Denied Citi Costco card because of Citimortgage history?

[Anonymous]

So we are pretty annoyed that my husband was denied the Costco Visa.  That card is perfect for us.  I'd trade all my other cards for just that one.

Husband has a 1K Home Depot card, but that is our only Citi exposure.  Neither of us prequalifies for any card on the Citi prequalify page, and we never have.  Other conservative banks seem to like us, like Chase, BOA, Amex, Discover...

One of our old baddies on the reports is a few late payments on a CitiMortgage in 2011 that was sold to another lender while it was late. (That mortgage is current now, of course)  Could that be why Citi doesn't like us?  How long should we expect to wait for them to forgive us and let us have a Citi credit card?  I don't plan to ever apply again unless we prequalify for at least something on the Citi site.

[yfan]

It could be a reason. But I would wait for the letter and see what their stated reason for the denial is.

The Costco Citi is a pretty good card, without a doubt, but there are other Visa cards that are pretty good. If you have the Chase Freedom, it's got 5% on warehouse clubs until the end of this year. The BofA Cash Rewards has added warehouse clubs as one of its 2% categories as well, which matches the Citi Costco Visa. That only leaves out gas, and that can be significant depending on how much you spend on gas, but it's not the end of the world. And you can get around the gas category by buying Costco cash cards in the warehouse and using those to buy the gas.

[Anonymous]

I do have the Chase Freedom and the Penfed cash card for 5% gas.  I'd just love to simplify, but this is a process, and I expect it to take a while. 

I haven't figured out yet if Penfed is giving me 5% back when I get gas at Costco.

[RonM21]

It's always a process, and having patience can be difficult. You'll get there though.