jas0n

Today, I got a surprising call from my GF after she got denied a Chase Southwest Premier Business Credit Card after calling the reconsideration line. She applied for the Chase SW biz/personal card Oct. 2013 and got denied for just the biz card after a recon line call. In 2013 the reasons were: business too new, history with chase too short. It has been 7 months since then, and her wedding decoration/favor business has generated some revenues.

The call started off fairly standard with a positive attitude. The CSR gentleman tells her her app has not yet been reviewed and they can go over it now. He then puts her on a slight hold to look it over…this is where it got intense.

When he came back to the line, he mentioned the recurring visits to CVS. He slowly went through each CVS charge, which were either ~$500 or ~$1000 because I had been purchasing vanilla reloads (VRs) using my authorized user card. At first, my GF was confident in responding that she was purchasing gift cards, like Amazon, which she used to purchase wedding supplies for her wedding decoration business (at this point the CSR did not ask about her business). Understandably, this is not the greatest response, esp. because she did not mention she was doing this to separate her finances (a legitimate reason for her to apply for a biz card). The CSR continued down the line and interrogated her about what she purchased on each and every date she charged at CVS. My GF responded with other responses such as buying Visa gift cards for wedding gifts. He asked if she went to “that many weddings” (we did indeed go to at least 5 weddings this past year), and she said “yes.” As he went down the line, my GF ran out of things to answer with and said, “It’s hard to remember all of this so I don’t remember specifically for that date.” They were on charges a few week priors at this point and the CSR said she surely should be able to remember these recent charges (OK, I guess that’s fair). The CSR also commented about the time I purchased one VR at two adjacent stores because of stock. My GF, at this point, felt defeated and offended because she was being questioned and judged so critically. The CSR also asked why she charged $2000 days (3/31) “before CVS stopped allowing the purchase of reloadable cards with credit cards” and if she was “paying back her chase credit card with these” (wow, that’s new). She never admitted to this.

Then, the call wrapped. The CSR said that she cannot be accepted today because her history with chase is too short (again?!) and her business is too new (again?!). She asked if she could transfer some of her 12k CL from her personal because she is not looking for a large limit, just another card to organize her finances. No Dice. The CSR never directly asked about her business; she had to bring it up while he was interrogating her about her CVS trips. A few notes: I started VRs in January with 2.5K in Jan, 1k Feb, 2k March, 2k Apr. This is her daily spender with tons of other charges, most being under 100 besides a few monthly Amazon Payments in the hundreds.

I am extremely surprised about the contents of this call. I understand the nature of this field, but was this call really justified or an invasion of privacy on personal expenditures?! Was this CSR trying to pick a bone with my GF? Should we try another CSR? I can’t imagine the CSR’s application notes saying “dishonest about spending” or “buying too many VRs.” Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you for reading!

thehawk75

I'd suggest just letting this be, lest you'll next be contributing to this thread:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...ur-points.html

spear76

Chase has just been a little more stringent on approving BC in the past few months. I had a similar experience with the CSR, but really it's no big deal. He denied me for a SW BC, so I applied for a 2nd SW personal card and got approved.

Just move on, nothing to see there.

mrmandel

A week after a similar interrogation on an Ink app all my Chase accounts were closed. I had a total of 5 Vanilla card purchases across 2 personal accounts going back 6 or 7 months.

Lumpylump76

When you uses credit card, you are willingly releasing information on where you were at the time of spend, what store you were at, and how much you spend. You are also asking the bank to loan you money for that spend. Some stores can even send the bank the exact items you purchased. How is this an invasion of privacy? If you are truly concerned about privacy, you probably should stick to cash transactions.

jas0n

Thanks all for the replies.

spear76: Did you try another CSR? My GF has yet to get a business card, let alone a second Chase card. Trying for an auto-approve on the next SW personal plus 50k offer sounds very good right now...

mrmandel: Sorry to hear that...I guess I just have to wait and see.

Lumpylump76: I've been in the game for awhile, so I am well aware and not worried about my data being collected. I meant to just comment on the context of a recon call.

KennyBSAT

Chase business has also denied me twice after giving me an Ink Bold card a year ago, but my wife got two business cards with a newer, smaller business. The only difference? She never called in. Neither were instantly approved, but both were approved after 10 days or so. And every 2 weeks or so they send her a 'targeted' 50K Ink Plus offer in the mail. I don't think I will proactively call Chase business in the future.

skitch23

FWIW just as a data point, I too was denied for a Chase Biz card in Feb (too new of a Biz). Rep told me to try back in 12 months. I think they just like to see a stabilized business which is probably a reaction to the thousands of people in recent years claiming that selling 5 things on ebay is a profitable business. You can thank Mr Circles & Arrows et al for that.

PaulMSN

I don't think so. I don't think you have any proof of your claim of "thousands of people in recent years claiming that selling 5 things on ebay is a profitable business". Sounds completely made up to me.

OP, I think rocking the boat is not always a good idea. I never call for reconsideration -- I just apply again later, and it seems to work. I fill out the forms for business cards with current and honest information, and I've gotten 4 business cards so far -- one after a previous rejection -- and one other rejection that I haven't yet revisited.

If you have an excellent credit score and a reasonable credit history, then calling reconsideration makes sense, otherwise you're taking the chance that they'll look more closely.

rjs11

jas0n: That was quite the interrogation your gf had! Was that card mainly used for VR purchases? Did you mix in normal purchases?

I was rejected a few weeks ago by Chase Biz for the first time. I applied for an Ink card and was previously 2/2 on biz apps. I purchased maybe $2k worth of VRs a few months ago on one of those cards, but the CSR never asked about those purchases. Instead, I was mainly asked about why I had 10 cc apps in the past 12 months and why I had 2 other cc apps from that day as well. Eventually I was denied because "2 cards are sufficient" for my business. Tried a second CSR and failed again. Offering to close one of my other biz accounts and transfer the credit limit didn't work.

skitch23

Not IMO.... considering how many followers he has and the same for the other bloggers, I'm confident that they've reeled in several thousand people. And I wasn't necessarily specifying ebay, just naming it as an example of a "trivial" business operation. They are just pumping their affiliate links anyway they can... no big deal.

From MMS:

PaulMSN

Except you don't actually need to have a business at all to apply for and receive business CCs. You don't even really have to pretend to -- just fill out the form and wait. I don't see how this information from blogs makes any difference.

You're stretching logic to a breaking point in your need to blame the bloggers. "...probably a reaction to the thousands of people..." is unlikely as a reason for this particular denial or for any denial.

Churnman

Chase has been more strict in the last 6 months than has been experienced in many years when it comes to applying for a business cc. They certainly don't seem eager to give out credit right now even to legitimate businesses.

jacobsta811

I was just denied Monday for a Chase United Explorer Biz (called in to approve). They didn't say anything about vanilla reloads/CVS (I had none of that on my chase biz cards, and only a handful on chase personal). More worried about new accounts/why so aggressively applying for credit. When they denied me said something about wanting the business to have more history, etc, but that is clearly boilerplate - my business is incorporated, 9 years old, and earns not quite 6 figures a year. Definitely seem to be tougher than before when I got my Ink bold, and way tougher than the personal side who instant approved me for a card like 40 days ago.

WheelsFirst

This sounds like a case of one CSR who probably reads blogs and forums wanting to call someone out on MS rather than a formal Chase concern at this point.