lexdevil

Hilarious but kind of annoying. I don't think I've ever been turned down for a credit card by anyone before. My credit rating ranges from 825 to 850, depending on the bureau. I pay off my balances in full each month (I know this can be a negative). I've got about $97K credit available across 5 Chase cards. That's less than half of our annual income. I don't churn. All of these accounts have been open for ages. This was my first card application since opening my CSR in 2016.

As my work travel is probably not going to start up again until early 2021 (at the soonest), I've been thinking hard about my two main cards (CSR and the old United Club Card). I recently canceled my Southwest card, as I don't see myself using it again. I still have a rarely used IHG card and the old United Signature card. I also have the older Marriott card (that still gives elite night credit for spend). When traveling for work, I usually put about $100K annually on the Marriott Card and another $100K on the CSR. The United Club card is mostly used for unbonused spend, as the 1.5 miles per $1 is decent and I use the price protection feature a lot. I'm still using it for large purchases because of the price protection, but I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with having so much invested in an airline currency. When/if they get rid of price protection as a card benefit, I'm definitely canceling it. My CSR doesn't renew until December and the extra grocery points + Pay Yourself Back have made it worthwhile in the short term, despite the lack of travel.

I was looking for a card to use for a lot of the spend that I usually put on the United Club card (the everyday purchases where I don't need price protection). I was interested in both the Chase Freedom and the Chase Freedom Unlimited cards, but decided to apply for the Freedom first because I know that I can easily get maximum use out of the third quarter categories. Imagine my surprise at being turned down for this card! Heck, I wanted both and they won't even give me one. Planning to call tomorrow to see if they'll approve me by using some of the credit available from my other cards. I'm not looking to increase my available credit, only to get a card that I plan to use regularly.

Why have I rambled on about this? Mostly to demonstrate that Chase really does appear quite anxious about approving new credit card applications in the current environment. My credit is great. My utilization is low. My accounts are old and in good standing. But Chase is scared. I would guess that it's going to be a lot harder for everyone to get approved for new cards in this environment.