INCOMING WALL OF TEXT, I apologize for the lengthy post! TLDR at the bottom of the post.
After rebuilding my scores for many years from defaulting on multiple $500 credit cards (lol..) when I was 21 years old, I finally reached a point where I believed my FICO scores (702 Experian) were adequate to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. However, I knew I had to establish some sort of relationship with Chase to further increase my chances of getting approved, I opted to open a Sapphire checking and savings account and transfer all my funds from my Credit Union to Chase, making Chase my primary bank.
After waiting a few days for the funds to post, I immediately went into the branch and applied and was met with an instant denial. I went home and immediately called the reconsideration line and was met with a nice lady who went over my report citing that I have too many recent inquiries (was approved for AMEX Platinum & CO Venture recently, but not reported yet) and a whole other list of reasons citing too many available credit, all of which I am an authorized user on. I kindly explained to her that I was actively seeking credit to have a good mix of credit lines to support my spending and explained that the denial reason of having too much available credit did not make sense as I am only an authorized user on my wife's credit card lines. I further elaborated that I am the primary income earner and that I am financially responsible for all the credit cards. I also explained how I paid all my charge-offs in full and have since maintained responsible credit use for many years. She noted this, placed me on a brief hold, and came back saying she could not grant me an approval, despite me mentioning that I made Chase my primary bank.
The next day, I called back and requested a second review of my initial reconsideration denial. The credit analyst and I went through my report again, with me pleading my case for 40 minutes. He noted that he agreed with me and even said that he would have approved me on the spot if it were up to him. He advised that he cannot approve it but can push it through to a higher-tier analyst/supervisor at a separate department for a review. I graciously thanked him and hanged up. The following day, I called the automated robo lady and found that my application status changed from the 7-10 day message to the 2-week message. I was ecstatic, as I thought I would get approved! Unfortunately, the following day I received correspondence regarding my second reconsideration request in my Chase portal... ANOTHER DENIAL with the same reasons cited initially. At this point, I was annoyed since I firmly believed that the denial reasons were unfair. I waited until the next morning and called in again and was met with a different gentleman who advised that my application had already been reviewed twice and it would be borderline impossible to push this for a third reconsideration. I continued to plead my case, stating that the denial reasons did not correspond with my credit report and believed it was unfair. I made sure to mention that I was requesting for someone to really take a holistic review of my credit report. I pushed that I also made Chase my primary bank, further supporting that I am serious about maintaining Chase for all my banking needs. After being placed on a brief hold for about 10 minutes, he returned and said he would do his best to push the application for a third reconsideration to a supervisor, stating that he would personally vouch for it, but the chances are slim that I would be approved. Again, I profusely thanked him and expressed my gratitude for granting my request.
About half an hour later, I received the 30-day email stating they had received my application. Curious, I called the robo lady to find that the application's status had changed to the two-week message. And finally, it happened.. precisely 15 minutes later, I received an APPROVAL email!! I logged into my Chase portal to find the CSP card with a CLI of $7500! Moral of the story? Persistence really does pay off, and I firmly believe that the two credit analysts who pushed the application to a supervisor led to an approval.
DP: Experian FICO 8 of 702, salary income of $148,800, Chase Sapphire checking & $129k in savings, two settled in full charge offs, authorized user on 4 credit lines totaling $14,000, CU of SoCal Topaz credit card w/ $5k limit, Capital One QS w/ $600 credit limit, a total of 1% utilization including all cards, 36 inquiries LOL (25 of them were from auto loans and mortgage).
TLDR: Approved for CSP after three reconsiderations attempt over the course of four days. Baddies included two settled in full charge offs and an obnoxious amount of inquiries.
