Is it just me?

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I have a question: Does anybody have an idea as to why I'm getting denied credit cards?

I applied for BOA-denied due to not enough credit references, Wells Fargo-denied, but yet I've been banking with Wachovia since 02 and have 7 accounts in good standing with them including 2 business accounts. And just earlier I even got denied for a STUDENT credit card.

So now that's 3 hard pulls in less than a month with no credit extended- I'm DONE hard pulling until maybe August I guess I dunno.

Okay, here's my credit profile:

Established credit since 1995

1. I have not one negative thing on any of my credit reports.

2. All my job/address info matches all 3 reports.

3.I have 11k car note on reports which I paid off and was never late.

4.Past Mayors credit card with $500 limit in which I was never late and closed out.

5. A smaller visa years back with $300 limit in which I was never late, closed that out.

6. My current vehicle note which was 12k and is now down to $6k. and I have never been late on that either.

7. I can provide proof of my income

Now my scores  as of 4/10/2011  Equifax -782, Experian -765, Trans Union -749.

What am I doing wrong? My neighbor told me to start with SECURED card and a Macy's store card, then work my way up to major. But hell, with my scores why should I I have to start with a secured card? That means my score mean absolutely nothing...

And Macy's apr is 29% smh. Do I have to meet someone who works in credit approval dept and take them out to dinner/movie and sleep with them to get a card?

[Anonymous]

So it looks like you had 2 cards, both with small CL's and eventually closed them. That may be the issue with 'lack of credit references'.

Did WF give you a reason for their denial?

Are your scores FICO's or FAKO's?

Have you tried Cap 1 with a secured card or maybe a Standard basic card from them? My early thoughts is any cards you get in the near future don't close them until you get something better. It will keep TL's open and look better when you try and apply for better cards like it sounds like you are already doing. You need to start building up your revolving accounts, little by little.

Crawl-garden-walk-garden-fly-garden.

[Anonymous]

Hey Chris,

Thanks for the quick reply. Wells Fargo told me:

"No revolving account reported within the last 6 months,

No revolving bankcard accounts reported,

Total number of credit accounts never delinquent or derogatory in the last 24 months,

Total number of recently reported open credit accounts opened at lease 24 months"

I don't get the last 2 lol.

Keep in mind Wells Fargo merged with Wachovia(my bank) and all my banking is done at/with Wells Fargo. Even if you apply through Wachovia, Wells Fargo issues the credit cards.

Hmmm, now that you mention FAKO lol, I assume these are the FAKO scores.  I'm using identity guard, and Enhanced Identity Protection which Wachovia offered to try out for $1. And I have my paper reports right in front of me. Even if these scores aren't FICO, I don't think they will be off by a very huge margin, would they?  Lets say my lowest which is TU 749 is off by say 30pts, I'd still have over a 700 credit score.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the double reply. I did try Cap 1 earlier tonight. Thats was the journey student card I mentioned I was denied. I figured I could have at least gotten approved for that.  Boy was I wrong. 3 hard pulls in less than a month, with 0 extension is disgraceful.

[Anonymous]

You need to open a small secured card maybe from BoA or Cap 1. Use it. Pay it on time. Let it age. Dont apply for anything during the aging process. Then after 6 months or so get another smaller rebuilder-type card or two. Rinse, repeat. Pay them on time...let them age. In a year or so if all is good, THEN start thinking about going after better cards. If your scores are even in the high 600's now withought any revolving accounts you are already ahead of the game, it's just a matter of time. But you will need patience of starting small first. But as I said before, you need revolving accounts in your profile and this is the path we all have to follow.

BTW, what was Cap 1 reason for the denial? Have you tried Orchard Bank or First Premier? Best Buy RZMC is also pretty easy to get, albeit probably with AF.

[Anonymous]

You said the high 600s. Are you saying that my scores can be off by 100 points?  Cap 1 just said  I'll get the reason in the mail yadda yadda.

I may just order my FICO score tommorow and see just how different it may be.

[Anonymous]

It's hard to guess how much they will be different. I am just figuring 'low' in a hypothetical scenario. I may be far off by doing that, I hate to speculate.

But really in my opinion, I would want to look at the score the banks are looking at.

I hate to see you have to bite the bullet and get a few cards initially that have AF's, but that may be what has to happen to get some revolvers.

[Walt_K]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You said the high 600s. Are you saying that my scores can be off by 100 points?  Cap 1 just said  I'll get the reason in the mail yadda yadda.

I may just order my FICO score tommorow and see just how different it may be.

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Quite possible.  My Transrisk score is 80 points higher than my FICO score.  My Vantage score is 70 points higher.  I think you can get your EQ FICO here for free with a trial of ScoreWatch. 

[FicoScore626]

Credit Union.

I was getting low limit cards until I joined a credit union and got my first higher limit credit card and none of my scores were anywhere near to being as good as yours and my reports had a few blemishes on them.

[Anonymous]

You may not have a FICO score, read this thread:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/I-have-no-fico-score-what-can-I-do-to-cre...