Originally Posted by
NachoHoughton
I agree with your observation in that my credit history is short and file thin. But I think it's simply because I haven't lived long enough to have an extensive credit history, as I just turned 20. If this helps putting my case in context, I am a full-time college student and working part-time (with salary in the mid five figures).
Quick update:
Today I received letters for both of my accounts stating that the reasons for my cc closures were:
The letters were, in a sense, a slight relief to me, since Chase didn't accuse me of abusing the cc programs, which I didn't. However, it still seem absurd to me that Chase would approve both those cards in the first place and then shut them down, effectively furthering dinging my credit history with not one, but two closed accounts with a 3- and 1-month history. I hope that you all can see why I feel like I am being treated unfairly.
Moving forward, I would really like to do everything I can to have my accounts reinstated. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
This is not the first time Chase has done that. In fact Chase has done similar things in relatively frequency over the years. On the other hand, it does not cause any damage to your credit history. especially with accounts with such a short lives. In case you are not aware, even closed accounts would still come in the calculation of the Average Age of accounts until they fall off the reports after 10 years (some even 20 years). Your 2 closed accounts have nothing to add to your credit history other than that it is a good starting point to build a history from your age.
Unfortunately this is a hard lesson for you to learn - for a person with such SHORT credit history, and not any meaningful evidence on the payment history, you really have to go it VERY SLOW to build up the "trust" from the banks, not just Chase. Young folks often see other posters can do this and that, thinking they may too, but in the world of Unsecured Credit, a long history with the bank, a thick profile built up over the years with different banks, often go a long way on how the banks view the cardholder as a potential risk or a reliable customer.
With Chase, one of the big no no for people who have short credit history (regardless of age) is to get new cards from them in short order and then charge up a storm This is not a new scenario that Chase shuts down card members within a few months after accounts opened, often after the 2nd card or 3rd card that was applied in quick succession from previous card(s).
As in your case, the 3rd card is applied LESS than 3 months from the first card in Sept. This certainly would trip wire in the system, even with someone has a much longer credit history than yours. A manual review would be a sure thing to follow.
With the manual reviews - once that happens, it is a matter of luck how the reviewer would react. Most of the time, the reviewer would not care to go over many factors but X it the moment s/he saw something. Utilization of up to 30% on brand new accounts with a very thin credit file and no payment history with the bank, is often a flag - not just with Chase.