Fairly ridiculous GEMB practice I discovered

Anonymous · ‎04-11-2012

I'll try to make this fairly short but it's a word of warning to anyone who travels extensively out of the US (I am out of the country about 340 days a year, I live on the road).

Basically, don't apply for credit cards (especially with GEMB) online from a foreign IP address. What happened to me was I applied for an Amazon store card (provided by GE Money Bank) from my work laptop while in Dubai, using all my correct US address and information. Much to my surprised I was immediately declined (I haven't been declined for a credit card since I was starting college about a decade or more ago). They said I would receive an email (the electronic version of the ubiquitous denial letter I suppose) within 4 days.

Here is all the letter said:

"The request was judgmentally reviewed and denied for the following reason(s):

HIGH RISK SOURCE OF APPLICATION"

Okay fine, I figured this had to do with the Dubai IP. Well after a total of about 45 minutes on the phone (using various numbers including the Back Door numbers found here), I figure out yes, the application was immediately denied, i.e. not put under review, and all I can do is reapply in 30 days. Alright, I can live with that (although not happy). HOWEVER, they claimed that this denial will result in a hard credit pull! Are you kidding me? They never even ran my credit, just denied it immediately via a computer mismatch of IP addresses. How is this right?!

In any case, just a word of warning for those of you who travel for a living. I don't think I will be reapplying once I am in the US for this card and subjecting myself to another hard pull of my credit, despite the fact that I would undoubtedly be approved given my credit history.

Hopefully this helps someone else in the future.

flowfaster · ‎04-11-2012

Have you tried calling in to explain your situation?

Amex BCP/BC/Zync - Amex Business GR - Barclays NFL Visa Sig 49ers/Arrival - BoA BBR - Cap 1 Quicksilver - Citi Forward/Preferred - Chase Amazon/Freedom/Ink Plus - Discover IT - Fidelity Amex - GECRB Amazon/Walmart - PenFed PRV - Target - USAA Amex - US Bank CASH+/Club Carlson

logan_720 · ‎04-11-2012

Either way, you authorized them to access your credit. By hitting "submit" you gave them the okay to go ahead ahd pull your report.

Anonymous · ‎04-11-2012

Just got off the phone with them 30 minutes ago. Not sure what else I can do, they say the application was flat rejected therefore not in the system for them to modify. Obviously I don't think they have any control on whether it hits my credit as a hard pull either, everything is so automated these days.

Unless you can suggest a number I haven't tried, I already tried the usual customer service number as well as the number in the back door numbers thread, and the number those people gave me for the verification department.

Not sure what else I can do.

trumpet-205 · ‎04-11-2012

Do you know for sure it is a hard pull?

Anonymous · ‎04-11-2012

No, you're right, I absolutely authorized them to pull my credit...my point is I don't think they even did pull my credit, they immediately rejected based on the IP address. To me, this is not an acceptable practice. Just telling my mortgage broker than I want to get a loan doesn't immediately hit my credit if he decides not to do business with me for whatever reason before he pulls a bureau inquiry.

The easy answer is just don't apply for credit cards from a foreign IP address. All I had to do was do a remote desktop to my computer at home and apply from there and it would have been fine.

Anonymous · ‎04-11-2012

They were adamant that it was, but I admit until I pull a report I won't know 100% that it was a hard pull. They seemed pretty certain about it. I asked several times because I was pretty upset about it.

trumpet-205 · ‎04-11-2012

@Anonymous wrote:
No, you're right, I absolutely authorized them to pull my credit...my point is I don't think they even did pull my credit, they immediately rejected based on the IP address. To me, this is not an acceptable practice. Just telling my mortgage broker than I want to get a loan doesn't immediately hit my credit if he decides not to do business with me for whatever reason before he pulls a bureau inquiry.

The easy answer is just don't apply for credit cards from a foreign IP address. All I had to do was do a remote desktop to my computer at home and apply from there and it would have been fine.

A valuable lesson is learned.

mikka1 · ‎04-11-2012

Hmm.. I had a somewhat similar experience with GEMB, but I never linked it to the fact I was using a foreign IP address.

Once I requested 2 AU cards to my JCP account when I was in a trip to Russia, and my access to the online banking was immediately blocked after that. I called the number on the card, but they told me nothing about IP addresses or anything, just asked me to verify 4-digits of my social and confirm the fact I actually ordered those cards. After that my access has been immediately restored.

In my wallet now: ~~Amex PRG NPSL~~, Amex BCE ~~$15k~~ $17k (thanks to recent CLI), Chase Freedom 11k, CSP $6k, Chase United ME $5k, Citi Dividend $5.6k, Discover It $4.5k and a handful of other cards...
TU Dec 2013 - 752~~Sep 2013 - 764 - new all time maximum~~
Obsolete data aboveCurrent TU - probably around ~810, only using a few Chase & BofA cards now, not applying for much until we buy a house

learnin113 · ‎04-11-2012

I agree with everything GE did here but I wish they would block you from applying via a non US IP address period to spare you the hard pull and the subsequent headache. Credit fraud from non US sources is a huge problem. I mean huge...so I'm glad of all the precautions they take...especially with Amazon when you dont even need the physical card to use the account.