Citi Pre-selected Mailers

[ScarlettHusky]

I have a question for y'all. I have been getting absolutely bombarded with pre-selected mailers from Citi for the AA Mileup Card, the Costco Anywhere Card, Double Cash Card, and even got a mailer a little while back for the Simplicity Card. How solid are the mailers, especially with how Citi has been flooding my mailbox with these mailers for different cards? Since BofA denied my app for the AS visa, I've been looking at the AA cards since they have a decent intl network, and I already have plenty of cash back cards so I want a Visa/MC travel card since I could barely use my SkyMiles Amex abroad this past summer. 

[coldfusion]

The back story would be that Citi is running a campaign where they (or a trusted 3rd party) put together a subset of demographic and other criteria to create a baseline profile that outlines what they view as a likely successful applicant.  Data from one of the CRAs is then mined looking for people who align with that profile; you're getting mailers because information in your credit report aligns with that baseline profile.

These are screened invitations to apply and are not preapprovals.   The information used for the evaluation normally would have been from approx. 2-3 months before the campaign started sending out the mailers, so you need to factor in recent changes in your credit report like your BoA inquiry and utilization figures when estimating your odds of approval.    The other factor is there's no way of knowing how completely they screened for those factors that Citi takes into account when reviewing an application,  like for example a bad previous relationship with Citibank.

That being said, while these are not preapprovals odds of approval are generally pretty good when there hasn't been significant recent change in ones credit history (more specifically, from when the report used for the screening was soft-pulled to current).    Personally I wouldn't let a recent single inquiry (in your case from the BoA application/denial) in itself deter me from applying but that's just me.

[Tdatb64]

I got 2 or 3 mailers a week (twice getting 2 mailers the same day) offering 5 different cards (CC, DC, Simplicity, Rewards+, Diamond Preferred) starting back in the spring (after I checked their now-defunct pre-approval page) and lasting until I took the plunge 3 months ago. I got my Custom Cash a couple weeks after getting a PenFed Gold and my Chase Freedom Unlimited was not yet a year old. 1 denial from Baxter was my only other inquiry in that 12-month period. It was just after 3 other cards hit their first anniversary and at the time I had just cracked 740 on EX & EQ, 720-something TU, no baddies, util around 20%. All offers came with a set interest rate.

If your mailers have set rates I'd say you've got a pretty good shot at whichever one you choose, as long as you didn't add several inqs/new accts or any derogs and haven't raised your util% between your first mailer and now. Of course, nothing's ever guaranteed...

[ScarlettHusky]

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@Tdatb64 wrote:

I got 2 or 3 mailers a week (twice getting 2 mailers the same day) offering 5 different cards (CC, DC, Simplicity, Rewards+, Diamond Preferred) starting back in the spring (after I checked their now-defunct pre-approval page) and lasting until I took the plunge 3 months ago. I got my Custom Cash a couple weeks after getting a PenFed Gold and my Chase Freedom Unlimited was not yet a year old. 1 denial from Baxter was my only other inquiry in that 12-month period. It was just after 3 other cards hit their first anniversary and at the time I had just cracked 740 on EX & EQ, 720-something TU, no baddies, util around 20%. All offers came with a set interest rate.

If your mailers have set rates I'd say you've got a pretty good shot at whichever one you choose, as long as you didn't add several inqs/new accts or any derogs and haven't raised your util% between your first mailer and now. Of course, nothing's ever guaranteed...

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I gotcha. I opened a Lenovo card through Synchrony in mid to late October when I bought my laptop, so I'll let that age for another 2-3 months at least before applying. Thank you so much!

[xenon3030]

I had a similar mailer from Citi on AA card with fixed APR and still got denited. It looks like they are from marketing department without any pre-approval. It was a waste of HP.

[GrimReaper]

Hey there, 

Great question. In 2012 I had to make a deal with my Citi AAdvantage card and that was them agreeing to charge me 0% interest, close the card immediately and pay back every cent I borrowed. My last payment was in 2015 and I paid everything back. No BK involved. Well that was my favorite card due to generous credit limits and perks for flying American Airlines. Since 2012 I have NEVER been preselected by Citi by mail or online when checking. In fact, just last month I received the dreaded "sorry, we cannot find any preselected offers for you at this time " 

Well, in the mail today came a Citi AAdvantage Platinum MasterCard "Pre-Selection". It has a specific APR (not a range) and had an invitation number. I also received the 60,000 bonus offer for spending 3k in first 3 months. My EX score is 703, TU 689 and EQ 678. FICO 8 scores.

I read on here MANY people say don't bother as they send it to everyone. Well, that was the first time I received one since 2012. I decided to scan the specific QR code on the letter and applied. Within 30 seconds I was approved for a SL of 12,100.00 

I am so excited bc this was the card I wanted back! Hope this helps and best of luck.

[ptatohed]

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@ScarlettHusky wrote:

I have a question for y'all. I have been getting absolutely bombarded with pre-selected mailers from Citi for the AA Mileup Card, the Costco Anywhere Card, Double Cash Card, and even got a mailer a little while back for the Simplicity Card. How solid are the mailers, especially with how Citi has been flooding my mailbox with these mailers for different cards? Since BofA denied my app for the AS visa, I've been looking at the AA cards since they have a decent intl network, and I already have plenty of cash back cards so I want a Visa/MC travel card since I could barely use my SkyMiles Amex abroad this past summer. 

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Apply for the cards you want.  Mailers should have nothing to do with it.