Both Discover apps denied. I called regarding what the reason was. (in case this helps anyone)

Discover personal rep simply said they were not willing to extend me more credit because of the $12k line I currently have on a card. She said it doesn't help that my utilization is >50% on it. (this is a 0% for life card)

Discover business intially declined me based on the fact I have no business profile so they went off my personal profile with Discover. After telling them a bit about my business, they will now resubmit my app with new info and will get a new response in 7-10 days.

dvm395 said:Both Discover apps denied. I called regarding what the reason was. (in case this helps anyone)

Discover personal rep simply said they were not willing to extend me more credit because of the $12k line I currently have on a card. She said it doesn't help that my utilization is >50% on it. (this is a 0% for life card)

Discover business intially declined me based on the fact I have no business profile so they went off my personal profile with Discover. After telling them a bit about my business, they will now resubmit my app with new info and will get a new response in 7-10 days.

1 reason to build biz credit!

I reformatted the original post for legibility.
A big pile of mail came yesterday. It's like Christmas!

AMEX Starwood - $6,200
AMEX Plat Bus FreedomPass - $3,000
Chase Disney - $9,400 (CLI increased to $12,000 couple days ago)
Chase Freedom - $9,400 (CLI increased to $12,000 couple days ago)

Denial letters:
Discover Business (already knew)
Discover More (already knew)
Chase (could be either of the United Miles cards or the Business card, doesn't say)
RBS (they could not verify information; I'll call them today)

I'm really tempted on trying for CLI on the 2 new AMEX cards but I don't want to be greedy. I now have $48,400 in available credit with them. Does it up my chances of a FR with them if I have so much available credit?

markkundinger said:
Uh oh, that happened with me a year or two ago. Be ready to spend some quality time with your fax machine and on the phone. But I got the card eventually.
Great... looking forward to it.

Financial Review is a very personal subject. There are three common approaches:

1) Avoid it. Don't use the CLI, and proceed gingerly (or not at all) with BTs.
2) Survive it. Do whatever you want, but make sure your verifiable income (tax form) matches what you said when you applied. (My personal choice)
3) Fail it. Max out everything, take the money, and run. And don't worry about the closed accounts.
2. That's what I'm leaning towards right now. I was honest on the apps so I probably shouldn't worry. The way some people talk about it here, the Financial Review sounds like Michael Vick's dog is going to come after you.

The last AMEX card (in:LA) arrives in the mail as well as a Wells Fargo card with a $9k line. 2 denial letters from Citi for the Professional card and AMEX Platinum cards. Both letters state I already applied for the max amount of Citi cards.

I plan on activating the AMEX cards today, requesting CLIs, reallocating most to the In:LA card, and calling to request a BT check sent out to me. I know I can't make it payable to myself, but I believe I can have it made out to my wife to be deposited into an individual account she has, correct?

Wells Fargo included a BT check so I'll deposit $6200 into my WAMU Savings for now until I open a Countrywide account as well as maybe a Salem Five Direct account.

cyberkost said:
It's highly desirable that the person you write the check to has a different last name. If your wife does not meet this criterion, reach out to inlaws or use a reliable friend.
Thanks, inlaws would work fine too. I guess it's better be safe.

markkundinger said:
Wait, didn't you apply for 2 personal / 2 business / 1 professional card? That's the traditional "max", so I would expect denials for other reasons.

Were these instant denials after which you got the letter? Had you applied for citibank cards in the last few months? Did the letters of declination say anything about too many cards in a certain period (60/90 days, etc)?

Both were initially deferred. Haven't applied for any Citi cards for about 2 years. Yes, I do believe it said within 60 days but I'll check when I get home.

I already have a Professional card from them so I wasn't sure I would get approved for another but the reason given was definitely too many applications submitted.

update:
Citi Professional denial: "Already have maximum number of accounts allowed" or something like that (already have a Pro card with them)
Citi AMEX Plat denial: "Too many applications submitted in last 60 days"

edlisal said:
At my credit union, I can make the check out to the CU and they then deposit it in my account. Would something like this work with AMEX?
I remember reading that if the account is associated with your name in any way, AMEX will treat it as a cash advance. With most other issuers, it is ok to do.

dvm395 said:Called RBS because they were "unable to verify information." Turns out they just wanted to know how many months exactly that I've been at my address since I put down 1 year on the app. That's all they needed and said they'd have a decision within 7 days. Finally got around to activating all the cards in my posession so far.

Called BofA and like others have said, they are pushing balance transfers hard! I first asked for a CLI on the NEA card. 2 minutes later my line was at $17,000 (from 10.7k). I moved $2,000 from the other BofA card I was approved for and ended up doing a direct deposit to checking for $17,000 (89% util). It goes against my original plan of keeping a personal card under 70% but they just made it too easy.

Spoke to Wells Fargo CSR and had them DD $6,200 (69% util) into checking.

Asks for online CL increases on the AMEX cards (didn't go too crazy) and received the "7-10 day" response. Will wait for a response before doing some reallocation and a monster balance transfer.

It seems the monster BTs are what you need to becareful of, with AMEX. Good Luck!

brianLp518 said:nice formatting (looks familiar)! =P

good job on your AOR...

Thanks Brian. Yeah, I sort of borrowed from yours. Too bad the new GUI makes it look worse again.

UPDATES:
Been a bit too busy to post but I updated the original post. Received decisions on all but 2 cards so far.

- So far, almost $120k in new credit with CL of 4 approvals still not known. Very happy with the results at this point.

- Today I reallocated all AMEX credit lines to the In:LA card which gives me a CL of $45,400 on that card. Called AMEX to have them send me BT checks. They specifically said it can be made out to anyone as long as the account it's being deposited in has no relationship to me. I will be writing it out to my bro-in-law just to be safe. Plan on going to 69% utilization here.

- Called National City and they will be sending a check payable to me for $6,900 (69% util).

- Called Chase to see what was up with the rest of my apps. Both business cards were approved with lines of $11k. United Miles personal was considered a duplicate app (she said I applied for 1 too many Chase personal) so it was not considered. Will wait to receive the cards and then do some reallocating.

- Yesterday, Wells Fargo called to verify I intended on having $6,200 go into my checking account. All is now good.