Weird Chase CC Offer? Explanation needed

[ficus]

I have 1 CC with Chase. 12 years now. 19% APR. I always PIF anyway, so... 2 weeks ago I applied for another CC with them. The app is still pending. OK, so went in there to see if I could open a checking account. They have a stupid setup, it turns out. Anyway, I had the rep pull up my current CC on his computer. He checked it out and said, "How come you're paying a 19% APR? Let me see..." So, he punched in my SS#, and before he was about to click further, I told him to make sure that he doesn't try to pull any inqs. on me. He said fine. So, a few screens later, he says (and I'm looking directly at the screen too) that his system shows that I'm "pre-approved for an $8,000 CL card". Once he saw that, he got all excited and decided to push this on me. I tell him that I get these "pre-approved" offers in the mail all the time, that I could still be denied for this 8K offer for all we know. He said, "No, this offer is good, forget about the mail offers. It's on my computer, you're guaranteed to get approved right now." I then told him about a currently pending app for another CC with Chase. He couldn't pull it up, by the way, but said that since it's already been 2 weeks, I most likely have already been denied.

OK, first of all, I am not a hamster. And second of all, the guy was blatantly and obnoxiously pushy with his routine. Certainly I wouldn't mind getting another 8K card, even if it costs me another inq., but I wasn't going to budge (if do anything) until I heard about my pending app.

What do you make of all this? Was he correct in saying what he was saying? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something. Was he just trying to pull a fast one on me? And why was his system showing this offer in my name? How does this work? His approach was unsophisticated and crude, which is what annoyed me. But I'd like to know why that 8K offer was there in the first place...

Ficus
Seattle, WA

Message Edited by ficus on 09-18-2007 11:41 AM

[Anonymous]

I wish I knew the Chase procedure  but since many banks are very similar, I will give you my BofA experience.  Whenever I drive thru, the teller says, "You have been approved for a new Visa with $$$ CL".  Knowing what I have learned here, I always politely passed.  Since my scores have been going up - the last time I was in line, the teller has the same talk but throws out this rediculous CL $$$.  I tell her just what you did and she assures me when it pops up on her screen it is guaranteed.  I took the bait and pulled the trigger - she was right on the mark.  Card arrived within a week.

If I were a betting man I would guess that if your in the branch, you are pretty good on the approval.

BTW - as I stated in an earlier thread - I just recently got approved for a Chase Marriott Visa and it took about 40 days!  Yes, 40 days!  I dont know what is going on over there at Chase but I would wait until you get an absolute denial.

[Anonymous]

The offer is real and they will not do a hard inquiry. When I opened my account with Chase all I had was a $200 CL Orchard Bank card and he told me I was pre-approved for $200 Chase Freedom MC. I later checked my CR's and there was no hard inquiry.

I think they offer everyone who opens an acct with them a CC. Otherwise I don't know why they would have given it to me at the time, as my score was somewhere in the high 500's then.

[ficus]

Thanks for sharing. Yeah, that's what they keep telling me, that it might take up to 45 days. And every few days I check with them, they check the status, and say it's pending. Clearly, if I'm denied then the status will show up as denied. But they keep saying that's pending, and that I should just wait. If I get the card, I wonder if that 8K offer would still be good. And the APR was significantly lower than what I have now too.

[ficus]

ChaoticKinesis, when did all that happen?
That was definitely a bonus that they didn't even pull a hard one, considering you didn't have an account with them to begin with. My situation is different. I've had a CC with them for years, and just recently they pulled a hard one when I applied for a second CC. I find it absolutely strange that those you weren't a customer of any sort, you got the card like that. It would stand to reason that since I've had a CC with them for years, they had no reason to pull a hard one on me when I applied for the second CC, but they did. And before I applied, I even researched by talking to several Chase phone reps, and confirmed that for ANY new CC or credit, they pull a hard one, including a request for a CLI. So... Am I wrong to assume that even if they had purchased your info from another company (and that's how they had you labeled as pre-approved), it should have been policy to first fully establish your identity (setting you up with a checking account), and only THEN generate in-house offers BASED on now already identified client? But they clearly gave you a sweet deal. In light of these stories, I am definitely tempted to go back to that branch now. I also wonder that if I were to apply for their checking and get approved for that card, would I be able to close the checking account and keep the card?

[Tavares]

Ficus,

What you should do is call chase and try to get the Credit line increased and the APR reduced, specially with that 12 years history.  I just did it for my wife on a 2 years old account. Got a 6K increase and APR from 18.99 to Fixed 14.99.

Good Luck with the other card.

Tavares

[George2037]

I just recently upgraded from the Chase "Perfect Card" to the "Freedom" and they didn't do a hard pull.  Same with BoA, I have a savings with them and got their "Cash Rewards" without a hard pull.  Cap 1, and Citi the same thing.  I think once your a customer and have a decent history with them, a soft-pull is enough to make them happy.

[ficus]

I've never requested a CLI myself, and over the years Chase has increased my CL based on my spending habits. The last of these automatic CLIs happened 4-5 months ago, so I don't know how well a personal CLI request would go. And they are clear on the fact that a personal request results in a hard inq. However, I'm particularly interested in finding out how to ask for a lower APR. Is it just about asking to get a lower APR or must one negotiate with them on the numbers? How does that work? For example, who decided that it would go down to 14.99%? I'm actually going to start a new thread, asking for tips on how to get one's APR lowered. Perhaps different banks respond better to certain approaches.

[ficus]

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@George2037 wrote:

I just recently upgraded from the Chase "Perfect Card" to the "Freedom" and they didn't do a hard pull. Same with BoA, I have a savings with them and got their "Cash Rewards" without a hard pull. Cap 1, and Citi the same thing. I think once your a customer and have a decent history with them, a soft-pull is enough to make them happy.

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But then why did they pull a hard one on me 2 weeks ago when I applied for a second card with them? It's quite possible that the existence of a saving account changes your risk status in their eyes somehow... I don't know.

[Anonymous]

I have to say.. Chase has been very very good to me!  They have given me a Circuit City card for $2000, an Amazon.com for $4000, and another card for $7500.  They called me to verify info for 2 other cards the other day (because I have a fraud alert on my CRs, which usually means, from my limited experience, that they're going to approve me... or else they wouldn't have bothered to call me to verify info).  I really like Chase, and they are people who will actually converse with you when you call, per my experience.  Let us know how it all turns out!