Was denied by CITI and need a game plan to get back at them

[Anonymous]

Its been about 2 months since I have been declined entrance into the Citi credit card line-up. Reason for the decline was an excessive amount of recent inquiries. Since then, I've been in the garden, sharpening my claw and teeth and waiting for the perfect ambush opportunity to overtake CITI. 

Is it recommended that I wait a full 6 months before proceeding? 

Current state of my credit game is:

Low util at around 15% ~ 20% (will try to bring it down to 9%)

Credit score of around 720 across the 3 major bureaus

No late payments

$26,000 Total CL

[AverageJoesCredit]

Yes, 6 months will provide more cushion

[Anonymous]

How many inquiries did you have?

Many lenders consider inquiries during the last 12 months as recent, although some only look at inquiries in the last 6 months.  So a 6 month wait is a reasonable compromise.

After an inquiry ages 12 months you no longer incur a penalty on your credit scores, and after 24 months it is removed from your credit reports (25 months for Experian).

[credit_is_crack]

+1

Citi is tricky and particularly picky. IME I’ve been able to bank a win with them when:

-I only have 0-1 INQ on my EQ in last 6mo
-I only have 0-1 new accounts in last 6mo

However there have been times where I’m at that mark, but the 6mo prior to that are littered with activity. Their computer seems to look at the most recent 6mo first, then it takes a small glance at the full 12mo.

I’m sure others have had different experiences but in the 3 years I’ve been with them and having 3 cards, I run into this like a religion. It doesn’t matter what I can speak to, they seem to not budge on high activity applicants. Hang in there!

[FinStar]

In the letter you received 2 months ago, what other reasons were listed besides the excessive inquiries?

I would agree with the others that 6+ months could improve your chances as long as your utilization gets to an optimal level and you abstain from applying during that timeframe. Otherwise, you'll be ambushed again 😁

[Anonymous]

In my personal experience Citi has proven to be a fickle creature. When my credit was in the tank they hounded me with pre-approvals for the DC card. I finally relented and received a $700 SL. My credit wasn't the greatest so I completely understood the limit and it became my daily driver. As my credit scores increased and I was being granted much higher limits Citi wouldn't budge on that limit. It was almost at the one year mark before I received a whopping $500 CLI.

In the meantime I has been helping my mother repair her credit and Citi saw fit to give her a limit of 3K even though her reports were worse than mine at the time. I guess my point is that there seems to be no real consistancy with how Citi views an applicant. They may love you from the get-go or they may shun you for a longer period of time than you deem to be warranted.

[Anonymous]

The only reason was too many inquiries. 

My score sits around 725 right now. By the time I app for CITIBANK again, it should be closer to high 700s due to low utilization.

I recently requested a CLI with BOFA and CAPITAL ONE. Was this a bad move? Would this reset my gardening time? 

[Anonymous]

I would just wait it out at his point; the longer/stronger the record the more likely they'll approve it. 

[Anonymous]

+1   as everyone else has said 6 months no new inq's/accts seems to be the minimum to get in.   You can always check Citi pre-approvals too. 

[soccrstar]

Citi seems to be inquiry sensitive. 

Some years ago I had applied for citi secured card and got denied for excessive inquiries (had like 40+).

I had gardened for 2 years and all inquiries fell off. had 0 on my report. applied for citi secured and boom got approved. since then It has unsecured! still with paltry useless 200 limit that they won't budge on. from what I've gathered I'll be better off applying for a new citi card if I want a higher limit.