wrong reason for credit limit denial

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous 

As for Wells Fargo Propel card then they did approve it instantly online with a huge credit limit and I did receive the card in the mail in 7 days which I activated. But when I tried to use it in a few days then it didn't work...I tried many times but it was not working. So I called their customer service and they informed me that there is a hold on my account and transferred my call to their credit department. The lady at their credit department seemed very strict as she asked me tons of questions and then asked me to stop by to any of their branches in my area with -(1) proof of my ID (like DL), (2) Proof of my citizenship (I wonder why this?? ); and (3) proof of income. I did go to a branch and the person at the branch did scan all of those documents and sent immediately to their credit department online while I was still at the branch. Then the credit department liked to talk to me right there over the phone and informed me that I'm ready to go ahead to use the card and that everything is cleared. Since then I never have had any problem with that account. I have this card for the last 5 years and I never asked for CLI. However, I did apply for Wells Fargo Cashwise card 2 years and got good credit limit...not as much I got on Propel one. I do not use these cards, only now and then....once in 2-3 months. Thus, I chose not to ask for CLI. Besides, I heard that most of the time they do HP...and I'm not ready to have another HP right now on my credit reports as I have another bigger plan...lols

As for your HP inquiries with WellsFargo then you got that response from Credit Reporting agencies, right? When they stated to you that its correct and verified? It is a typical response...They always say this, not only when it comes to inquiries but also when disputing any information with them. Believe me, this is their internal thing as most of the times they don't even contact original lender/company to verify it.  (Mod cut, not here, please.  Advocating or any mention of such is prohibited here by the TOS @Anonymous )

However, please do know that though inquiries do lower your score but not that much and not for so long...2-5 scores will go down at most per HP but those score will come back in 3 months, trust me. And after 4 months, those inquiries do not even matter to most prospective lenders...unless we are talking here more than 15 inquiries then waiting for full 12 months would be better...and 24 months later they will come off anyway. I know most people freak out due of all these inquiries, but after 4-5 months later these inquiries mean nothing and scores do come back by aging of accounts...payment history...etc...just in 3-4 months. Again, if you have too many inquiries like10-15 in each credit reporting agencies within 4-6 months then it would be a problem; otherwise not. And then waiting for full 12 months from the last inquiry is the best way to go.

As for one of your student cards to have closed then most of the time lenders do automatically close or upgrade those cards, after a few years later, which were obtained when applicants were in school because lenders know that those applicants are not in school anymore. So don't worry. Capital one will never increase your credit line, trust me, and if they do somehow if you get lucky then it would be like peanuts...so do not even think about Capital One. They do not even have their credit department...to manually review any type of credit request. I have had a love and hate relationship with them for so so many years...I have Quicksiliver with them for so many years but never got any offer for credit line increase nor they EVER approved any CLI request of mine...33 times I were denied for CLI for fancy reasons which were never even existed. I wanted them to manually review my account for CLI since I showed heavy actions, and then I found out that they do not even have credit department. Everything by the system/sotfware. So I gave up on them..until I responded to their non-stop pre-approved offer for Savor card. I did not want it but got tired of them kept sending non stop emails for this Savor card. I applied online with the offer code and boomed $34k..It was a shock of my life because they not only never increased my CLI requests in all these years and denied me 33 times but did not even offer any increase from their end given the length of the account and heavy spend...

Capital One is a very cheap bank but I like their card because-(1) there is no foreign transcation fees and I do travel a lot to abroad for my work; (2) they do always offer balance transfer offer with 0% APR for 12-18 months and no any transfer fees on Savor card but on Quicksilver I get 0% APR for 12 months but 3% transfer fees. So, with Savor I get totally free money to burn...lols....I don't pay a cent until 18 months....and this balance transfer money doesn't even increase my utilization because I am always under 1% utlilization on my credit reports because I have too many cards with huge huge limit....so this much debt doesn't raise my utlization. Besides, I have not applied any card in the last 12 months except one which was 5 months ago. I have zero hard inquiries in two bureaus and one inquiry only on one bureau.

If I were you, I would not close any account with Chase. You have to understand that Chase is one of the most generous banks out there and obtaining their cards is not easy. So once you already have an account with them, then why you wanna close it? I know that you don't like low limit but you can raise it thru credit limit increase request. Chase is very generous. If you close their card then there is never a guarantee that they will definitely open an account for your next time, and even if they do then no one can tell about the limit. The best approach is- you should request for a credit line increase. I understand that there will be a HP as Chase always pulls HP for any kind of credit request, but it would be worthwhile. 99% of the time Chase members do get some kind of increase which is worth losing 3-5 credit scores because of HP which you could get it back anyway in 3-4 months. I have 3 credit cards with Chase for the last 8 years...I started out with lower credit limit but now I have $38k on each of their cards. I have Chase Freedom, Chase Sephire and Chase Disney. I believe they initially gave me $12k and I requested them only twice for CLI in the last 8 years to get $38k on each card, without POI, and last time I asked for CLI was 4 yrs back. And even if you close the account with them (or with any creditor for that matter) then that account would remain on you credit reports for next 10 years for anyone to see how long you had that account, how much was the credit limit was on it...etc...etc...And, most lenders don't like too many closed accounts. Rest is up to you.

Two years ago I received an offer for Jet Blue card. Its issued by Barclays Bank. And since I have Barclay's bank Elite Mastercard with $41k limit then I thought I might get at least the same limit since I have a very good history and action with them. So I applied and got only $5k which pissed me off so much as it was my lowest limit card. I right away cancel the card even prior to receiving it. Until now that card is showing up on my credit report as closed and will remain for next 10 years...and that inquiry too...I did my best to remove it but I wasn't able to except inquiry. Looking back, I think I made a big mistake by closing it. I could have worked my way up. But I guess I was expecting a lot and went along with my emotions. Oh well...we all learn as we move further. So I wouldn't suggest you closing Chase card. Rest is up to you.

And you have to also understand that credit limit doesn't have to do only with credit score, rather its a combination of many factors- how thin/thick profile you have, how many open accounts are there...the age of your accounts...how long you have been reported to credit bureau and obviously your income. So just be stregetically move in credit game. That's all I can say. Game has to be played out slowly but steadily to be successful. You will get there...one day.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous  One thing I like about discover is I never have to deal with language issues, I feel good speak with someone who can speak fluent English, especially I am an English learner.

You are absolutely right. But I have adjusted and compromised myself to deal with agents who speak English with accent..lols...These days 96% of the calls go to abroad..The customer service of most major credit card companies, phone companies, airlines, credit bureaus...pretty much everything...have outscored their business at oversees. Every time I called credit bureaus, call always go to abroad. The credit department of American Express is in India. Even NYC govt. agency (HRA) customer service is in abroad wherein people hardly speak English. Yesterday I called United Airline then call went to India. Nothing against these people at oversees and not about their accent but  I would have preferred their customer service here in the US. But I know that its a wishful thinking...lols

You say that you are an English learner then where you originally come from, if you don't mind me asking?

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[Anonymous]

And I do not have any Citi card. I did have until 8 yrs ago. One day I shopped on eBay with that card in the amount of $900...I paid the amount when bill came out, so I got zero balance. On the other hand, my order took time coming from abroad in 30 days, and it was defective when I received, so returned it and they issued me a credit. So Citi had credit balance of $900 on my account because of this refund. They immediately closed my account citing fraud as credit balance of $900 on the account seems "fraud" to them. I tried to explain to them that I made the payment when bill came, but I received my order in 30 days from oversees which I returned and got the refund. So obviously it would be credit on my account...but they just didn't know to listen. Afterwards I never cared to open any account with them even though I did receive a few pre-approved offers from them. 

By the way, if you want to have credit cards with big limit then I would suggest you to look for credit unions. I didn't know about all these credit unions until recently. You will be very happy with credit limit with them with low APR compared to all these big named banks...

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous 

I disputed that inquiry with wells fargo, not with credit agencies.  I called wells fargo and told them that representative never ask my consent for hard pulling my credit for that credit limit increase request, and I request them to listen to the calls since all the calls are recorded.  Wells fargo did an investigation and told me everything is correct.  When I disputed with credit bureaus, everyone told me I have an wells fargo account, so the hard inquiry is legitimate.  I do not want to deal with them anymore, no one can understand a basic story, so then I freezed all of my credit, that accident inquiry will disappear at the end of this summer.  I am not angry because of that inquiry, I am angry is no one wants to listen to my story and listen to the phone call I had, no one wants to investigate an easy dispute.  I am concerned when I really have a big problem in the future, I am afraid I will have the same response.  Unfortunately, no one can regulate them about their unwillingness to investigate and dispute for real.  I understand a hard inquiry is not that bad, but for me, obsessive compulsive disorder, any inquiry just make me feel uncomfortable for no reason.  That is why I do not like hard inquiry.  I always limit myself for 1 or 2 inquiries per year, 1 or 2 new card per year.  I will continue this down the road.

Several people recommanded me not to close my chase card, I think for the credit score reason, I will keep it.  I am thinking right now or next year or later, I can get approved for 10,000+ credit limit chase card.  I did got capital one credit limit increase, one for 150 and one for 100.  Many people said savor card has high limit, I think I can try that later this year.  I like metal card.  The only thing I do not like is capital one.  That is my maybe this year.

I understand credit limit involves several factors.  I have been on credit report for 3 years.  I am trying to be patient with foreign representatives, and I am trying to be nice while they are telling me sorry, there is nothign we can do about this every time.  I really hope those jobs can stay in this country, not going to other countries, and more and more people in this country are losing their jobs, it does not make any sense except companies are paying way less salary for their foreign representaives.  Most foreign representatives do not let me finish what I have to say and then conclude that they can not do anything to help.  My mother from China and my father from Korea.  Many people said great things about navy federal credit union, but I will never eligible.  I am with pentagon, and many times people say they hard pull for membership, and that is not correct for me.  I have checking and saving with them, no hard pull form any credit bureau.  Pentagon pathfinder is my next card, maybe later this year.  So this year for me, maybe a savor, maybe a pathfinder.  

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

  I am with pentagon, and many times people say they hard pull for membership, and that is not correct for me.  I have checking and saving with them, no hard pull form any credit bureau.  Pentagon pathfinder is my next card, maybe later this year.  So this year for me, maybe a savor, maybe a pathfinder.  

Don't know what is being said about PENFED as I have not been on this site for long to read all those experiences. All I know that in August of last year I received a pre-approved offer for their Visa Gold card. I responded online. It got instantly approved online for more than $20k...and then system asked me to open a saving account for their membership which I did as system will walk you thru it. So, credit card account was opened before I even bacame member but system did ask me to be a member right away after approving my application. I didn't even know that one has to be a member first with this credit union or any credit union.This is my only Credit Union card. Only one HP from Equifax. I did not open any checking account with them. Only saving account with $5 for their memembership which was later on once credit card application was already approved. A few days later I received the card and a few documents to sign in and return to them. That's all. Since then I have been heavily using this card as I have a plan to ask for CLI in 8 months...a year later of its opening.

I have already joined Navy Federal recently and opened a saving account with them with $5. I have also opened Money Market account with them with $9k, but I have not applied for any of their credit cards. I wanna challenge myself with more tougher cards next time around like First Tech Credit Union which has a card with maximum limit of $100k and then US bank card which has kinda rough underwriting....So, we'll see how it would go... As I said somewhere that I have only one account opened and only one inquiry in last 12 months...So I will take the full benefit of my credit profile scenario...but not now...later on after a few month ...as right now most lenders have tightened up their underwriting stregegy because of Covid-19...I do not mind waiting to stragically achieve best result of our games...lols

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[Anonymous]

@Anonymous 

One more thing, Emmma...You said that you are interested in big limit cards then its is my opinion that you should wait a bit longer to get more cards except Navy Federal. You said that the age of your credit history is only 3 years then its very hard to get big line of initial credit limit with this much age of your credit profile...Yes, some people might have gotten here and there a big initial limit but those are not norm...I am not talking about Navy Federal...Navy Federal is very unique and special. They work different than other lenders. And yes, you may be able to get tons of credit cards with 3 years' age but I doubt you could get big line of credit limit unless you have a solid proof of higher income to submit for reconsideration for higher limit and still not guarantee that any lender will give you higher credit limit just based on income alone because they all wanna see a longer age before granting big higher credit limit. Rest is up to you, dear. This is just my opinion. Otherwise, it will take very long time to get to higher limit thru CLI requests as no all lenders are generous...Chase, Discover, Amex and Bof are generous but not many out there. You will stuck with low limit for good with other lenders. You have to decide what you want and how you want. I'm just throwing my opinions.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous 

If you have already have 20,000+ on your pentagon card, then I feel it is not worth to take a hard pull to get a credit limit request from them because the most you can have is 25,000.  Like my friend, there is a way to have up to 50,000 with pentagon, but not by request.  If they offer you pre-approval, then you can add that limit to your existing limit, that is the only way I know to pass 25,000, but you can not request to pass 25,000 limit while wasting a hard pull.  That is based on my own experience and my friends experience, it is always good to do more research.

I agree that with my limited history, most likely I will not have high limit cards.  That is correct.  I am a number lover, I purely enjoy seeing those big numbers, like your previous discover card.  However, I aslo have a thin profile, I need to work on that as well.  That is why I normally add one or two cards to my file per year.  When I have about 12 cards in total, then most likely I will only apply if there is a huge bonus offer.  I will not apply a new card every year after I have developed a good mixed credit profile.  For now, because of my thin profile, I will add one or two per year.  I will never apply aggressively, average one new card per year is a good pace for me, until I have 12 or something.

When it comes to credit limit, each bank may have different policies, I am fully aware of that.  But, many great information I got from here, the more I read, the more I know.  I never rely on one piece information, and I never ignore any one piece information.  Many people like you shared with me a lot, and that is more than great for me.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Last week, I applied bank of america cash rewards credit limit increase online, 7-10 days in the mail, today, denied.  I know it will be denied because my utilization is about 1%.

However, I had a good laugh about the reason listed on the denial letter.  They used Transunion data and said my Transunion score is 798.  Other scores I know is my credit karma is 785, my bank of america online score is 828.

You had too many inquiries, my Transunion has 2 inquiries.  2 is too many?

You opened too many new accounts, I have 3 new accounts in the past 2 years, 3 is too many?

Your balance is too high, I think I never passed 1%.  I made some big purchase during the account opening, I paid off before cycle date, less than 10% anyway.

You have too few activities, even though my spending is small, but I average use this card every 2 weeks, about 2 to 3 times a month.  

I just had a good laugh about all the reasons they listed on my denial letter.  Maybe they will decrease my limit since I only use 1% every month.  I wish they can provide some factual and truthful denial reason next time.

Did anyone else ever receive those wrong denial reasons for credit limit increase from bank of america?  I feel funny to read them.    

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Congratulations and welcome to reality. The reasons for a CLD or TD seldom have any basis in facts. I have had TDs claiming "too many inquiries" where the ony inquiry was their own. I have also had "revolving balances are too high in relation to credit lines" with a util of 1% or less;  I have had "too many open credit lines" and "too few open credit lines" on the same TD letter (you figure that one out, I gave up). Some years ago when I was looking for a mortgage I made an app to a bank in the county seat where the property was located. TD - reason - "There is a bank closer to the property" - I mean "no kidding - there is a competitor bank across the street from you, does that mean you won't lend on any properties in that half of the county because the competing bank is closer?" Another one of my favorites is "loan balance is too high in relation to opening balance" on a MORTGAGE!!! Nothing like the bank saying "come back in ten or fifteen years when your mortgage balance is lower and you haven't refi'd and maybe then we will think of giving you a Mastercard with a $500 Credit Line."

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous  I strongly believe this kind of denial letter is just an automated response to CLI these days because of covid when they don't wanna approve you. One of my friends got exactly the same reasons which do not even exist. She also doesn't have any installment account nor any derogatory. She has the account for 5 yrs with BOA with good activities, yet still she gets denial for reasons those don't even exist. She got the similar experience lately on her CLI with Discover, Bank of America, Citi, Capital one, and HSBC. We all know how Capital one is and never expected any CLI with them, but all these other banks denied her CLI on reasons that do not even exist. It's definitely has to do with Covid situation and I do not think these banks going to change their such practice or tight UW any time soon...maybe by the end of this year....A few got lucky, but those cases are not norm in the given situation....

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I disagree. The banks have been putting out these bull**bleep** reasons since long before COVID came along. My favorite story is with Citibank. I lived in New York City at the time and had just graduated college and started my first job. I was born in New York City, it was my home town. I opened an account at a Citibank, and made a couple of deposits. One day I had a letter from them in my mailbox. It was a Teller's check for the full balance of my account and the letter said that Citibank will not maintain accouts for non-US citizens. Wait a minute, I was born on the other side of the East River in Brooklyn. I took that letter and my birth certificate down to the branch. No dice - Citibank had revoked my US citizenship. That was 1974 and I haven't done business with them since.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous 

Looks like we have similar experience, got denied for some thing that were never existed.  I do not know why banks do that, but I do not see they will chenge anytime soon.

Citi bank is so strict, many of my friends have good credit but were denied for nonsense reasons.  After I discovered there are so many 2% cards, I lost all of my interests with citi.  I will not become their customer except for a huge bonus offer, I will get the bonus then close my card because I have no interest in starting a relationship with citi.