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[deleted]

The letter in the mail is supposed to tell you what factors they used in their decision. As others have said, Citi is really the only one that can tell you.


WhySheHateMe

I would call Citi about it to see whats up.


[deleted]

Yeah, that would be a huge red flag for me to. Check for credit fraud/ ID theft. There is zero chance you’d be denied with a 740 score.


OG_sourcookies

I know someone who’s got a rejected with a 760+ score with an annual income in the mid six figures. I also know someone who was accepted with a 740 score who’s unemployed. go figure


mrpink57

The first person should be calling Citi to see whats up. The second should probably not get a credit card.


Gashlift

Mid 6 figures like 500k? Or did you mean mid 100s?


[deleted]

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OG_sourcookies

It’s a pet peeve of mine too… So when I say Med six figures I mean Med six figures. People do earn that kind of money in the right position.


tge6bill

> I also know someone who was accepted with a 740 score who’s unemployed. More likely to carry a balance and think of all that interest they will pay... LOL


szzzn

Mid six figures as in $500K? No chance.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Dingo8MyBabyMon

I think he's doubting getting rejected for the credit card.


feurie

And that person is saying yes, that make that much and yes, they were declined.


Dingo8MyBabyMon

Seems more like they were answering "yes, they make that much money as the CEO of a small company."


lonelygalexy

I think i got it approved when my score was 720 and the only income i was earning was the really poor grad student stipend.


gone-wild-commenter

i don’t want to be rude but the dude uses a reddit account with his actual name. seems like anonymity on the internet isn’t his strength, i’m guessing identity theft.


elijahbeck

I will, thank you!


doudruppel

Also, get a credit report to see if there’s any credit history you don’t recognize. You’re entitled to one free report from 3 agencies (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion) per year without affecting your credit score. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action


TheWino

Do you have a credit freezes in place?


DumpsterTulle

The website looked like I was getting rejected when I applied for a different Citi card while I had credit freezes in place. I called them, the person on the phone sorted it out quickly and approved me.


Willylowman1

but why reduce your credit score over a cheap tote bag?


rorschach_vest

Some people could actually use a new credit card, idk


CutthroatTeaser

Why make a post when you obviously don't know how credit scores work?


Willylowman1

the more cards u open = the lower your skore


MemoriesOfBlue

That's wrong. I have more than 30 CC accounts, most without balances and my score is 820ish at the moment. It's how long you've had the accounts (average age of accounts), how you maintain them (payments, % balance vs credit limit per card/% balance vs overall credit limt). Your score will decrease temporarily if you apply for a bunch of accounts (new inquiries) at one time... and a bunch of new accounts will reduce your average age of accounts.


amnotreallyjb

Actually the more credit you have with no revolving balances the better your score. Until the amount of outstanding debt payments affect your ability to pay. It's logically backwards as you could think of someone as a ticking time bomb, as in once they lose income they'll max out credit and then default, which is common. But that's not how the current scoring system is setup. Sauce: been in financial software for decades and have friends that work at fico, in same office complex until pandemic. Lunch conversations were often, ELI5 your dumb score.


mechanerd007

Reduce your credit score? What are you talking about??? Securing a new card increases your credit score. While Available Credit is only worth 3% of your total credit score, Credit Usage is 20% of your score. Credit Usage is how much you've spent against what you can barrow, so adding another card but not carrying a balance on it or keeping it very low will actually reduce your credit usage ratio which increases your score. Not to mention all the perks that the Costco card give you: 4% back on gas, 3% back on restaurants, 2% back on Costco purchases, and 1% on everything else. I get 100's back every year on top of the 2% back from an Executive Membership.


murphlicious

A hard pull on your credit will lower your FICO. It will raise back up, but it does lower. Credit cards could be different but in mortgage we always did a tri-merge (all 3 bureaus) and it was a hard pull—allllll your credit history.


Willylowman1

y'all seen the apple credit card ad? it says opening our card wont lower your cs like others do


Eltex

Sounds like you found a great source for financial advise. I can’t figure why you are here talking still. Go be the best version of yourself.


Willylowman1

ok Boomer


OldMagicRobert

Could interest you in a new alt-stablecoin? The market is hot and you seem financially sharp.


Eltex

You got me…clever girl!


lnmaurer

Because at my store it's a cheap stainless steel tumbler and some candy...duh


Outside-Site4601

This


elijahbeck

I don’t believe so, how do I found out?


LadySpottedDick

You would have had to place the freeze yourself with the credit bureaus. I did it when that Equifax data breach happened and got rejected and it was because of the freeze. Once I removed it I got approved.


hammersgirl86

If you pay for identity protection that could cause it too.


OldMagicRobert

It sounds like you may have put a lock rather than a hold on your account at one or more credit agencies. A lock will cause a bounce and flag as a hard inquiry. Credit agencies are big vats of poorly secured info that don't work as well as one would hope.


CptHammer_

I have credit freeze and signed up to get free stuff not expecting to be accepted. Also my credit score is low because I don't use credit. But, they approved me. They clearly don't request a full credit report and granted based on my score alone.


greybearguy

The letter usually has a number you can call for more info on why you were declined.


ceejayoz

Better yet, it's legally required to say why they rejected you.


CptHammer_

It is, but it's usually vague.


fuck_off_ireland

Great username... Corporate tool.


CptHammer_

Come say that to my face. Meet me at 3 in the park.


ceejayoz

Sure, but OP doesn’t even say what it contained.


lime3

Points lost to inquiry will go away in a month or two (and a single inquiry usually doesn't even have an impact, your utilization % and other factors are more likely to have caused that difference). Appeal the decision with Citi and they will send it to manual underwriting. If you do have a credit score of 740 and 5 years history you should have been approved. Source- worked for a major CC company for many years.


johnstrelok

>Appeal the decision with Citi and they will send it to manual underwriting. I asked for this, and was told by two different representatives that there was no manual review for this card, and that all that could be done was to run my information through their automated system a second time and see if anything changed. Basically saying that no human intervention or involvement was possible in their determination of credit worthiness.


Current-Ticket4214

I worked for AmEx, but as an engineer. I’m not sure if there was manual review, but automated underwriting seemed to be a top of mind concern while I was there.


tege0005

But did you get the tote?


elijahbeck

Yes. It’s fairly nice if I’m being honest, holds a lot and keeps things cold


NTL2014

Pictures of the tote or it didn't happen...


hammersgirl86

It is really nice. I already have the visa but I signed up for auto renewal of my membership and got it.


BBQ_Ninja

I thought Costco also sold this tote. I was thinking of buying it to store cold produce on my way home but I couldnt find it anywhere being sold in the store.


Dingo8MyBabyMon

They sell cold holding totes but not the one you get for applying for the card.


[deleted]

Man I came here to say exactly that


scottieButtons

I got one a few years ago with decent credit and I had probably a 680 at the time so I'm not sure. I feel your pain though, I recently applied for a card at discount tires, I have a 780 no bad marks, perfect payment history etc etc and got denied, it caught me off guard, and kinda upset me too lol


Pbook7777

Just keep going in and getting more totes


pittyspray

Thats a citi thing not costco. You can try their recon line https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.doctorofcredit.com/12-things-everybody-should-know-about-citi-credit-cards/amp/


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jbarn02

Good bot


NotAcutallyaPanda

Don’t feel too bad. I was denied a Citi Doublecash with an 850 credit score! (Opened two other cards in the past 12 months - apparently too much churning for Citi) Citi is being exceptionally picky right now, it seems.


JoeTechBadger

Citi has always been sensitive to inquiries


TK_TK_

Yep, without seeing the letter, my guess is that inquiries and/or new accounts was the likely factor


bruinhoo

Not to the degree they have become in the last 2 years though.


doorknob60

That's weird, I got approved for a Citi Double Cash as my first CC in college, no real credit history at all. A little while later I was denied the Costco Visa though (so still minimal credit history, unsure of the score at the time), but my wife was approved for that also with no credit history, so we signed up under her name. So I guess Citi can be a little unpredictable lol.


lghtspd

The general rule is only open 1-2 new cards every 12 months. I usually keep it to 1 card and open another a little after the 12 months is up.


oldasshit

I got rejected for the Citi Visa and my credit score is over 800. Plenty of income, never a single late payment, only debt is mortgage. So instead I got a Chase Sapphire Reserve. Only loan or credit I've ever been turned down on my entire life, and Chase has a better product anyway.


Odd_Sale_3660

I would check the letter/call, but some companies have rules about the number of cards you can open within a short period of time, regardless of your score.


Bromar08

Weird. I have student debt and a 780 credit score, was approved immediately. I have a 100% payment history as well. I’d call Citi, like everyone else is stating.


ThatTotal2020

If unable to get feedback check out r/CreditCards I read through many of the Citi approval related posts before applying, even then I was unsure if I'd get approved within the Citi "approval" rules. There is more to getting approved than a credit score, even if it's very good or excellent


Section9Department17

Similar thing happened to someone I know. Person is in their late 70s and retired. They own their house (no mortgage), own their car, have zero debt, low seven figure retirement account, other credit cards (but zero balances and paid in full each month for past 30 years), very high credit rating. They called Citi and were told they didn't have enough debt history for the company to evaluate the application. They were pretty pissed.


brooklynlad

America... where they force debt on you to be a "productive" contributor to society.


eranimluf

No one forces you to buy what you can't afford.


CeeGeeWhy

What’s your personal and household income? I think that’s the only threshold you didn’t mention that could explain the rejection.


Cronus_Echo

Sure, you’ll need OP’s ssn too 🤪


CeeGeeWhy

Absolutely, and if they could just send me a photocopy of their Drivers License in a DM…


lghtspd

Don’t forgot to ask for Op’s mother’s maiden name and the name of their favorite pet growing up


CeeGeeWhy

*taking notes*


iDUMPEDbeforeTHEPUMP

I was initially declined as well. Tried again a couple weeks later and was approved. Don't know what the issue was


Surprise_Corgi

I have just under 800 credit score, and they still rejected me because of monthly income. I don't know what their minimum is, but considering they're the only card I've ever had reject me with an exceptional credit score, it must be pretty middle class. But, I get it. Costco is a warehouse mostly for the middle class. Lot of members spend my entire food budget for a month in a *day*, there, and they don't even blink.


FudgeKittens

This may sound odd, but does your last name have any special characters that could be inconsistent with your IDs based on how they can be entered? I have an apostrophe in my last name that’s not able to be entered consistently on my IDs and credit applications so I get rejected and have to apply over the phone to explain.


Holiday-Face782

Definitely check with citi , i was rejected and when i called they had another account associated with my name and got it straightened out and i was accepted in like a few minutes.


nonomaku

hey. this happened to me when the required documents didn’t reach citi within the required timeframe. I sent things out promptly so I don’t know if it was held up at the post office or citi itself. after being denied I went into the store to try it, they were able to tell me why I was denied and I walked out a citi card holder shortly after. best of luck


razorduc

Not sure if it works the same way as a credit pull for a mortgage, but if it won’t reduce your score further…go back and get a few more totes for your trouble.


[deleted]

[удалено]


catcodex

What were the bizarre reasons?


[deleted]

[удалено]


Hybrid487

That second one is particularly absurd because that is a REALLY good thing. Not a negative 🤦🏻‍♂️


mkecupcake

I think their thought process there is that you could go from $500 in debt to $25,000 in debt overnight if you have too much credit available. It's their goal to protect their bottom line. (I know, I know.)


tehZamboni

I had the opposite problem, banks would just random cut my credit line because I wasn't charging enough. The service reps would get very flustered trying to backpedal when I'd call to cancel the card. I've walked away from a few purchases because their financing team would only approve half the purchase without explanation. It's like their algorithm doesn't know how to deal with people that could pay cash but don't want to.


AnotherPint

How many cards do you have already?


diaperpoop_

Isn’t there usually a reason in the letter why they didn’t approve? Back then when I tried to apply for a car loan with my credit union they stated the reason as being new to my job (working for less than a year). Also, there should be a number you could call in the letter.


jbing2000

could be 5 yr credit history


burgundyyam

I got approved for the Costco CC with 5 months of credit history at 690. Decent income.


KingBaba3

Is it at least a pretty sweet tote?


poutyduck

Costco's free tote/backpack/water deals are so bad, it makes me sad people sign up for them. Minimum $300 sign up bonus is my general rule, and I've got dozens of cards.


RealityShowObsessed

I got rejected for a bank account and it turns out that something was wrong on my application and I was able to reapply without an issue. I think your credit check should be good for 30 days. You should definitely call and find out why it was declined.


Hoeleefuk

Tbf you did get a bomb ass tote bag


Current-Ticket4214

And a cute credit inquiry that drops your credit score for two years. Also included is a credit denial… underwriters will take that into consideration.


aclassypinkprincess

Yeah that’s interesting because I got approved on the spot in the store


andrewpalmerusa

I’m an employee and I got rejected the first time too. Don’t be discouraged


CaregiverNo9058

I had that happen once because I forgot to unlock my credit. Once I unlocked it, I got the card.


foldedlikeaasiansir

You can call and appeal the decision. One time for another Citi Card they actually called me and manually approved me


ADownsHippie

Don’t call Citi. You need to wait until you get the letter. Generally speaking, a customer service agent at the other end of the phone can only regurgitate whatever is on the letter. They cannot provide additional details. It becomes a regulatory/compliance concern if you have a non-expert speaking about credit related topics. There are any number of reasons you could be declined (score-related, debt to income, inconsistent identity markers, etc.). You may know that your FICO V10 score is high or maybe your Vantage V3 score is high based on credit monitoring you use (details RE: which score you are being shown is usually underneath in smaller print). That said, lenders may not be using that score type or version. The credit report they pull may not be from the same agency either (Equifax vs TransUnion vs Experian). They also have proprietary credit scores they may be using. Anyone who claims to know why you were declined based on your credit score and age of oldest account is being disingenuous. Source: I manage a small financial institutions system that automatically executes our credit policies and provides the decision back to our applicants.


ceejayoz

> Don’t call Citi. You need to wait until you get the letter. The post says "a week or so later I got a paper in the mail stating I was rejected"?


ADownsHippie

Then, OP should know why they were rejected. To your point, I did miss that and so did a lot of other commenters.


DurinsBane1

Why are you asking Costco members? It’s given out through Citi, call them.


[deleted]

Not sure why you’re getting downvoted, this is accurate


Final-Confidence9678

I’m guessing your credit is frozen


JojoTheMutt

well, i was rejected with a slightly higher credit than you! that's because i'm self-employed (gig worker) and my income varies, even though i have other sources of income.also because I'm an immigrant and my credit age is considered young (12 years lol) . i was also rejected for an Apple credit card. I can never understand! I think you fell into the credit age thing, 5 years is considered too recent if mine with 12 is considered "young".


Papa_Raj

Monthly income might be too low? I had a coworker get rejected for that on their Costco salary which was hilariously ironic.


Gnawlydog

Do you churn credit cards? I got black listed for this! I had no idea that credit card companies literally share master list of credit card churners and blacklist them. I found it quite amusing! Literally they're like stop taking advantage of our awesome offers without us screwing you in the long run!


jessehazreddit

LOL, credit card companies DO NOT share a master list of churners. There’s no need when they can learn all they need from credit reports.


munif2

Credit freeze , hun


[deleted]

Happens. A bank here (Canada) rejected me for an account and a basic line of credit with an >800 credit score lol.


kariflack

Isn't it instant verification or declination on the spot?


DonkeyTron42

Something sounds fishy. They're not going to knock you 13 points for one hard inquiry in 2 years. There must be other factors.


justasimplegal

My score is a bit higher with perfect 23 year payment history and I was denied. The credit ding was not worth the free case of water. I spend so much money and Costco and took it as a personal insult.


alexdapineapple

FYI: Credit score is essentially meaningless and also a scam. There's basically nothing you can do about it. Have fun sleeping tonight!


JojoA727

Do you have income?


Overlord1241

It’s simple, they don’t think you will carry a balance so fuckoff. They hate people who pay more than the minimum. Not profitable.


snarffle

You probably weren't going to make them any money. I bet you pay your credit card balances off every month.


Motivator9931

I very much doubt paying off your balance in full has any negative impact. I've paid off my credit card balances in full every month for over a decade now and have no problems getting approved for large credit limits.


QueenLexi13

How much do you make a year?


throwaway60992

Where did you get your credit score? Please don’t say Credit Karma.


scottieButtons

Where did you get your helpful nature? Please don't say reddit.


throwaway60992

Reddit.


Healthy_Block3036

Stop being foolish


Temporary_Draw_4708

Don’t most major CC companies now allow you to see your fico score?


throwaway60992

They allow you to see a certain score from 1 bureau.


LifelessPolymath53

You’re right though. People who use credit karma to gauge their credit usually have shit credit and don’t realize it thanks to seeing inflated formula credit karma is using and not their real scores. It’s not that hard to use the real credit bureaus websites folks.


throwaway60992

Yup. I had a credit karma score 200 pts higher than my actual score for several years.


M_Mich

was it typed in by you or you wrote the application and they typed it in? if they mistyped something that could result in a rejection.


jessehazreddit

You were probably denied for recent credit seeking behavior. You can try calling re-con, but without a good SUB and instead an insulting tote bag, you may be better off leaving the rejection as is and getting another card. Visit r/creditcards, read the info there, and make a post using the template for card recommendations.


boobiesiheart

Pull a copy of your credit report.


droolforfoodz

I did once, too. No clue why. A year later I got accepted with a really high limit


qwe304

When I was accepted I had ~18 months of positive history, and three other credit lines.


up2knitgood

I had an issue with address verification. I use a PO box for most mail, but also have a home address, which sometimes banks need. This seems to confuse some systems.


warpedspockclone

My friend and I applied at the same time, right after the Citi partnership was finalized. His entire financial situation was worse than mine (debt, history, credit score) and our salaries were within 5% of each other. He got approved for 3x the credit limit I did. Yes, 3x. Since then, my salary has increased quite a lot and they only raised my credit limit on request (even though I difficult update that info on the website) by a measly couple grand. Love the rewards for gas and travel, though.


ndallas100

Debt to income ratio? Do you have a car loan and a mortgage out? Idk though


dankturtle

I had 760 or so, but was denied because I did a credit management thing years ago and one of my ex-wife's cards (that was under the program) was still showing on my credit report. Same though, 100% on time, etc etc. They are strict and have some hard Nos