Benjamin
Level 2 Member
This stuff just makes me too uncomfortable. And the idea of putting that person working for $8 per hour in an even more compromised spot, terrible.
The 5/24 rule is nonsense
- Thread starter Matt
- Start date
fpguy
Level 2 Member
If asking for a free donut that costs a dollar or less makes you uncomfortable I have no idea how you handle any sort of MS. Not trying to attack you or anything but I get just as anxious and I really don't understand. Usually the ones who will give you the donut are the managers and not the low level employees.
MickiSue
Level 2 Member
MS plays within the rules. The rules are written by the banks and the stores, we just play within them with consequences that they hadn't necessarily intended. Getting a free donut from even the $10.50/hour manager of Krispy Kreme is cheating, not using their rules to our own advantage.
Benjamin
Level 2 Member
If getting a free donut is that much of a concern, I have no idea how you are able to handle any sort of MS! Just kidding.
I simply find it easier to ask these enormous bank for free donuts and then actually pay for the donuts from Ethel and Geralds Local Donut shop where Tommy works...
HariOm
Transcendent Level
Whoops, how's that?
Perfecto, gracias!
ElainePDX
Level 2 Member
Not quite sure where to put this. Mods, it is fine to move it.
With the in branch CSRes offer soon to decrease, my SO waited until today when a few cards applied for in Feb. 2015 would no longer be counted in the 5/24 count. With 6/24 - 3 primary cards and 3 AUs - we figured a recon call was in his future.
Initially app was declined. First ever that went to "declined" right away for either of us!
Called recon from branch, was told that since the app was declined they cannot do recon and cannot tell him why.
Asked for a recon supervisor.
Was told they'd connect SO but supervisor also could not reopen it and "will tell you the same thing."
Supervisor says he has many cards. He explains 3 of the last 6 in the past 2 years are AU and he is not financially responsible. She asks multiple times "if you make payments on them?"
SO is a bit confused with this question but finally says "no" and repeats the magic words "that I am not financially responsible."
She confirms income, work, etc. I figured we may be in good shape when she compliments him on being at the same job for 30+ years.
Initially she says she is sending it for recon and it would take a week or two.
I signal SO to offer to move credit around.
She says well, that's up to you.
She says one needs at least 10K for the CSRes
SO offers to move 10K from the vanilla Sapphire (downgraded from a CSP, and lying around gathering dust) to the new card if that would speed things up.
I ask to speak, we go through the usual permissions, and I stress that SO is happy to move CLs around from his IHG, Freedom or Sapphire if that will get a faster decision.
She gives away the ending when she says "do you have any other questions before I move the 10K to the new card?"
No - go for it!
She puts us on hold to "do the reconsideration."
We remain a bit uneasy during the 5-6 min wait, but it came back approved.
She says it will arrive in 1-2 days; that this card gets expedited. [Aside - If that is so, it is new since for a while one had to ask and when the demand was so great, they stopped expediting.]
Meanwhile, the banker is like in awe. She is amazed at how I know exactly what to say and how to say it. I offer to give her the script I wrote for SO but she is unsure she is allowed to take it and declines. She offers to go over the benefits but then says, "Oh, you probably know them better than me."
Yeah. Probably!
So, if you are going down the recon road, don't believe the first person, ask for a supervisor, and offer to move CLs around before they do the actual recon or submit it for recon.
BTW, I am actually a fan of waiting out a Chase "pending" app, but in this case 1) it was declined and 2) we wanted to get the card fast, as we have a $2K bill to pay by mid-March.
Good luck!
With the in branch CSRes offer soon to decrease, my SO waited until today when a few cards applied for in Feb. 2015 would no longer be counted in the 5/24 count. With 6/24 - 3 primary cards and 3 AUs - we figured a recon call was in his future.
Initially app was declined. First ever that went to "declined" right away for either of us!
Called recon from branch, was told that since the app was declined they cannot do recon and cannot tell him why.
Asked for a recon supervisor.
Was told they'd connect SO but supervisor also could not reopen it and "will tell you the same thing."
Supervisor says he has many cards. He explains 3 of the last 6 in the past 2 years are AU and he is not financially responsible. She asks multiple times "if you make payments on them?"
SO is a bit confused with this question but finally says "no" and repeats the magic words "that I am not financially responsible."
She confirms income, work, etc. I figured we may be in good shape when she compliments him on being at the same job for 30+ years.
Initially she says she is sending it for recon and it would take a week or two.
I signal SO to offer to move credit around.
She says well, that's up to you.
She says one needs at least 10K for the CSRes
SO offers to move 10K from the vanilla Sapphire (downgraded from a CSP, and lying around gathering dust) to the new card if that would speed things up.
I ask to speak, we go through the usual permissions, and I stress that SO is happy to move CLs around from his IHG, Freedom or Sapphire if that will get a faster decision.
She gives away the ending when she says "do you have any other questions before I move the 10K to the new card?"
No - go for it!
She puts us on hold to "do the reconsideration."
We remain a bit uneasy during the 5-6 min wait, but it came back approved.
She says it will arrive in 1-2 days; that this card gets expedited. [Aside - If that is so, it is new since for a while one had to ask and when the demand was so great, they stopped expediting.]
Meanwhile, the banker is like in awe. She is amazed at how I know exactly what to say and how to say it. I offer to give her the script I wrote for SO but she is unsure she is allowed to take it and declines. She offers to go over the benefits but then says, "Oh, you probably know them better than me."
Yeah. Probably!
So, if you are going down the recon road, don't believe the first person, ask for a supervisor, and offer to move CLs around before they do the actual recon or submit it for recon.
BTW, I am actually a fan of waiting out a Chase "pending" app, but in this case 1) it was declined and 2) we wanted to get the card fast, as we have a $2K bill to pay by mid-March.
Good luck!
ashishsg
a$]-[u
You can decrease the limits beforehand by a secure message
italdesign
Level 2 Member
That wouldn't have helped in this case. It was denied due to 6/24. To the contrary, it sounds like it might have hurt if they didn't have a large CL to move from.
ashishsg
a$]-[u
I agree partially, my opinion is that Chase is a very data driven company. 5/24 came out of 'Big Data' analysis and this case was approved due to 3 out of 6 Auth User cards and not moving credit limit. That said, giving something to the rep to play with is an advantage.
ElainePDX
Level 2 Member
I agree. Having the 10K to easily move made the rep able to approve the app immediately.
3 CCs were SO's individual cards
3 CCs were AU cards for which he was not financially responsible
We did move around the CL, decreasing the Sapphire from 15K to 5K which gave the rep the 10K she needed to approve on the spot.
My guess is that if we hadn't mentioned moving CLs around, she would have sent the app thru for recon and they would have approved it with a CL a lot larger than the 10K. But we cared more about getting the card, on the spot, not the CL it came with.
ukinny2000
Level 2 Member
I regularly go into my branch, speak to the manager there with whom I am on good terms, and check for pre-approvals. Y'day found out was pre-approved for CSP (not R), despite being at like 26/24 +/- (6 in the last four months alone) - so I applied in-branch and got it without any hassle.
Jonathan.
Super Platinum Elite Member
Do you (or anybody here) have data points of first doing a voluntary credit limit decrease and then applying for a card? The idea would be to increase the chances of an auto-approval without the need for recon and shifting credit.
Surely the amount of credit Chase (or any issuer) can extend to you is driven by a formula, and if you drop below that max credit amount voluntarily, I wonder if the math equation stays the same, and therefore increase the chances of an auto approval
I'm curious as to if anyone has seen a correlation between in-branch pre-approvals vs the "your offers" menu on the Chase site. I wonder if the in-branch checks typically yield results separate from what's listed there (and I'm assuming they are, but looking if there is real evidence of this).
How often have you checked for preapprovals in the past? I have yet to get a preapproval for the CSR. Now that they put a stop to preapprovals on the CSR I've considered going for the CSP and then upgrading to the CSR. Stinks I'll miss out on the 100k offer but I'm not going to get it anyway, and I see no point in hoping the bonus on the CSR goes up again.
ukinny2000
Level 2 Member
every couple of months or so, but my branch is about five minutes walk from where I live, which makes it easy
MickiSue
Level 2 Member
CC companies tend to look at the amount of credit available in two ways simultaneously. First, if you have higher limits, either with them or any CC company, you are more likely to be offered higher limits. Assuming that you are using them responsibly.
But, second, they look at the amount of overall credit, and decide if you are carrying too much, based on income factors.
Given the first, I would rather talk to them about decreasing the limit on another of their cards in order to carry it over to the new card, if there is a decline or a hesitation, based on the second.
ashishsg
a$]-[u
Yes, I do it every time and it works very well. I had read somewhere that Chase (Pers + Buss) will limit you to 60% of your annual income. I decrease limit by around $5k per card I want to apply.
newaliases
Just an alias
You are correct. I have confirmed this with a friendly CSR before. They said there are different tiers of credit limit they are willing to extend based on a bunch of factors, including income. As you start going up, they can still extend you more, but they need to get ever increasingly level of approvals. As you get up there, you'll start meeting resistance but if you push, they will make the application on your behalf. However, generally it is easier for you to move around credit - don't have to do it before, can do it as soon as your application is in pending mode.
Mancolt
Level 2 Member
I had a different experience recently. Knowing I was applying for 2 more Chase cards, I voluntarily elected to decrease my credit limits by $7k ($3k from 1 card, $4k from another). I then applied, went to pending, denied, and then called for recon. The personal card rep was friendly, and stated she could open the card for me but asked if she could move credit from another card. I offered to move $3k from one and $3k from another, for a total of $6k. So in the end, I'm not sure decreasing by $7k voluntarily did anything to help me. I think I gave about a month in between my voluntary credit line decreases and my subsequent application.
R.R.
Level 2 Member
That's what I typically have been doing over the past couple of years, as well, and it has worked almost every time except recently when 5/24 has seemed to be in effect.
italdesign
Level 2 Member
Hard to say without knowing the before and after decreasing amounts, as well as your total CL with Chase. For example, if your CLs were 20k and 30k respectively, decreasing by 7k total isn't going to help much. On the other hand, if your total CL with Chase is only 20k, then decreasing by 7k should help theoretically.
Mancolt
Level 2 Member
Good point. Before attempting my fifth card, I had the following (all opened within 1 year):
Chase Freedom: $14k CL ( voluntarily dropped to $10k)
Chase Slate: $10k CL (voluntarily dropped to $7k)
Chase Sapphire Reserve: $23k
Chase Ink Preferred: $5k
Total CL: $52k (below 60% of annual income). Another $5k still would have been below, but not much.
In the end, even after the voluntary reductions, I offered to move another $4k from freedom and $3k from reserve.
italdesign
Level 2 Member
yeah, taking 7k out of 52k isn't going to do much. I reduce my total Chase CL to around 15-20k before an app. New card almost always gets a ridiculously large CL like 25k (which I then reduce). Since you can freely reallocate CL between cards, just keep more CL on the MS cards and reduce the others to 1k.
newaliases
Just an alias
Worth reminding folks that if you carry a balance, reducing your credit limit may hurt your credit score since it increases your utilization. Not a worry for most folks on the board but just in case.