Sorry to hear this but I'm glad to hear all these datapoints on this situation and that it didn't just happen to me. Hopefully we can learn from others' handling of this and benefit from it.
I had reported on my experience nearly 2 weeks ago here in my thread.
Here's an update (also posted in my thread with some other updates too)) on the letter I got, steps I've taken so far(removing inqs), and plan I have of dealing with it as well as a summary of the accounts that were closed:
Ok, I Finally got my letter from Citi(Early Warning Services is the name of the dept on the return address label of the letter) 2 days ago, and the reason stated for the closing of my 4 accounts was "specifically, too maopened accounts were on your credit bureau report" , even though I haven't opened any new personal accounts on my credit report since December, and those were all visible when they approved my Citi Business PremierPass card in Mid March. They also stated that for them to reconsider the closing of the accounts I need to give them a new copy of my Equifax credit report within 30 days of the sending of the letter(April 8).
My plan for A/A reconsideration:
So as of yesterday I have gotten all of the 7 Hard Inqs off my EQ report so there are 0 Inqs on there and the only negative is that since they last pulled my report, my reported debt has increased by ~18,000 as my AMEX IN:LA Balance reported 2 months after I initiated the BT. I don't plan on paying that debt off right now. I realize they told me I had too many accounts and not too many inquiries (as alot of other people are reporting being the cause of their A/A here and here, but this puts me in the best light possible(aside from paying off that AMEX BT), so I'll hope this be enought to convince them to reopen the accounts and hopefully not lessen the lines. I plan on calling Citi to see if they can just pull another EQ soft inq or if I have to physically send them my updated CR.
As a summary here's the accounts they closed and the stats on them:
Citi mTVU card............$2,000 CL....$580 reported balance....~2 years old
Citi Professional.........$1,000 CL....$0 reported balance(though has -$23950 from other BTs currently)....4 months old
Citi Business Card........$29,100 CL...$26,700 balance(at 0% thru November so I'll keep paying the minimum on it)...4 months old
Citi Business PremierPass.$1,000 CL....$1 reported balance(just 1st purchase though I haven't gotten word on the TYP account for this yet...1 month old

OP doesn't need to be reprimanded for his A0R activities. He's not asking for sympathy - he's warning us about his experiences and asking for advice. All of the "we told you so" replies add nothing to the discussion.

If Citi is freaking out over more than 5 inquiries in a year, the community needs to know this and respond appropriately. No one here should be surprised that a major lender has had a significant change in risk management policy, but this one, IMHO, is ridiculous. Refusing to discuss all of the other elements of creditworthiness - HHI, net worth, REVOLVING BALANCES! - makes little sense.

Good luck, OP. Let us know how things proceed.

lhendricks92 said: Refusing to discuss all of the other elements of creditworthiness - HHI, net worth, REVOLVING BALANCES! - makes little sense.It makes perfect sense. Nobody applies for 5 credit cards at once unless they are desparate for credit or unless they are playing games with CC's money. So it does not MATTER that he has the ability to pay. Fact is he is unprofitable and dishonest in card issuer's calculation. So they dump him. Not preaching. Telling it like it is. They are not in business of giving away money. An AOR is a sure sign someone wishes to best issuer at the game and it is no surprise they choose to take their ball and go home with it (ball being credit lines). They make the rules and can change them to nake sure they win or lose less. This is the risk people take.

waterman said:Part of the problem may be applying for so many new cards at the same time. Has anyone had trouble with Citi when they apply for a single personal and a single business card at the same time?

Yes. FICO over 750 and applied for Biz and Personal AA Citi cards in Jan. Approved for biz ($8k CL, declined for personal).

Sorry to hear about that, but something very similar happened to me w/ Chase (Read it @ http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/774496/) - basically, Chase shut down my over $50k CL and it took me a couple of weeks to get it opened back up.

In my case, I was investing the funds in a brokerage account, and as soon as I faxed over my brokerage statements, the CL was reinstated.

If you had (or still are) investing your funds in a bank/investment account, and can submit copies of the same - the credit departments just might reinstate your lines. It worked with me on Chase, and I hope it does for you also.

Good luck.

FaxMac said:Sorry to hear about that, but something very similar happened to me w/ Chase (Read it @ http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/774496/) - basically, Chase shut down my over $50k CL and it took me a couple of weeks to get it opened back up.

In my case, I was investing the funds in a brokerage account, and as soon as I faxed over my brokerage statements, the CL was reinstated.

If you had (or still are) investing your funds in a bank/investment account, and can submit copies of the same - the credit departments just might reinstate your lines. It worked with me on Chase, and I hope it does for you also.

Good luck.

I never accessed the new credit. Cards were shut down within 2 days of activation. I have less than $1000 in balances across all of my credit cards and no BT activity.

DavidScubadiver said:It makes perfect sense. Nobody applies for 5 credit cards at once unless they are desparate for credit or unless they are playing games with CC's money.

Huh? It takes at least 5 credit cards just to get a decent rewards spread (5% on gas, 5% on groceries, 5% on cell phone bill, 2% general, extras for when you exceed reward caps, etc, etc).

Anything less would be downright financially irresponsible and it fits perfectly into the CC lender's business model. Adverse action for just 5 new accounts makes absolutely no sense.

To cite a previous poster, Citibank's approach here can't be described as anything but ham handed.

MikeR397 said:A few grand for me has been $36k in the past 10 months, a thank you very much. And that is ~$41 grand this year I wouldn't otherwise be making as a law student; Hopefully with 2 more years of law school, I'll have earned $100k+. No law school debt, already bought 04 G35 Coupe, and down payment for a house ready to go upon graduation. Not bad for three years while being a full time student huh?.

The point is that AOR is good, especially if you don't have current options to just "work harder" to make more money in your career. To make $36k, it means you're either lying to financial institutions to obtain unusually large lines of credit, or you're using smaller amounts to take unreasonable risks with borrowed money. Neither is impressive, and neither is a smart move for someone who claims to be a future attorney. Most likely, you're not telling us the truth.

The point of my post: If you want a bank to lend you a lot of money, you have to act like you don't need money. An "AOR" flies in the face of this age-old wisdom. Further, repeatedly calling the bank, continually pressing the "CLI" button, etc., reinforces the idea that the customer is desperate for cash, even if the cash is only being used to put into a CD to earn a short-term profit. The bank doesn't care if it's for an AOR. Exposure to an over-extended consumer is all the same to them.

There is an amazing amount of knowledge on FW, when it comes to how to trick banks with technological quirks.

Sadly, there's a stunning shortage of knowledge on FW, when it comes to understanding the psychology of banking.

When something goes wrong, the peanut gallery shouts something like "close it and re-open it in a few months" or "sock drawer them" or "Crapital One sucks!".

There's almost no reasoned responses, dealing with how that human being (the credit underwriter) sees you, the customer. Or, how to get that human being to do what you want them to do.

Of course, all of this makes sense, when one observes the immediate gratification aspect of FW.

ifyouhavetoask said:MikeR397 said:A few grand for me has been $36k in the past 10 months, a thank you very much. And that is ~$41 grand this year I wouldn't otherwise be making as a law student; Hopefully with 2 more years of law school, I'll have earned $100k+. No law school debt, already bought 04 G35 Coupe, and down payment for a house ready to go upon graduation. Not bad for three years while being a full time student huh?.

The point is that AOR is good, especially if you don't have current options to just "work harder" to make more money in your career. To make $36k, it means you're either lying to financial institutions to obtain unusually large lines of credit, or you're using smaller amounts to take unreasonable risks with borrowed money. Neither is impressive, and neither is a smart move for someone who claims to be a future attorney. Most likely, you're not telling us the truth.

IIRC, he had permission from multiple family members to apply for cards in their names to get access to more BT funds.

DavidScubadiver said:lhendricks92 said: Refusing to discuss all of the other elements of creditworthiness - HHI, net worth, REVOLVING BALANCES! - makes little sense.It makes perfect sense. Nobody applies for 5 credit cards at once unless they are desparate for credit or unless they are playing games with CC's money.

Incorrect. You're assuming all hard inquiries are the result of applying for credit cards. Don't forget opening deposit accounts often result in hard pulls.

I'll reiterate. I can't see how applying a simple "if inquiries > 5, then close all accounts" rule makes much sense. I can see how lenders might want to cut off unprofitable customers - both gamers and actual credit risks. I, too, am amazed that Citi and others have let A0R-types (including myself) play their games indefinitely. However, that's not what's happening in many of these latest stories of A/A from Citi. Several FWFers who have spotless credit and don't play games are getting cut off at the knees because of 5 or more inquiries. That's just plain silly.