Originally Posted by
sdsearch
Well, maybe that's actually the problem. I have plenty of cards with no activity on them, but Citi never denies me any card, because for years I've had one or more Citi cards with routine spending on it. I never cancelled every Citi card I had before applying for a new one. So perhaps they only look at this if you don't have Citi cards you do spending on?
As mia mentioned above, some banks are starting to look at no spend as meaning you're getting cards simply for the signup bonus, and are worried that you'll do the same (no spend) with the card you're applying for. But if you're applying at has recent spend experience with you themselves, they're less likely to care what you spend or don't spend at other banks.
I was denied for the Premier yesterday due to "too much unused credit." The recon rep indicated that they were looking across all issuers. If I remember correctly, credit reports show how much of your credit limit you're using on any given card, so Citi can see it when they pull those. It makes sense that they're looking at other issuers, because I have 3 citi cards (one over 20 years old), and they get used every month.
Also surprising was that she was able to see how many cards I've opened in the last 7 years. I've only opened 2 in the past 2 years, and only have a few open accounts, so I wasn't expecting number of accounts to be an issue.
It's too bad, too. I was going to be putting a lot of spend on this card.