thanks for reply. after doing more digging on FT and other websites, I found the number for Chase reconisderation and had my wife call. they said basically "the amount you owed, did not pay and we wrote off years ago" is keeping her from getting any Chase card. they said unless some payment is made towards those old accounts or that a BK is written into the memo of those accounts (my wife did not file BK fyi), she will probably never get a new Chase card. the CSR did say to keep trying/applying sometime in the future as the Chase credit criteria sometimes changes.

oh well, at least we know now!!