Nasty experience with PNC Re: App-O-Rama

Just completed an App-O-Rama on 10/21. Completed 26 applications. So far I've received 22, was rejected for 1 (too many Citibank cards), and am waiting for a Chase business, Chase personal, and PNC card.

Today I get a nasty call from PNC. The lady says she called my work number and a child answered the phone (she must have dialed the wrong number – I later confirmed she has the correct number on file). She then called old phone numbers she got off my credit report. They were my parent’s phone numbers (business and personal) and they told her I didn’t live there anymore (I haven’t for 3 years). Then she said she called my house and said my wife told her I don’t live there anymore. When I pressed her she agreed my wife said I wasn’t home.

Then she asked why I would apply for 11 cards in one day. I wanted to say, “I didn’t, I applied for 26”. I’m guessing the credit bureau she was using only had 11 of the inquiries. I told her I was taking advantage of bonuses and balance transfers that were being offered.

She then told me I needed to provide her with a recent pay stub, mortgage statement, and car registration. She later backed off when I was able to confirm my mortgage bank and amount and said a pay stub would be sufficient. The whole tone of the conversation was like I was being interrogated for a crime rather than confirming information as a potential customer. I can’t say I blame her for being suspicious, but the tone of the conversation put me off.

Anyone have any similar situations?

I'd tell her its none of her business, and while she is at it, she can go ahead and cancel my PNC CC app.

No way would I want to do business with a bank like that.

Don't forget, the BT is fee-free.

This is slightly concerning because I was going to apply for the PNC (personal and business) in my upcoming AOR. Maybe I will move these up in the AOR list so the credit reports hopefully get pulled first. I'll let you know what happens with me.

I love the AoR. I don't think it is "wrong", "unethical", "immoral" or any other word which cannot be defined unanimously.

However, throwing it in her face that you are taking advantage of how the system was set up was not a smart move in my opinion. I'm sure she has the ability to put that into your file. The blatantly telling her you are taking advantage of sign up bonuses and BT games is only going to make her more likely to deny you the card if she has any authority. If she hears this all day from everyone you can be sure she'll mention something to her superiors.

I'm not saying anyone is obligated to keep AoR secret. I just don't see how you or anyone else benefited by your rubbing her nose in your ability to game the system.

If you don't like the way you were treated I simply would have told her you will not comply and choose not to do business with them. Or you could do like c47 said and take them for every penny.

tarcapone said: Just completed an App-O-Rama on 10/21. Completed 26 applications. So far I've received 22, was rejected for 1 (too many Citibank cards), and am waiting for a Chase business, Chase personal, and PNC card.

Today I get a nasty call from PNC. The lady says she called my work number and a child answered the phone (she must have dialed the wrong number – I later confirmed she has the correct number on file). She then called old phone numbers she got off my credit report. They were my parent’s phone numbers (business and personal) and they told her I didn’t live there anymore (I haven’t for 3 years). Then she said she called my house and said my wife told her I don’t live there anymore. When I pressed her she agreed my wife said I wasn’t home.

Then she asked why I would apply for 11 cards in one day. I wanted to say, “I didn’t, I applied for 26”. I’m guessing the credit bureau she was using only had 11 of the inquiries. I told her I was taking advantage of bonuses and balance transfers that were being offered.


She then told me I needed to provide her with a recent pay stub, mortgage statement, and car registration. She later backed off when I was able to confirm my mortgage bank and amount and said a pay stub would be sufficient. The whole tone of the conversation was like I was being interrogated for a crime rather than confirming information as a potential customer. I can’t say I blame her for being suspicious, but the tone of the conversation put me off.

Anyone have any similar situations?

...that time of the month?

well when you get a call like this... how do you know they are really from PNC?
(and not someone attempting to steal your identity?)

gr!

During the latest credit harvest, Chase put a hold on my all 4 accounts and denied a BT check. I had to call at least 3 times to make it smooth. Whenever I call the CS number on my cards and entered the last 4, my call was automatically routed to the fraud department.

I survived and even though irritated, I also felt good that there were checks and balances. Funny thing was that even when I answered all the questions in my first call, they waited for the subsequent calls to enable my accounts.

I am glad I was me and not some impostor.

N

why we never hear if citi or chase does this "fraud check"? because citi and chase don't check?

adiganifatwallet said: why we never hear if citi or chase does this "fraud check"? because citi and chase don't check?

I've got my CC accounts frozen by both citi and chase when I've been actively increasing their share in my CC portfolio. Took couple of calls to un-freeze.
Goes with the territory.

CrazyRus said:

Don't know about "fraud checks", but IMO Chase has THE BEST fraud prevention department. Once I've had CC # stolen, they somehow figured it out, cancelled the card, called me right away and overnighted a new card. They also called a couple of times after that when there was too much activity on any account just to check in (we're talking over 3K a day). These guys are good!

Discover is also quite good. Back in the day when one could use CCs to buy I-bonds, I used my discover to purchase around 3k of bonds. Around 60 *seconds* later I got a call from discover to verify that I had indeed made the transaction.

When I did my wife's mini-AOR recently had no problem with PNC even though it was one of the last of about 15 different applications.

Funnily enough HSBC phoned a couple of times and wrote wanting paystubs, income proof etc and frankly at that point I already had enough cards not to be too worried about not getting that one. Plus although I can impersonate my wife on the phone I can't always be bothered. I figured they'd just give up and reject the application but, no, in came a card with a $5k limit. I guess if I'd have sent in proof of income the CL would have been more like the 15-20k ones the other cards had.

I just did two PNC cards in my AOR.

The first was the personal card and it was near the top - instant approval. The next was the business card which was around 2/3 of the way through. I was deferred, so don't know what will happen with that one.

My suggestion is to do PNC at the front of the AOR and possibly avoid problems.

Bump on this one...I applied for the pnc card and got a letter asking me to call and talked to their rep. They asked why I was applying for so many cards and said that I was starting a new business and needed the purchasing power...they ended up saying "ok" and I would get my new card in a week or so...Actually were quite pleasant...man, I need to let some of my accounts age

PNC is an elan administered card, which is an affiliate of US Bank.
US bank was the only bank that called me during my last AOR, they seemed to have a problem with me having a PMB as my home address.
I gave them another address, which was on my reports also, and they were ok with it.

Chase credit card and checking account fraud departments are separate.

Slightly OT, but since we've got a few people with actual PNC experience here ... Do they send BT checks which one can write out to self? Do they ACH to checking or BT to ceck card? Thanks beforehand for the info.

mbaker4096 said: Convenience checks will be sent. Be patient.
They take a really long time, like 3-4 weeks. If you have another card to wash it through, call them up, and have them send a BT check directly. That will cut the waiting time in half.

ILikeDollars said: CrazyRus said:

Don't know about "fraud checks", but IMO Chase has THE BEST fraud prevention department. Once I've had CC # stolen, they somehow figured it out, cancelled the card, called me right away and overnighted a new card. They also called a couple of times after that when there was too much activity on any account just to check in (we're talking over 3K a day). These guys are good!

Yeah, they are vigilant, and it irritates the @#$% out of me. For some reason my spending patterns always trigger these account freezes and fraud verification BS. Then, when I'm irritated that my card was declined when trying to make a purchase, they expect me to thank them for the inconvenience. I always ask them to note my account that I never want my account frozen for any reason - and of course they tell me they will take whatever action they think is appropriate. The CC companies don't do this stuff because they are looking out for you - they know that legally you aren't responsible for fraudulent charges. They are simply trying to cover their own assets.

I have the same problem. Some days FatWallet will have lots of deals and I will make quite a few purchases on a credit card and then go out to lunch or stop by a B&M store only to have my card declined! It has happened to me twice. I finally told them that I use my card primarily for internet use and that there would sometimes be many charges in one day (sometimes from the same company). I have never gotten my account frozen again.