Hey guys,
Still new around here, but I've been trying to help my grandmother secure a Chase Sapphire Preferred card for a few weeks now. We think she was intentionally misled by Chase to continue applying, but now she has 4 hard inquiries in the last 10 days. Allow me to explain...
My grandparents were looking for a card to use on their upcoming Europe trip. I mentioned that Chase has the SP card, and it has the EMV chip. They hardly use any credit cards, so this would be their first cc app in years. Anyway, they told me they applied. Come to find out, they originally applied for the Freedom card. I told them that was incorrect, so to then apply for the right one. Well, they then applied for the United Explorer card. Yikes! OK, I realized I needed to guide them on what to do, so I sent them in the correct direction.
Of course after 3 inquiries, they were immediately denied, so with a quick call, they were told to send in address verification. No problem, they sent it in immediately. Also, they explained their errors in the multiple applications, so Chase agreed to withdraw the United app but keep the original Freedom app as well.
Yesterday they called to learn whether they uploaded the identity documents into their system since it had been a week, but no dice yet. Meanwhile, they inquired about the original Freedom app, and they were told they were denied because they couldn't locate their identity. This is where it gets tricky...
The verification dept stated that because they could not verify the identity, they just denied the application. The app was submitted on April 4, so it's strange that it was denied so quickly because of this reason. They never received any correspondance asking for identity verification, and it hasn't even been 2 weeks - much less than the 30 days required to consider an application. They could not give a good explanation as to why they didn't ask for ID on this app, but they did require it for the Sapphire Preferred.
A rep in the verification dept told them to reapply for the Freedom app again. Obviously this would make a 4th inquiry - something we all knew - but also something Chase should have known. Chase said it's fine for a customer to be approved for 2 cards at once, so to reapply if they were still interested.
This time my grandmother applied over the phone with a rep. No immediate decision. Today she calls back to learn that her app was immediately denied because of too many inquiries. What really? She asked why was she told to reapply if they were immediately going to deny because of too many inquiries, and all she was told was that they don't know the reason of a future denial, but just that they tell the customer to reapply if they couldn't verify ID. She asked for them to remove the inquiry from her profile and of course was told NO.
So now she has 4 inquiries with 3 denials. The CSP is still in consideration I suppose, but that could likely end in a denial too if they can't "verify identity." I definitely believe my grandmother was misled about applying so many times and did not receive the corret information. Ultimately she just would like the CSP card since there is no need for so much credit. But also she was pre-Q for the Freedom, so wanted to use that app as well.
Anyway, what should be the nexr step here? She used the 888-270-2127 number for Chase, but is there a better one to choose? Should she speak to a supervisor or ask for a specific dept? I know Chase usually has great customer service, so I'm confused why this kind of thing is happening.
OK thanks for your help!
