Applied for a Credit Card (Amazon, Chase)

[Time2]

Back in may of 2021 I applied for an Amazon CC, assuming it would be no problem, lots of money, good Credit score (Equifax 797, bank 805) I have 20 year plus good Mastercard history. Here's what I wrote a year ago May.

I recently applied for an Amazon Visa card, I was turned down, for two reasons, I didn't have enough credit cards, I didn't have any money in their bank.
I sent a letter asking them to reconsider, and asking how much balance I needed to carry in their bank. It has been 3 weeks, so it looks like they have ignored it.
I did get a letter from Equifax, I assume that is normal operating procedure when credit is denied. It was labeled, "Your Dispute Results". I disputed nothing and they don't say they changed anything. Kind of a useless letter. I also sent a letter to Equifax asking to to have a few things clarified. Still waiting.

I recently was enticed by the $200 gift card offered by Amazon to apply again. I got a letter, my Equifax account is froze, Oops, so I unfroze it and called, they checked and denied me within minutes. Not enough accounts open and lack of money in their bank. I did make a major error, I put how much income (puffed up) I live on, rather than my adjusted gross income. So that number is now changed from $70k to $193k, I did a large Roth conversion and may have had $30k or $60k of tuition out of that, should remember where all that money went but I don't. They are giving it another review. I have ask how much money will I need to transfer to a chase account, but they always say that is not necessary. So again, I'm waiting for an answer to see if I'm worthy! I offered to send them my Vanguard account that I'm living on a yearly 2.3% of, but no that's not necessary.
/rant over, for an undetermined time!

 

[SecondCor521]

I'd believe them when they tell you that you don't have enough accounts open.

You could open some other CC accounts, wait, then reapply.

Or keep doing the same thing repeatedly and hope for different results.

 

[Aerides]

Having money is not remotely the same as being a good credit risk, to banks and lenders. Totally different thing. Income helps, but there are plenty of high income people who can't manage debt.

Managing debt/credit is far more important to them, than having unblemished credit with hardly any accounts or usage for years.

Creditors want to know you can juggle with more than one ball.

 

[easysurfer]

I cringed when reading "Equifax" .

If there ever is a company that should go bankrupt it's them. They stonewall to the max.

 

[Trailwalker]

Do people use last year's adjusted gross income on these apps? This year's AGI is going to be quite low because I'm not doing a Roth conversion. I've also been thinking about adding an Amazon credit card, but don't really want to get turned down either. I only have two cards and no money at Chase.

 

[TheWizard]

I don't know the answers to questions in this thread, but I'm getting into a similar thin credit situation now at age 72.
I have two CCs: one MC, one Visa, both of which I pay off twice a month.
I have no other consumer loans after paying off my HELOC several years ago.

I plan to pay cash for new car purchases, so we'll see if my two CCs are sufficient to maintain an 800+ credit score indefinitely...

 

[Time2]

OP here, I may have to have my wife apply, she has at least three CC and I pay all bills and pay every card in full before due.
But I will wait until they offer $200 again.

 

[jollystomper]

Having money is not remotely the same as being a good credit risk, to banks and lenders. Totally different thing. Income helps, but there are plenty of high income people who can't manage debt.

Managing debt/credit is far more important to them, than having unblemished credit with hardly any accounts or usage for years.

Creditors want to know you can juggle with more than one ball.

+1

From my view they want to see something like a large amount of credit with low usage (on average less than 5%) and no missed payments.

Something like 3-4 CCs, total credit line of $50k across those CCs, no missed/late payments, average monthly balance of $2-$3K total across those CCs.

 

[Thunder Up]

My spouse applied for the Chase Amazon Card about 2 weeks ago, she was not auto approved. When she told me about her application, I told her that it was unlikely she would be approved since all 3 credit bureaus are frozen. We did a temporary unfreeze on all three bureaus for about 7 days. Very easy to unfreeze the bureaus online. The next day she called a Chase reconsideration line, the number she called was 888-609-7805 and spoke with a live rep. I told her to tell the Chase rep that the bureaus were frozen at the time of the application but we’re presently unfrozen. That did the trick and she was approved for about $15,000. She is a stay at home mom. We have no deposits at Chase. Her credit score is over 800.

When my son first applied with Chase with no credit history in college, he was denied and I told him to call the reconsideration line, tell the agent you were in college studying medicine and that you only wanted to get a $300-$500 credit limit. He was approved with the small credit line but after he established satisfactory payment his credit limit was raised quickly.

There is a Chase thread in flyertalk.com that has some other reconsideration line numbers and also some threads as to what to say to the reconsideration agent. Be polite.

Good luck

 

[m3bs]

I must have done something right. I applied for the $200 deal and was approved in minutes. No other Chase accounts, but I do have several other cards that I swap around to maximize rewards.. I didn’t want another card, but I couldn’t resist 5% reward.

 

[Time2]

OP here. Everyone can breath a sigh of relief, I just got conformation I was approved for the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card. And even better, the $200 Amazon.com Gift Card has been automatically added to my Amazon account!

Now just need to BTD!