paid off auto loan, there has to be other negatives present or really high utilization for scores not to be much higher. 

Go over your reports and see what's reporting, upper 600s to low 700s aren't typical for mature clean profile. 

If you couldn't get decision reversed during recon, give it time and try at some point in the future when your situation improves. 

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When I first got the "7-10 business days" message on the automated line, I called Chase to confirm the denial. The man I spoke to was super helpful and suggested I call all the credit agencies to confirm my reports — which I did. All three said I had no charge offs, delinquincies or collections on my reports; one rep was kind of hard to get an answer from since it appeared English was not their first language, and they kept repeating "These items should fall off after seven years" and didn't understand I was asking to see if I had any charge offs still showing. Eventually they said "No," but maybe that was it? However, that was Equifax and not Experian. My Experian account shows nothing but my student loans, credit card and current car loan ($10k always paid on time). 

It's just super frustrating because I thought I was on the right track. Disheartening to see people with like 10+ credit cards and I can't get more than the one I have. If I have this much trouble from unemployment, I feel terrible for anyone who was affected by the recession. I assume they were screwed just like I was. 

[SDMarik]

There has to be something holding your score down, as mentioned before your score should be much higher. If chase claims they saw it, it has to be there somewhere. Are you 100% positive they didn't pull TU or EQ?

Is it possible for an issuer to HP a bureau and have a delay in it hitting your file?