From Denial to Approval without Recon.

Question

I'm getting married in a few months, so we've been putting a lot of our expenses on various cards throughout the year and paying them off in order to get the points. Since our original budget has completely doubled, I thought I would apply for a no-interest for 15 months CC and put what we have remaining to pay for on it, and then pay it off over a few months after the wedding so we don't have to stress about pinching every penny right this moment. My first application was for the Citi Double Cash. I got the "We're sorry but we could not approve you at this time" message etc, and that I'll know the reason why in 7-10 business days. I was a bit surprised but then again I wasn't because I thought maybe I had reached my internal credit limit with Citi and just shrugged it off. Didn't bother calling them for a recon this time. I was just being lazy. So I applied for a regular Bank of America CC where I was instantly approved for 15k and 0% interest for 15 months. 4 days later (today), I check my email and I see a letter from Citi saying congratulations, I've been approved for the Citi Double Cash with a starting limit of 7800, and that the card is on its way. Has this ever happened to any of you with Citi or any other banks? First time for me. My score was in around the 750-780 range and my current util was/is 2% when I applied. If you've experienced this, could you explain to me how this may have happened? Do all application somehow go through a manual review by a real analyst even after an electronic denial?

Answer 1

davidsawsparks wrote:
kdm31091 wrote:
davidsawsparks wrote:
Unfortunately I'll only have use for the BofA one since it's a higher limit. I plan on using it until the 0% period is over, then I'm going to pay it off and transfer the limits to my other BofA cards and close this one since there isn't any rewards associated with it. In a way I sort wish Citi didn't approve me so I don't have to worry about a card that I won't really use... and I'm scared my overall limits are getting way too high and some of the other banks will closed my accounts. If Citi hadn't denied me originally, I wouldn't have applied for the BofA card. Oh well...Well, you already took the HP, so may as well try and use the Citi card a bit. If you close it right away, it was a total waste. While I cannot predict AA for you, I can say that generally, merely having the limits is not going to tend to be a problem. Most (but not all) AA is because of excessive "strange" spend i.e. MS, or huge balances with tiny payments, or big app sprees that result in quick spikes in amount of credit available etc. If your utilization is very low, huge limits being available can be a risk factor, but I don't think a creditor is going to spontaneously shut you down for it either, especially if the cards have been obtained over time (i.e. not in quick succession). While they certainly can, I don't think it happens as often as the other reasons. Credit limits vs income can be a factor in future approvals/denials because it will be looked at when you apply for new cards. However, I don't think many people are shut down on existing cards solely for having the limits available. But I also am not a credit analyst so YMMV.Let's hope they leave me alone... because I have no desires anymore to get any other card. I have all the ones I set out to get and now that I've reached my goal, I plan on staying in the garden for a VERY long time.That's what we all say til the next enticing thing comes around  I know what you mean though. Heck, I only added 2 cards recently, Cash+ and DC and I still felt a bit nervous about it since they were like a week apart. I have no idea how people are comfortable adding 5-6 cards in a quick spree. To me you're begging for issuers to notice you and not in a good way. To each their own.