So I finally had all negatives cleared off my report, then had a surprise medical collection pop up.. long story short, it dropped my Experian score down to a 702 Fico 8. In the mail last week I received an invitation for the Citi AAdvantage. Here is where things get interesting. A couple of years ago, I had this exact card, however, my wallet was stolen and someone maxed it out +about 10 grand over the limit (Only had a $3,000 limit). Of course Citi was good about removing the fraud charges, but due to miscommunication and other circumstances, Citi permanent closed the account during all of this. In the end, Citi got burned for about $1,500 in charges I had made prior to it getting stolen. I do not know if they just chalked it up with the fraud or what exactly they did, but they never billed me for the remainder balance, and it was reporting $0 balance. So when I got this invite I was surprised. I thought I would go for it and I finished the invite app, and got a 15 day (may have been 14 days). I figured they put two and two together and denied me. Especially with that new collection account haunting my file. I gave it a few hours and called an analyst... He had me verify income, identity, etc. After about a 15 minute hold he came back on the line and made my day... "Congratulations, you have been approved. Your initial credit limit is $13,100. You will get your card in 7-10 days". I am honestly shocked. Strange amount for a SL, but ill take it. I also received the 70k Bonus Mile offer and 0% BT offer. Some other data points for those interested... pulled EX only, completely clean file minus the collection account. 59% util (I know, don't beat me up. This is because my wife had a large balance on a card with an insane APR, so we BT'd to my NFCU card with a much lower APR until we can close on a house we are selling to pay off). 4 new accounts in past 4 months, with 10 inq's. Reported income a little above 60k. Hope this helps!
