What exactly is AA?

[r34dy2fly]

I hardly visit this forum anymore but decided to check out any new promotional offers that people seem to find on here.

While browsing through, I see constant talk of AA. What exactly is AA?

[willwar14]

Adverse Action, google it.

[r34dy2fly]

What exactly are you asking me to google? I know what adverse action means but its hard to deduce what "AA" actually meant just from reading random posts. It's easy to see it was something negative but I just wanted to know what the acronym actually stood for. 

[willwar14]

"An adverse action notice is a letter sent after you've had an application - credit, loan, insurance, employment, etc. - denied. If you were denied because of information in your credit report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires creditors, lenders, and other businesses to send an adverse action notice letting you know the reason(s) you were you were denied and the name, address, and phone number of the credit bureau who provided the credit report.

The adverse action notice can be oral, by phone, or in writing and must be sent in a "reasonable" amount of time.

The credit-based adverse action notice must include a statement letting you know you can obtain your credit report free from the agency listed in the notice within 60 days. The notice will also state that the credit bureau wasn't involved in the decision and that the bureau can't tell you why your application was denied."

[Anonymous]

Adverse Action is basically "punishment" from the bank: anything that makes the account less desirable for the borrower.

AA can include denial of a new application or CLI request, account being closed, credit limit being reduced, or APR penalty rate being applied. Some people also consider transaction declines or freezing an account AA but I think that's a stretch.

[UncleB]

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@r34dy2fly wrote:

I hardly visit this forum anymore but decided to check out any new promotional offers that people seem to find on here.

While browsing through, I see constant talk of AA. What exactly is AA?

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Welcome back!

You're right, there are a lot of abbreviations and acronyms use around here.  Here's a helpful link to a 'sticky' thread that covers most of them:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/User-Guidelines-General/Common-Abbreviations/m-p/88458#U88458

[Discover2016]

For example, when I first got my Amex BCE, I requested a CLI when I activated the card, it was denied, that is an AA. 

[jeffery581]

i would call AA something other than a denied cli. AA is more serious

[UncleB]

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@Discover2016 wrote:

For example, when I first got my Amex BCE, I requested a CLI when I activated the card, it was denied, that is an AA. 

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@jeffery581 wrote:

i would call AA something other than a denied cli. AA is more serious

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I agree with both of you.

"Technically" speaking, having a CLI declined is 'adverse action', however when most folks on here use the term they're referring to something 'bad' taking place that causes them to be worse off than they were before.  Being turned down for a CLI arguably leaves you where you were before the request, but it's still 'adverse'.

[Anonymous]

In the usually referred to AA, the CCC suspends all accounts pending review. The usual result is that the accounts are closed by the issuer.

AA can come about for many reason, some of them benign, but the usual reason is some violation of the TOS, such as MS. Other common reasons are aggressive credit seeking behavior, such as applying for or opening a lot of accounts in a relatively short period of time. If you keep it to 5-10 cards per app spree, and only 1-2 sprees per year, you should be fine.