liongate

I just applied my wife (4/24) for a Marriott card thinking it's one of the easier cards to get but no dice. She called the reconsideration line and here's the result:

1st attempt: They said she was a co-applicant on a 5th card (possibly an in-store line of credit we applied for to get some appliances at a Spencer's store) and they couldn't do anything for her.

2nd attempt: This time I called, disguising my voice (I'm sure that would have been amusing but no indication they were onto me). They said the decline was because they were counting AU cards she had because they appeared on her credit report. They asked me if I used the AU cards and I wasn't sure how to respond so I said "yes, sometimes." That, I think was a mistake. The guy sounded like he really wanted to help and went away a couple of times to talk to a supervisor but he came back and said they couldn't do anything because I was using the AU cards. I asked if it might make a difference if I had myself removed as an AU and he said it might if they fell off the credit report.

I view this as an indication that AU cards matter and that it might be a good policy to remove all AU's after any AU points are earned or at least a couple of months down the road because they could affect your application.