Store-only vs. V/MC cobrand store card eligibility

[Anonymous]

Some cards, like Brooks Brothers and Banana Republic, have one application for multiple cards. Ostensibly, the people with the best credit get a Visa or MC, people with average credit get a store-only card, and those with bad credit get declined for both.

I got the store-only Brooks Bros card, which wasn't too surprising, since I didn't have much history at the time.

My dad has a strong history, though, and he also got the store-only card. What gives?

My other cards are great, and I've heard a lot of bad stories about fraud headaches with Citi, so I'm actually kind of happy to limit my exposure to fraud on it. I just don't understand the criteria. If an applicant with 20+ year-old PIF prime cards isn't top-tier, who are they saving those V/MC products for?

[ddemari]

OP- the brooks brothers citi mastercard should be obtainable to someone with a long credit history and fico score over 740 for the most no doubt mc approval. 

there are a lot of circumstances that go into an approval and risk for certain products. someone with a 10-20 years credit history and strong profile you think would be a given for mc. but, when you say strong.... do u mean high fico, uses credit cards, has low utilization, low inquiries, very few new accounts, not too few cards but not an excessive amount that makes cards obtainable but not as the best terms... at happenstance or always. if that makes any sense?

I was shocked I was declined for even the store card when synch bank had the card. the only synch bank card i was denied for, both mc or store since they and i have built a great relationship.

citi is also hard and there are very few people on here that have this card or talk talk about it at least/ since the app to get in before citi takeover and approvals after citi take over wise. 

Creditaddict was approved for store card when it was synch I believe, not before citi take over. they got tougher on this card for some odd reason. like why brooks got tight, is interesting. 

ron i believe gor the citi mc, ron if you read this. how is that card treating you? it definitely looked like a nice card presentation and design for sure. 

[jsucool76]

I'm by no means an expert on this topic, but it's always been my opinion that who gets which card (Store, vs v/mc/discover/amex/whatever) is just entirely made up at random

[Anonymous]

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@ddemari wrote:

OP- the brooks brothers citi mastercard should be obtainable to someone with a long credit history and fico score over 740 for the most no doubt mc approval. 

there are a lot of circumstances that go into an approval and risk for certain products. someone with a 10-20 years credit history and strong profile you think would be a given for mc. but, when you say strong.... do u mean high fico, uses credit cards, has low utilization, low inquiries, very few new accounts, not too few cards but not an excessive amount that makes cards obtainable but not as the best terms... at happenstance or always. if that makes any sense?

I was shocked I was declined for even the store card when synch bank had the card. the only synch bank card i was denied for, both mc or store since they and i have built a great relationship.

citi is also hard and there are very few people on here that have this card or talk talk about it at least. 

Creditaddict was approved for store card when it was synch I believe, not before citi take over. they got tougher on this card for some odd reason. like why brooks got tight, is interesting. 

ron i believe gor the citi mc, ron if you read this. how is that card treating you? it definitely looked like a nice card presentation and design for sure. 

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His and mine were both issued by Synchrony. I don't know his FICOs. I guess one "weakness" of his application was no installment info, since his paid-off mortgage had fallen off his CRs and he bought his last car outright.

He has two other cards I can think of - one Chase and one Amex, both very old with (I believe) high CLs. Low util and PIF. You'd think they'd be falling over themselves to offer him the best card and terms they could.

[ddemari]

True that. Syncs bank can be a mystery!

[pizza1]

ALL creditors are a complete mystery to me. I got this card with my post BK profile while it was Synch, but they wouldnt raise the limit at all, which they are known to do.

So, after Citi took it over, I called credit and asked for a CLI (hp), and they increased it to $2k. I also have Home Depot, and Shell with them with nice limits.

I can't explain why some people get approved for some cards and others don't, Like me, but I also have a thick/long credit profile that helps me too, so even though they see the BK, they see all my other CC dating back to 2000-2006, plus I have 2 installments, car and student loan.

Sorry you only got the store version, but I believe later down the road, you can ask to be upgraded to the MC version. Synch you have to be invited, but with Citi you can ask.

[Anonymous]

Generally people with best credit arent going to be offered any store Card. but since I have several bank cards already for a long time they think id just use those? I get stores all the time: ( I've had my walmart card over a year and was not offered an upgrade and I was approved for a store card for Sam's Club. I got the Bp Card in visa with the bigger limit than some people with much better scores compared to mine.

I have new scores updated TU back over 700 barely and the other two were lagging behind 690s. This is great news because my removals are not on Trans Union so that one should pop up maybe 710 ish. 6 months no lowes or walart increases in chat or callin. hopefully they should make the love chat feature work again because none of them have been working for me

I bring this up because when you get ahold of the United States credit solution they have to scroll through every single synchrony account you have so they have the power to poke around and see everything you've got going on at once so while you have them on the phone you can actually have him go check out your paypal or go check out your sams club if you were calling about Amazon for example

[Anonymous]

I guess it's possible that he could have had high utilization reporting at the time, maybe 20% or so. He certainly doesn't micromanage util, but just pays the outstanding balance irregularly mid-statement and/or after one cuts.

Once I learned that the card would take two years of inactivity to close, I was happier with the store-only card.

And I have no plans to add any Synchrony cards atm. Any new cards are for travel bonuses and perks. I also don't see any point in getting high limits on low-spend cards.