CHASE FREEDOM APPROVED--then :| what did I do wrong??....PLEASE HELP

[Anonymous]

 Before last friday, my credit scores have been solid for some time (EQ 742, TU 736, EX 756). My last card was a cap1 quick silver 10k limit. Because of an identitiy theft issue and cocernes that somone may have been able to access my card, I went ahead paid off and closed the account. (That was back in January).

This spring/summer my daughter, her husband and their children have moved in for several months though September (while thier new house is being finished). My Son-in -law had mad remarks that I was making allof the wrong choices as far as my credit score is concerned. To begin with, that while my payment history and (lack of) derogatory marks over the life of my 14 yr credit history was excellent, not to menetion that I'd only had 1 Hard Inquiries on my Credit (for AT&T) withing the last two years. Withc the closure of the Cap1 card I'deffectivelly left myself with non-existant credit utilization, something I've now learned is quite immportant when it comes to one's credit score. 

Credit Karma and Nerd Wallet both sugestted that my score would improve if I were to apply for 2 credit cards.

And it was the perfect timing for me to do so because, during this time that all of this familiy will be staying at my house, I will be leaviving this Friday until the following Friday to spend the week in Naples with some of my oldest freinds (and I'd feel much  ore compfortable having a card with me). Additionally, I'm having work done on our fences and gates around the property that will take place when I'm gone and I've put my daugter in charge of kind of overseaing thing while i'm not here, and so I thought putting her on the card or making her an AUthorized user would  make me feel better, so that she wouldn't have to pay for changes or any unforseen expenses in my absense. 

So I applied for the Chase Freedom Card last Friday afternoon. I was instantly approved for 9,6000 (which I though was a random number but great). I spoke with a CSR on Monday about the fact that I would be traveling Friday. She offered to expedite the car which I received the following day (Tuesday).  I called to activate the card and I signed under the Chase log-in. I saw there where I could request to add an AU. So I included all of my daughter's information (I did put my address as hers, since she will be here for the forseable future)--I called to make sure I had done everything correctly in that regard, they said that I had, asked if I would like the AU card "rushed", I said that if there was no extra expense, why not. I also went to look at how Chase had my profile set up--they had my work number listed as my primary number. SInce I would be traveling with my personal number, I changed that to my personal number. Then I activated the 5% category and I signed out. 

I had already used the card earlier that morning to pick up a prescrpiption with out issue. 

But after having made these chages online, I went to walgrees to get a card for my grandaughter's birthday. And suddenly it came back "not authorized". I called Chase immediately. They were confused about why I was having trouble initially. They tried to verity me by sending me a text but apparently because not enough time had passed from when Id made the phone number change in my profile, they couldn't text my personal number. They initially told me they would call me back in 3 minutes. They didn't. So I left and went home. When I got home I called again and got this confuing response where there were saying it was going to take 24-48 hrs for someone to call me back. Then I looked on my work phone and there was a voicemessage from Chase asking me to call back. I call that number right away, and even spoke with a higher level person there and he did make many notaions on the account...in paraticualr he asked that they speak with me prior to make the deiciscion.  (My main concern now is that they could close this accout and I"ll have wasted a Hard Inquiry simply because I updated my phone number (which, if I had know was going to cause all of this trouble I wouldn't have done). 

Has anyone experieneced anything like this? I'm so confused I don't know where I could have possibly go wrong, I called customer service every time even when I would make a change online to make sure that it was okay. 

Does anyone have any ideas of where I did something wrong to warrant this? If there is anything I can do you help inform this "review", becasue I think there may be some confusion. 

[UncleB]

Moving to 'Credit Cards' for additional exposure on account locked issue...

--UB

[atst2000]

You more than likely triggered the Chase infamous fraud dept. Adding an AU and changing your personal info (such as a main phone number) when you literally just got the card did it. They may or may not re-open it and if they don’t it’s normally a set decision. Try to plead your case to your local branch some members had this work.

[Anonymous]

What did you do wrong?

It would probably be helpful if you looked at your situation from the bank's perspective.  Asking for expedited delivery, immediately adding an authorized user, and changing your primary phone number would appear as if someone stole your identity, requested credit in your name, then changed the contact information so that any phone inquiries would go to them.  Any one of the actions you took might not raise suspicions, but combined they would certainly appear fraudulent to a bank.

If I were you I get two or three forms of identification and head over to the closest Chase branch.  The personal banker is usually a notary and you can have them verify your identity, make notarized copies of your identification and sign an Affidavit of Identity, and fax the documents to Chase's security department.  Hopefully you'll have your account restored quickly but at this point you need to escalate the issue past just talking to customer service representatives.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

What did you do wrong?

It would probably be helpful if you looked at your situation from the bank's perspective.  Asking for expedited delivery, immediately adding an authorized user, and changing your primary phone number would appear as if someone stole your identity, requested credit in your name, then changed the contact information so that any phone inquiries would go to them.  Any one of the actions you took might not raise suspicions, but combined they would certainly appear fraudulent to a bank.

If I were you I get two or three forms of identification and head over to the closest Chase branch.  The personal banker is usually a notary and you can have them verify your identity, make notarized copies of your identification and sign an Affidavit of Identity, and fax the documents to Chase's security department.  Hopefully you'll have your account restored quickly but at this point you need to escalate the issue past just talking to customer service representatives.

---

This is wonderful advice!

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

What did you do wrong?

It would probably be helpful if you looked at your situation from the bank's perspective.  Asking for expedited delivery, immediately adding an authorized user, and changing your primary phone number would appear as if someone stole your identity, requested credit in your name, then changed the contact information so that any phone inquiries would go to them.  Any one of the actions you took might not raise suspicions, but combined they would certainly appear fraudulent to a bank.

If I were you I get two or three forms of identification and head over to the closest Chase branch.  The personal banker is usually a notary and you can have them verify your identity, make notarized copies of your identification and sign an Affidavit of Identity, and fax the documents to Chase's security department.  Hopefully you'll have your account restored quickly but at this point you need to escalate the issue past just talking to customer service representatives.

---

very good advice

[UpperNwGuy]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

What did you do wrong?

It would probably be helpful if you looked at your situation from the bank's perspective.  Asking for expedited delivery, immediately adding an authorized user, and changing your primary phone number would appear as if someone stole your identity, requested credit in your name, then changed the contact information so that any phone inquiries would go to them.  Any one of the actions you took might not raise suspicions, but combined they would certainly appear fraudulent to a bank.

If I were you I get two or three forms of identification and head over to the closest Chase branch.  The personal banker is usually a notary and you can have them verify your identity, make notarized copies of your identification and sign an Affidavit of Identity, and fax the documents to Chase's security department.  Hopefully you'll have your account restored quickly but at this point you need to escalate the issue past just talking to customer service representatives.

---

+1

[Anonymous]

I appreciate all of the responses. I can certianly understand why Chase would want to protect it's customers. I'm just confused becasue I was walked through on how to do each of theses things with a CSR from Chase and therefore didn't have any reason to think I was doing anythign wrong. In addition to that. All I did was switch my work phone and primary phones. I had wanted to set up automatic purchase alerts and I didn't want thought dinging throuhg on my work phone every 10 min. BUT I still have, obviously, access to my work phone and, while I didn't have it with me at Walgreens whenthis came up. I went home and called them from my work phone to see if that would make any difference... . 

By this point, even though they could text verify me, they said the account had been put into review. The gentleman helping me was so kind, he seemed to understand what had happened and I explained to him that if the AU is the issue I'll happily take her off, and if my work number needs to remain my primary number, that's fine too. I said to him that I just simply wanted to be able to speak with this "review" people before they made their decision. BECAUSE I AM ME!! And I'm happy to have them call me on my work number that was originally listed and to take the AU off if that's a contributing factor so everything goes back to where was and all elements that caused the suspicion in the first place are eliminated. I just want them to know that--I am happy to do whatever it is that's necessary to go back to when I first received the card so that nothing about my account arises any suspicion going forward. I did a lot of research on chase before applying. I reallu like their model and I would be devistated if I lost this card because I made some small changes that I believed were all acceptable and which I;ve been trying desperately to tell them I'd be more than happy to reverse those changes and have all no AUs. i just don't know how to get thm the message that I will do what ever they need me to do in order to prevent this card account from being closed. 

The only thing thqt i CANT do is bring my identifying papers into a Chase branch, becase the closest on to where I live in MO is in IL and its over 145 miles away...

What else can i do? How can I get the message to the revew people that I'm happy to go back to my work number as my priorty number, and cancel the AU if that's necessary.?? Is there somwhere that I could fax this?

[Shadowfactor]

I would call chase again and ask to be connected to the loss prevention dept. This is what chase calls their fraud dept.

Tell them your situation and explain you have called a couple times already and are not getting anywhere. Ask if it would help if you faxed notorized ID documents. Ask what else they need or what you should do.
Follow whatever they say.

Chase is certainly a PITA when it comes to stuff like this. I understand it but they notorious for being extremely difficult to deal with.

Best of luck.

If they end up closing the account and won’t reopen it. Go find another creditor.

One hardpull isn’t the end of the world. Inquiries are such a small part of your credit report and only slightly affect your score for a year.
Most members of this forum have an average of 10 on each report (this is just a guess but it’s probably around that number) I’m not advising this but inquiries just aren’t a huge deal especially if you have only one.

It would be much better credit wise if you had open trade lines reporting and to do that you have to take inquiries.

In the event that chase does close the account. It’s not the end of the world. While chase does have a valueable rewards program. They aren’t known to be the most stable minded bank in regards to account closures and other things unless you have a lot of money. I would go look at Amex. The rewards programs are very similar and around the same value.

If you want a cash back 5% card (which is what the freedom is by itself ) Try Discover. They are a great company with some of the best customer service in the industry.

All of these creditors have prequalified sites so you can see which cards you are eligible for without a hard pull of your credit.