Hi Everyone,
I'm excited for my latest card approval from Chase--the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I always like reading about other people's experiences on this forum with credit--it's been so valuable to me over the years so I thought I would share mine here as well.
I applied just under 2 weeks ago, right before the sign-up bonus dropped from 150k to 100k. Immediately got the "reviewing your application" message, and if I remember correctly, it said I would get notified in 7-10 days for a decision. Tried to check status online, and it didn't show I had any pending applications. I called the 888-338-2586 number a couple of times, and it had the same message each time, they will get back to you me in 2 weeks. I finally spoke to an agent, and they wound up giving me the 888-270-2127 number to call. Same message as the first number, but this time when I spoke to the agent, they said they would transfer me to the team working on my application. I spent a few minutes verifying some information with them (address, income, etc.) and on hold. In my particular case, I already have 7 other cards with Chase with about $140k total in credit lines, so they didn't want to extend me any additional credit, so I had them take $15k from one of my other cards which I don't use much. And that was it. Now I should get my card in a couple of days.
I asked why it only took me calling them to get the process going, and the agent said they were backlogged with applications, and in my case, they didn't want to extend additional credit and they would take the credit line from of one of my other accounts. I should also mention, it's been this way with Chase for me for several years now--any new cards I get are approved, but always within the scope of my existing total credit limit. (If anyone knows any details on how Chase calculates/determines your total credit limit for all lines, I would love to hear about it.) So, I guess the main takeaway is that you might be able to jump start the approval process by making the call and talking to someone rather than just waiting.
If anyone is wondering about why I have so many other Chase cards, in my case, back around the time of the housing crisis, the GFC, and even before, Chase had acquired so many other credit card portfolios through M&A with other banks over the years. I keep these old cards to preserve the age of my credit even though I don't use them much.
RIP: 
