Pending Application / Reconsideration data point

Kristina

Level 2 Member
Hey guys, I'm new here and joining you from the recently closed Travel Codex forum. For my first post I wanted to copy a thread I started over there in late September. I'll string together my comments into one section then upload a PDF of the whole thread so you can see the entire conversation. Hope it helps someone down the line!


"I applied online for the CSR card and was instantly approved last month. Now that I hit the minimum
spend I decided to have my husband apply
for one too.

He recently became a US Permanent resident, got his SSN, etc. He's been an additional cardholder on
ALL of my credit cards for a while now and therefore we were able to establish a fantastic credit
score for him. Love that loophole...

Anyway, we just applied for his own CSR card and we received a message that read:
"Thanks for applying.
We need to review your application a little longer.

We'll let you know our decision in writing as soon as we can. If we approve your application,
you'll receive your card in the mail in 710 business days. Please don't resubmit your application.

Thanks for choosing Chase Sapphire ReserveSM."

I've never seen this message before. Is this a nice way of saying he's declined? Should he call the
reconsider line?
>>>

This would be his first Chase card ever (of his own where he is primary account holder).

>>>

No worries...despite doing this for three years this is uncharted territory for me because I've personally never been declined for a card. So I don't really know how to advise my husband with this odd purgatory message.

I didn't realize it [5/24] included authorized users...that may be the issue here. Although it just depends if it's when he's added as an AU or when the line of credit was opened. I've definitely added him to more than 5 credit cards as an AU in the past 24 months...but those accounts weren't all opened within the past 24 months. Anyway, I believe we should just be under the 5/24 rule.

It probably has more to do with the fact that his SSN was only issued about nine months ago since he's a newer US permanent resident.

>>>

Holy cow! I didn't realize that my instant online approval was so unique. Thanks for all of your data points, blog links, and advice. We're choosing to just wait for now rather than jump the gun and call the reconsideration line. There's really no rush...except hoping that the 100K bonus is still
around.

>>>
Wanted to update everyone!

So after everything I described above, we finally received a denial letter in the mail. Chase even provided the credit score they used to make the decision: 815. Naturally, we called the reconsideration line.

Well, my husband is a new US permanent resident and he still hesitates when people ask him his SSN. So that started the call off on the wrong foot there LOL.

Anyway, after he asked to be reconsidered and the customer service rep verified more details, she instructed him to mail or fax a copy of his SSN card along with his reference ID number. Naturally, we chose to efax because who wants to actually snail mail anything and wait even longer?

Well, to add insult to injury I managed to screw up the fax number and didn't get notified that the fax failed until about a week later. Growing more and more frustrated with this process and approaching a two week trip, I told my husband to get in the car so we could straighten this out at a Chase branch. Plus, I didn't want the 100K bonus offer to expire while we played faxing and waiting games.

Mind you, we had never set foot inside this branch and definitely did not have a relationship with anyone in there. I asked to meet with the branch manager and told her our tale. She scanned in a copy of my husband's ID and SSN card and told us that she would call us back in an hour with the results.

She called us back, but instead of giving us a decision over the phone...she asked us to return to the bank. Uh-oh...that didn't seem like a good sign.

Well, it turns out she wanted to talk to us in person so she could, in her own words, "give us a quick lecture."

She said, "I figured out the real reason why you were denied despite the 815 credit score. It turns out that you actually have zero credit in your own name--everything is in your wife's name. Isn't that correct?"
Husband: Yes, that's correct.
Branch Manager: Well, you can imagine why that is a red flag and why that increases the risk for us.
Husband: Yes, I understand.
Branch Manager: That being said...after speaking with both of you and seeing that your wife is obviously disciplined with her finances and teaching you how to take care of finances, accumulate a high credit score like that, etc., we decided that you are worth the risk and want you to have an excellent experience with Chase. But I have to say that this completely SHOCKS me that you got approved for the current #1 credit card in the country as your VERY FIRST line of credit in the United States. And for that I say, 'Congratulations to both of you. You've earned it.'

In the end, I knew it was a long shot having my husband apply for the CSR without any credit cards of his own, but we simply couldn't pass up the deal and NOT try at all. Just wanted to let everyone know who is possibly trying to help a spouse or, more specifically, a non-US citizen spouse build their credit score. My husband was issued a SSN in January 2016, became a US permanent resident in April 2016, and approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve (his first account as a primary card holder) in October 2016. Miracles do happen, folks."
 

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Matt

Administrator
Staff member
This is a great story, and as a foreigner I still have hope!

The key for me is that there was such a focus on 5/24 workarounds like the Chase Private Client (CPC), but the essence of that 'theory' was that there remained discretion. Thought leaders are fast to attach discretion to something that they can storify and make replicable, but the key isn't the status of CPC, but that someone is able to override a decision using discretion.

This is a very important point when it comes to the social engineering side of things. Couple this with refusing to allow the thought leaders to frame your reality, and you're good to go :)
 
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