Store card denials???

[Anonymous]

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@icyhot wrote:

One time I applied for an Amex and one of the denial reasons was 

TOO MUCH OWED ON RETAIL ACCOUNTS

my utilization at the time was very low but most of my balances WAS from my Kohls and Macy's card. Do prime banks really not like to see store cards on a CR? This freaked me out so I closed all but 2 of the 7 I had.

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You didn't get denied for an AMEX because you had store cards

You got denied for an AMEX because:

1) Your credit sucks

2) You owe too much in relation to your limits.  What was your limit on Kohl's and Macy's.  How much did you owe on EACH one respectively?

I had approximately 40 store cards when I applied for an AMEX with a 700 score and was accepted for both PRG and BCP (which I 3X CLI to 25K)  

What were your other reasons for denial?  That's where you'll find the REAL reason you were denied.

[takeshi74]

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@icyhot wrote:

One time I applied for an Amex and one of the denial reasons was 

TOO MUCH OWED ON RETAIL ACCOUNTS

my utilization at the time was very low

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What's "very low"?  Clearly your interpretation doesn't jive with AmEx's.  What was your overall?  What was it for each of your store cards?

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@icyhot wrote:

Do prime banks really not like to see store cards on a CR?

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Don't rely on such oversimplifcations.  It's not about X.  It's about your overall credit profile and X.  For your profile your store card balances were too high for AmEx.  Creditors are not all identical so you can't assume that every creditor would have the exact same concerns as AmEx.  Plenty of people with good credit have no problems with store cards in their profiles.

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@icyhot wrote:

This freaked me out so I closed all but 2 of the 7 I had.

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...and don't just jump and react like that.  Carefully research and think things out before taking action.  Closing those may have been a good decision for you but it wasn't necessarily the best reaction to the AmEx denial.  As stated above, if your profile is heavily weighted towards store cards it might help.

[icyhot]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@icyhot wrote:

One time I applied for an Amex and one of the denial reasons was 

TOO MUCH OWED ON RETAIL ACCOUNTS

my utilization at the time was very low but most of my balances WAS from my Kohls and Macy's card. Do prime banks really not like to see store cards on a CR? This freaked me out so I closed all but 2 of the 7 I had.

---

You didn't get denied for an AMEX because you had store cards

You got denied for an AMEX because:

1) Your credit sucks

2) You owe too much in relation to your limits.  What was your limit on Kohl's and Macy's.  How much did you owe on EACH one respectively?

I had approximately 40 store cards when I applied for an AMEX with a 700 score and was accepted for both PRG and BCP (which I 3X CLI to 25K)  

What were your other reasons for denial?  That's where you'll find the REAL reason you were denied.

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I owed 300 on a 700 Kohls Limit and I think 600 on a 2500 Macy's limit. My other denial reasons were that I had too many recent accounts in relation to total account and inquires. 

[icyhot]

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@takeshi74 wrote:

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@icyhot wrote:

One time I applied for an Amex and one of the denial reasons was 

TOO MUCH OWED ON RETAIL ACCOUNTS

my utilization at the time was very low

---

What's "very low"?  Clearly your interpretation doesn't jive with AmEx's.  What was your overall?  What was it for each of your store cards?

---

@icyhot wrote:

Do prime banks really not like to see store cards on a CR?

---

Don't rely on such oversimplifcations.  It's not about X.  It's about your overall credit profile and X.  For your profile your store card balances were too high for AmEx.  Creditors are not all identical so you can't assume that every creditor would have the exact same concerns as AmEx.  Plenty of people with good credit have no problems with store cards in their profiles.

---

@icyhot wrote:

This freaked me out so I closed all but 2 of the 7 I had.

---

...and don't just jump and react like that.  Carefully research and think things out before taking action.  Closing those may have been a good decision for you but it wasn't necessarily the best reaction to the AmEx denial.  As stated above, if your profile is heavily weighted towards store cards it might help.

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At the time it was around 14% 

[SunriseEarth]

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@icyhot wrote:

One time I applied for an Amex and one of the denial reasons was 

TOO MUCH OWED ON RETAIL ACCOUNTS

my utilization at the time was very low but most of my balances WAS from my Kohls and Macy's card. Do prime banks really not like to see store cards on a CR? This freaked me out so I closed all but 2 of the 7 I had.

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Hmmm.   What are your scores like?   Have you ever had an AMEX before?

[icyhot]

When I applied they were in the low 700s (denial letter stated 714) and no I had not

[Anonymous]

I believe it does.  Too many stores cards are frowned upon.  I did read this last year.  Major cards will boost your score even higher.  I've had a few store cards for many years & when I got the big boys I seen much more of an increase in scores over time.

[SunriseEarth]

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@icyhot wrote:
When I applied they were in the low 700s (denial letter stated 714) and no I had not

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Hmm.   Maybe they didn't like the UTIL specifically on the Kohl's.   $300 of $700 is 43% UTIL.    AMEX seems to like lower overall UTIL as well as low UTIL on each CC.   That seems very stringent on their part.   

You might want to see about getting a CLI on Kohl's.   If they don't budge, you could always try going through the Cap One EO.  

[Anonymous]

Chase does also.  My daughter had a 10k limit with them & never really used the card.  They dropped her down to 2k.

[icyhot]

I did finally get a CLI on my Kohl's and got the balance down to $150. Then I just had to finance a PS4 =O