anilyst

800-432-3117

redtop43

I applied for and got a Sapphire Preferred several months ago with a $25K limit. Then applied for Hyatt, declined, approved after I dropped Sapphire to $5K.

Did I make a mistake in dropping all the way to $5K? If I want another card, will they decline me? Or will they somehow say "OK, we were going to give this guy $25K, he only has $10K, he's good to go for a while?"

In practice I rarely have a balance more than a few hundred, because I pay my bill mid-cycle anyway.

longhorn11

Did they make you drop it from 25k to 5k? It would have been better obviously if you offered to just take 5k off your 25k line and move it to Hyatt. You probably will be ok though, Chase already has a preset amount of credit they are willing to extend for your profile. If you had 25k on the first card, I see no reason why they wouldn't be willing to go back to the original amount.

Happy

Yes, a bad mistake. Because what you voluntarily give up, do not return back to you until many months later. This seems the way how Chase operates after the financial crisis. The reasoning behind it is, since you voluntarily give that up, that means you do not need any more extra credit - the system automatically marked the maximum credit you would be allowed at the now reduced aggregated level. You have figured this out yourself already.

One would think so, but unfortunately it does not happen this way. We voluntarily reduced my husband's 25K BA line down to 10K in 2010, only to find out since then we could not get any extra line no matter what when we later applied for other cards - basically the total credit available was frozen at the mark AFTER the 15K was taken off stupidly by us voluntarily based on outdated past experiences. The rules of the game changed drastically after the financial crisis. It took almost 18 months before he got 10K back. Now the banks, especially Chase, are all about manage their exposure of risk and aggressively doing so.

Never ever give up your existing lines with Chase or for that matter with any issuer in today's environment.

RetiredRoadWarrior

I'm gun shy on Chase right now. My first ever decline (from any cc company) was 12/29/11. Had received 7 cards since 9/6/11, only one of them from Chase - UA. Reconsideration line CSR was borderline rude, citing "too many inquiries". Not even willing to budge. Experian was 783.

longhorn11

Interesting, well so far I've been able to get things done without the "help" of reconsideration but I'm sure I'll get there soon with Chase. I'd always figured if it became an issue offer to take 5k off and move it to the new card to get the signature version and call it a day. If I need to move CLs later on I can.

How many times did you attempt to call?

The_Wrath_of_Khan

I was just approved for my 6 Chase card in under a year yesterday. I've applied 7 times for Chase cards and the 3rd application was denied on reconsideration, the agent was just grumpy from the get go. I called right back after that denial and the next agent I spoke to said he would have approved it no problem, but after a denial there's nothing he can do. Lesson learned was if you have a grumpy agent just hang up. They're a waste of time. I have been approved without issue by ever agent since.

rionio77

From personal experience, I don't think you really made that much of a mistake. I had the British Airways Visa with a $16K limit on it and a Continental card with a $15K limit. Applied for a Freedom and thought I should reduce my exposure, so I dropped my BA Visa card to $5K voluntarily. While I probably wouldn't drop it VOLUNTARILY next time, I had no problem getting a $10K limit on the Freedom I applied for.

Then, after canceling the Continental card when the annual fee came due, I was easily approved for the Sapphire Preferred with a $24K limit.

Happy

How long is your credit history? A credit profile with 10 years history can take more inquiries in the same time span than a profile with only a few years history.

I believe your situation is different from the poster who had to drop his Sapphire's credit line in order to get approval - obviously Chase views the 25K on his Sapphire is near the maximum Chase would offer - not even enough room left for the minimum credit line of $5K Hyatt card needs. If Chase sees it can still increase the total credit exposure on him, it would not ask him to reallocate line from the existing Sapphire.

On the other hand, you may not have maxed out the total credit exposure Chase is willing to extend. Your stated income level could be high enough that Chase is willing to extend an aggregated credit line to be a lot more 50K than below 50K in total, so you still have plenty of room, as evidenced by the 24K line you got on Sapphire. On the other hand the other poster couldn't even get an additional 5K after his Sapphire already took up 25K.

Do you see the difference between the 2 cases?

A lot of things cannot be generalized because each person's credit profile is different - just posting the tidbits in the forum without giving any background, it really does not mean much - for all I can tell, your stated income level probably is quite a bit more than the other poster based on the total credit line Chase is willing to extend. Your credit history also could be longer. Therefore it is comparing chocolate to vanilla - virtually meaningless.

The only time that data points like such would be useful is, 2 persons have similar income, similar debt load (car loan, mortgage etc), similar length of credit history - then if they have vastly different outcome when applying similar cards with the same issuer, we would know something else is in play. Since we could not have such personal information in a public forum, therefore, people need to take data point posted with a grain of salt.

RetiredRoadWarrior

Just once. The grumpy CSR made me grumpy.


Probably good advice. Next time I'll have my thumb poised on the red key.

Decades of great credit history, zero black marks. I doubt there has been any time in the last 20 years that any of my credit scores dropped below 780. Had Chase Marriott Premier for years, cancelled last Sept (very little usage since retirement), Chase Sapphire Preferred for about a year at time of declined app (met min spend, then little usage), approved for new UA 9/6/11 (very little usage).

Now that I've written all that down, I look like someone signing up only because of bonuses. Ahah! Perhaps the mystery is solved!

[edit]

To present a complete picture I thought it might be useful to include the transcript of my reconsideration phone call. I don't have the actual transcript, but I think this is a fair representation . . .


Me: Good morning. A splendid day, is it not? Hope you are well. I was wondering if . . .

CSR Cratchit: Declined!

Me: But but . . .

CSR Cratchit: What, you got a banana in your ear? I said DECLINED!!

Me: But but I don’t understand why my application . . .

CSR Cratchit: Too many inquiries!

Me: But but I’ve only applied for two Chase cards in the last 14 months.

CSR Cratchit: Listen, Toadstool, I said TOO MANY INQUIRIES!! Everywhere, not just Chase. Eight inquiries in the last four months.

Me: I believe it’s only seven, but . . .

CSR Cratchit: You made an inquiry to the produce manager at WalMart as to whether the rutabagas were from Mexico. That’s eight.

Me: But but I believe my Experian is 787 . . .

CSR Cratchit: It’s 784 after I dinged you for a credit pull. Bend over and I’ll do another dozen pulls and spank you into Credit Hell, you degenerate jerk.

Me: But but my credit utilization is under 5%.

CSR Cratchit: Your credit utilization is 6%!!!! You are a fraud and a despicable human being. And you smell like the inside of a Russian horse doctor’s valise.

Me: You can smell . . .

CSR Cratchit: Thank you for calling Chase. Is there anything else I might do you for today? Sharp stick in the eye? Proctology exam administered by Genghis Khan?

Me: No, thank you for your time and consideration.

apk123

I applied online last Thursday 4/5 and received "decision pending", 7-10 days for an answer. Called the reconsideration line today asking about my application status, they told me it was still pending and that a decision would be made within 30 days of the day I applied. Does this sound reasonable, or is it just a line they say so that I don't bug them until my rejection letter comes in? 30 days just doesn't make any sense to me. Has anyone received this reply before?

jd1006

I just applied for the Sapphire Preferred on March 30th, got the wait 10 days screen, called in immediately, was told my app was approved pending, and that they cannot even reconsider until a decision is issued. Well, decision was issued on the following Thursday, rejected due to too many inquiries and too many inquiries with Chase. Called reconsid, was approved if I lowered my Freedom card limit to $1,000 (only use 5% spend categories anyway). Approved, next day new account showed on my online portal.

They mentioned that they have 30 days to respond, but usually they respond within 7 days with the decision.

apk123

I see, I guess I got a CSR who was trying to be as less helpful as possible...

suspire

Yeah, if I get a "decision pending" from Chase, I call the reconsideration line within 24 hours. Even if they haven't made a decision by then, they are always willing to walk through the application with me and make a decision with me on the line. 30 days sounds like a blow off line from a CSR who was lazy.

domino007

Even I am awaiting the response for my CSP - called up the CSR few times and every time they say that "it is still at a stage" where they cannot do anything. May be there are few "cases" where the application remains for some "specific" authorization before the "CSRs" in the reconsideration dept will take it forward.

Note - I have not recd the "rejection" letter so far.