How to Request Citi Reconsideration

[jaybird47]

Hi! 

I applied last week for a Citi Costco card.  My credit score at the time was 732 with Experian, which they use.  I was denied.  I had 2 inquiries.  One from refinancing my home and 1 from Samsung for a phone.   My debt ratio is 37%.  I have NO late payments in the last 7 years and have 11 open lines of credit.  I have a Citi Simplicity, Sears Shop your Way through Citi, Mobil and Shell both also through Citi.  None of my accounts are at the limit.  None have ever had a problem.

 

I received my denial letter today.  It says that I am being denied because of a past BK where Citi was involved.  Yes.  1992.  It says that my current accounts have many missed and late payments and that my account is now restricted.  WTH?  

Totally untrue! I checked my Experian report and there is no problem there.   Is it the BK in 1992?  That is NOT on my credit report! 

 

I cannot find a way to get through to Citi, dispute this and ask for reconsideration.  Help!!  Does anyone know of a way that I can actually speak to someone?  Also, what is the best way to ask for reconsideration?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Pretty pissed in WA State!

JayBird

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by jaybird47
wrong tag

[IndyPoolPlayer]

Welcome to blacklisting. Did you in fact declare BK and had a Citi debt eliminated as a result of that BK? It may seem strange to hold an almost 30 year old BK against you but creditors are tightening the belts and blacklisting like this is one way they are doing so. Yes, its all perfectly legal. Creditors can maintain records for as long as they want, as long as they are not shared with any other creditor. Amex is famous for lifetime blacklisting, Chase blacklists for those who settle their debts for less than the full amount. Recon will likely poke the bear even more and you'll find all of your Citi accounts closed.

[jaybird47]

Wow! 29 years! Thank you!  I'm surprised the other accounts were opened!  I don't want to poke the bear!  I'll let him snooze forever! 🙂

[cv91915]

Check the backdoor numbers thread.

 

 

14 hours ago, jaybird47 said:

I had 2 inquiries.

 

This has nothing to do with the denial.

[hdporter]

16 hours ago, jaybird47 said:

Hi! 

I applied last week for a Citi Costco card.  My credit score at the time was 732 with Experian, which they use.  I was denied.  I had 2 inquiries. 

I received my denial letter today.  It says that I am being denied because of a past BK where Citi was involved.  Yes.  1992.  

I cannot find a way to get through to Citi, dispute this and ask for reconsideration.

 

It's possible to recon with Citi.  Here is info sourced at WalletHub: 

https://wallethub.com/answers/cc/citi-credit-card-reconsideration-line-2140678890/

 

Quote

 @sally_amos, Member, 10/05/20 This answer was first published on 10/05/20.

The Citi credit card reconsideration line works by giving another chance for people who had their credit card application denied.

Call 1-800-695-5171 to talk to a real person and make your case. It’s best if you’re prepared with a reasonable explanation as to why they should change their decision.

 

An observation:  If you were talking about one of Citi's more valuable cards, say Citi Double Cash, I would strongly encourage you to follow through with a reconsideration request to Citi.  However, the cashback rates on Citi Costco are week ... you can do as well or better with Bank of America Cash Rewards:  https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/cash-back-credit-card/

 

Bev and I clean up on this card ... in addition to 2% cashback earned on wholesale club purchases (plus grocery stores), it earns 3% on your choice among select purchase categories (our pick is online purchases, since we earn 3%+ on most of the other options via other cards).  It should be noted that all bonus cashback is only earned on the first $2500 in combined bonus category purchases (additional purchases in a quarter earn just 1%).  We each have one of these cards since we typically exceed $2500 each quarter.

 

The killer that makes the BA card a smart choice over Citi's Costco is that BA Cash Rewards pays a $200 rewards bonus when you charge $1000 in your first 90 days as a cardholder.  (Talk about a "no-brainer"!)

 

[centex]

With respect to the currently held cards, do any of them HAVE a history of late payments?  It would not matter if they are on the report or not.  It would only matter that there ARE trackable late payments, even if they were not a thirty-day late or even within the past seven years. 

[jaybird47]

No late payments on any of my accounts.  2 of the four Citi have zero balances.  The denial letter seems to be mostly about BK.  Considering Citi handles a lot of retail credit cards, it is a huge company to be blackballed for something that happened 29 almost 30 years ago due to divorce.  It also says my Citi accounts are currently restricted.  I have available credit on all of them and there is no indication of a restriction. If this is truly blacklisting, I do not want to open a can of worms by asking for reconsideration.  If is is a mistake, I would like to fix it.  Thanks for all of the above input.  

[CTSoxFan]

Citi is odd when it comes to BL.  I IIB them and since have been able to open up 3 cards with a combined CL of around $100k; however for some reason they never offer me any balance transfer offers on my accounts, even back when they were handing them out every 2 weeks.  My wife on the other hand has 2 cards with them and she has an offer pretty much perpetually.  So while they haven't prevented me from getting a card, I do think they do some sort of other blacklisting/internal flagging of accounts.

 

That said, you need to weigh the risk and reward.  If you were to call and they ended up closing your accounts (I would say low probability, especially if you have never been late on the post BK account), how would that impact your overall credit situation vs. your want for the new card.  You can also go to the executive office to get some answers, they have been very helpful to me in the past.

[jaybird47]

It is not worth it now.  I tried my Citi Simplicity yesterday and it is still good.  Different name, different state, 29 years.  Wow!  I don't get any offers from them nor do they automatically give me increases.  I just never questioned it before.  Thanks again for all of the input.  

[insolent1]

I got sideways with Citi back when they were Citibank and the Pontiac Fiero was a new car.  Even though it was a small amount, no offers and no absolution. 

That's Citi.

[hdporter]

9 hours ago, insolent1 said:

I got sideways with Citi back when they were Citibank and the Pontiac Fiero was a new car.  Even though it was a small amount, no offers and no absolution. 

That's Citi.

 

Damn! ... You're on a blacklist being maintained by the children of the employees who originally blacklisted you!!

[centex]

13 hours ago, insolent1 said:

I got sideways with Citi back when they were Citibank and the Pontiac Fiero was a new car.  Even though it was a small amount, no offers and no absolution. 

That's Citi.

So...to be certain...they are the "bank that requires the dropping of the engine to change spark plugs" of card issuers.  Right? 

 

[centex]

6 hours ago, hdporter said:

 

Damn! ... You're on a blacklist being maintained by the children of the employees who originally blacklisted you!!

Hatfields and McCoy's hold grudges that taught Citi how a blacklist is done...

[insolent1]

Out of curiosity, I looked at Citi's card offerings and I don't see one that even remotely interests me. 

The only card that interests me now is the one that I've never had and has been unavailable for some time now - Diner's Club. The original Zombie card. Now, that BMO Harris owns it, I'd likely never apply anyhow. 

 

[althes]

Only Citi card I really want now is the Costco card as I shop there monthly.

But Citi doesn't like me for core cards.

I had issues with them a decade ago.

[Sidewinder]

What is Citibank like?

 

More than 15 years ago I applied for a secured card through Washington Mutual.  That card was actually underwritten by Citibank; and after I sent in the form and the $300 postal money order, I got a letter (and $300 check) from Citi announcing they had denied me.  FOR A SECURED CARD.

 

There may have been one or two more reasons stated on the denial letter than the one I remember most, which had to do with me having been in bankruptcy in the past.  The fact is, never in my life have I ever ever ever been in bankruptcy.

 

What is Citibank like?

 

In 2015, when I opened my Executive World Elite MC, I had travel planned for which the card was to be a great asset; it hadn't yet arrived more than two weeks after the "you're approved" email so I called.  I had to place ten different phone calls over three days to get to where I felt that the rep whom I was speaking with understood the problem (the sum of it being "I have not yet received my card;" and it took days to get them to consider the possibility that that counts as a problem).   I finally got through to "Peggy in South Dakota" late one morning, who said she was arranging for the card to be printed up and FedExed & I'd have it the next day; also I would receive an email from FedEx when it began its journey.  By 5pm the next day, my apartment building's front desk had not received a FedEx, nor had I received an email, so I called and the lady I spoke with put me on hold, then told me:  "Nothing was sent out yesterday; so... that's why you didn't get an email," betraying her understanding that me not getting an email from FedEx was the scope of the problem.

 

What is Citibank like?

 

In February of 2020, I tried placing a hotel reservation, which was blocked because Citi thought it was fraud.  They texted me an alert to this effect so I dialed in and authenticated and verified via touch-tone that the charge indeed was mine; the system said the block was lifted and I can go ahead and use the card.  I tried to make the same reservation and it was blocked for the same reason, I called in and spoke to a live person who did whatever the hell they do (which later events suggest is, in fact, goddam nothing) and then told me, person to person, sorry for the inconvenience, the fraud block has been lifted so you can NOW place that reservation.  At this point you know what happened to the third attempt, so when I called the main 800 number again a voice said "your account has been flagged for possible fraudulent activity, we are routing your call to our fraud resolution department."  After a minute or so on hold I got a recording saying that this office is closed, please try again during normal business hours.  I tried this again and got the same result.

 

The next day, biz hours, I called in and asked if the $450 annual fee was going to be prorated now that customer service is no longer 24hrs, she told me, "No, it's still 24 hours," and I relayed my experiences of the prior night.  The explanation she had was that there are multiple fraud offices, not all of them are open at all hours, so the one their system routed me to was one of the closed ones.  I asked how in the hell is THAT 24-hour customer service, and also what in the hell is the reasoning behind doing this half-assed routing of calls from customers who you think have been fraud victims; does that not tell you this is very possibly a traveler/customer IN DISTRESS and thus in genuine and URGENT need of speaking to someone?  For THIS reason your system automatically puts their call into a system that LOWERS THE CHANCES OF BEING ANSWERED?!?!?   She said she would get me an explanation for this and I would get an email.   For my part, I followed up the next day with a letter to the CEO's office; got an email five days later saying they had opened case number so-and-so and I would hear from them later.  A week or two later I got a letter stating, among  other pieces of BS, that their records "do not show any attempts to call us where you were not connected with a representative."

 

What is Citibank like?

 

THAT'S what Citibank is like.

 

[Sidewinder]

On 4/8/2021 at 11:29 AM, insolent1 said:

Out of curiosity, I looked at Citi's card offerings and I don't see one that even remotely interests me. 

The only card that interests me now is the one that I've never had and has been unavailable for some time now - Diner's Club. The original Zombie card. Now, that BMO Harris owns it, I'd likely never apply anyhow. 

 

I think Diner's Club cards are only issued overseas now anyway; and they work as MasterCards when used in the U.S.

 

I also historically wanted a Diner's Club card just because it's another network.  In this life, I have initiated transactions on the MasterCard network (AT&T Universal card, 1991, don't remember where); the Visa network (don't remember where or when : /  ); the Discover network (Inver Grove Heights Sinclair station, 2012 sometime?) and the American Express network (Lund's grocery, Northeast Minneapolis, July of 2016).  Had hoped to one day initiate a transaction on the JCB network, looks like that is gone.  Whereas I don't believe I ever even had faint reason to hope to initiate transactions on the Diner's Club network, or the Carte Blanche network.

 

Citi used to do a card called "CHOICE" in the 1980's but I don't know if that was to be a whole "nother" network or some sub-type of Visa or MC.  Sigh.

 

 

(BTW I like networks.)

 

[hdporter]

On 4/9/2021 at 9:36 AM, althes said:

Only Citi card I really want now is the Costco card as I shop there monthly.

But Citi doesn't like me for core cards.

I had issues with them a decade ago.

 

Just gonna "bump" my recommendation for BA Cash Rewards (now annoyingly called "Customized Cash Rewards").  Same 2% on warehouse purchases (it's a VISA, so accepted at Costco).  Plus, 3% on a category of your choice, $2500 purchases/quarter ... charge more than that?  Just get a 2nd card). 

 

Frankly, this is a killer card.

[hdporter]

On 4/8/2021 at 12:29 PM, insolent1 said:

Out of curiosity, I looked at Citi's card offerings and I don't see one that even remotely interests me.

 

 

If you have a base 2%+ cb card (for use as a fallback when you won't earn bonus cb on a purchase with another card), then I get that.

 

Otherwise Citi Double Cash, with 2% cb on purchases, it a desirable "foundation" card for your credit portfolio.

[Sidewinder]

6 hours ago, hdporter said:

 

Just gonna "bump" my recommendation for BA Cash Rewards (now annoyingly called "Customized Cash Rewards").  Same 2% on warehouse purchases (it's a VISA, so accepted at Costco).  Plus, 3% on a category of your choice, $2500 purchases/quarter ... charge more than that?  Just get a 2nd card). 

 

Frankly, this is a killer card.

 

Heartily seconded; I've had this care for a little over a year - got a nice 0% APR balance transfer IN ADDITION to a $200 bonus/credit; and of course that's on top of the very appealing cash back options every day.  It really is a killer card.

 

 

(Which, is what hdporter said basically.  : /  )

 

[insolent1]

On 5/8/2021 at 3:32 PM, hdporter said:

 

If you have a base 2%+ cb card (for use as a fallback when you won't earn bonus cb on a purchase with another card), then I get that.

 

Otherwise Citi Double Cash, with 2% cb on purchases, it a desirable "foundation" card for your credit portfolio.

Enquiries may mean nothing now, but I won't waste one on Citi's roulette wheel of blacklisting. Getting a card that doesn't fill a need might be a moral victory, but it means nothing to me. 

[MP80]

On 5/8/2021 at 3:14 PM, Sidewinder said:

Citi used to do a card called "CHOICE" in the 1980's but I don't know if that was to be a whole "nother" network or some sub-type of Visa or MC. 

 

 

[hegemony]

On 4/5/2021 at 3:15 PM, jaybird47 said:

Hi! 

I applied last week for a Citi Costco card.  My credit score at the time was 732 with Experian, which they use.  I was denied.  I had 2 inquiries.  One from refinancing my home and 1 from Samsung for a phone.   My debt ratio is 37%.  I have NO late payments in the last 7 years and have 11 open lines of credit.  I have a Citi Simplicity, Sears Shop your Way through Citi, Mobil and Shell both also through Citi.  None of my accounts are at the limit.  None have ever had a problem.

 

I received my denial letter today.  It says that I am being denied because of a past BK where Citi was involved.  Yes.  1992.  It says that my current accounts have many missed and late payments and that my account is now restricted.  WTH?  

Totally untrue! I checked my Experian report and there is no problem there.   Is it the BK in 1992?  That is NOT on my credit report! 

 

I cannot find a way to get through to Citi, dispute this and ask for reconsideration.  Help!!  Does anyone know of a way that I can actually speak to someone?  Also, what is the best way to ask for reconsideration?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Pretty pissed in WA State!

JayBird

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know I'm late to this party but IMHO citi changed its policy on prior BKs and now holds them against you even for CLIs on extant cards. See my posts in this thread:

 

 

[Menta33]

On 9/10/2021 at 7:11 AM, hegemony said:

I know I'm late to this party but IMHO citi changed its policy on prior BKs and now holds them against you even for CLIs on extant cards.

 

 

My Citi was opened around January 2019 for $16.5K. Is that before or after you hypothesized that Citi changed their policy on prior BKs?

 

[hegemony]

10 hours ago, Menta33 said:

 

My Citi was opened around January 2019 for $16.5K. Is that before or after you hypothesized that Citi changed their policy on prior BKs?

 

before