For a long time I've been doing research and due diligence on the Aven Rewards card, patiently waiting for some time and prepping and grooming my wife's pertinent credit report (Experian) to be ready ready for this Aven card (p.s. we are not churners) - grandfathering out old inquiries, getting her FICO score topped off, etc.; I even had her go through the procedural ordeal of getting set up with an Aven checking account and all its financial vetting, so after approval for that she was financially vetted (including setting up recurring deposits) and invested sufficiently in Aven to thus have a prior "relationship" prior to the credit card application submission.
When all the stars aligned a few days ago, I helped her prepare and submit a Rewards card application, while using a referral code from a friend. Mind you her FICO is in the low 800s, only one inquiry on Experian that is almost two years old, a 2% utilization on around $300K existing revolving credit, a 30 year+ credit report of active cards that long with not a single missed payment or demerit, and a high annual income (our household annual income is between a quarter and half a million, with her job as Assistant Vice President of Geotechnical Engineering of a global firm taking up a significant proportion of that, and net worth of multi millions, proof of which was sent with the Aven checking account application they approved, and repeated where requested in this application), including a house paid in full of $800K-$900K in value.
As a result of that disclosure she was instantly turned her down for the Rewards card, with the letter saying it is because of "absence of recent mortgage payment history" on her credit report! Of course, that is because the house, in her name, was paid to the builder in full 23 years ago, and no occupancy mortgage was ever possessed on the property. When Aven asked in the application process if she owned a house, she said "yes" (because to say otherwise would be fraudulent), but it didn't ask payment info (if we missed it they would have flagged it). In the rejection letter Aven had a secondary issue on her credit report notes of "too many inquiries in last 12 months" - she has zero. The only additional loan was a $10,000 24-months-same-as-cash non-revolving loan for a bathroom remodel due in a year - proof we have a house!
As you might understand, this surprise rejection caught us unawares, and took the wind out my sails. When the letter said it was an "automated denial", I took that to mean that any further Aven communication per the reply options allowed in the rejection letter will likely comprise telling me "our hands are tied" and make Coastal and their non-human but all-powerful "algorithm" the culprit (although I am aware Aven is legally just a dba of Coastal Community Bank), even though it is against their own interests of Aven as I would surmise, as we would be the least risky (regarding default) and most responsible client Aven might possess, and evidenced by the credit data they already possess (with roughly $300,000 of unused accessible credit available to my wife already) as well as tangible financial data we could continue to provide in ample supply, and as well as a prior financial relationship with Aven - all to obtain a card with modest, capped annual rewards to squeeze some value out of insurance, medical and similar payments to augment my other portfolio of specialized award cards for our household.
Lastly, I was contacted the next day surprisingly by an Aven rep, who respectfully heard out the grievances, arguments and disbelief of both of us, and who could not explain to us or justify the turn of events logically, and in turn filed a formal inquiry into the Aven review system (and for that I expressed my gratitude), although she said it would take a few days for them to review and process, She also suggested I write all these details down and email them to them (like the above data and narrative) to help bolster the argument, and dutifully I took the notable time to do such, as well as spin a positive scenario that could be gained for them in the future by correcting and noting this oversight and shortcoming in their automated under writing.
Mere hours later after her call we received another letter via email, tersely saying my wife was denied for the card for the identical reasons, and no further explanation. The rep had said she could apply again in six months (although none of the circumstances that led to her denial would obviously change at that time), and strongly pushed the HELOC card on us instead (no thanks).
Let that be a warning to my friends here (maybe we're the weird exception).
Citi:
US Bank:
Chase:
Aven:
RH:
