Wells Fargo scared the poo poo outta me.....

[Wildchilde36]

I never thought  nothing  about it, applied the husband for the 21 month 0 interest Wells Fargo card.  They denied him, I was surprised but waited for the letter.  When the letter came I had thought someone had stolen his information and was applying for credit and got a new loan. 

The reasons were: 

Too many inquiries  or applications for credit  in the  last 14 days.    (we have not applied for credit)    

amount  on  on  bank cards to high  relative to the credit limit in the last 6 months.  (it was about 26% as new charges were put on just before statement date.)

Too few months  since  most  recent personal installment account opened.  (new truck back in September 6 months  ago.)

Too  many inquiries in  the past 12 months.  (1 inquiry 6 months ago for auto loan)

Credit score is a 719

 

I scrambled to find  out who the inquiry or application for credit was, why the low score and there's NOTHING. No inquiry at all nor a new loan/account reported, I'm not  quite sure where they got the information. It says it came from Experian.   

 

Come to find out after pulling all  reports from 3 different  places this is an Experian Vantage score not a Fico score.  The day his credit was pulled his vantage score was 719 and his FICO score was 771. Maybe I am just over reacting but when it said inquiries or credit in  the past 14 days my heart sank thinking with  all the security breaches going on that someone had stolen his identity.  All Wells Fargo calls it is a "Credit score they did not specify vantage or fico in their paperwork so beware.   

They are using Vantage scores.  Unknowing that to automatic credit line increases and me applying him  for this card even crashed his vantage score.   

 

This leads to another question I have thought about for some  time because if I think  of  applying for a low interest loan or something at a credit union I always  ask if they use the fico score or vantage score because there is such a huge difference.  If it's a vantage score most of the time I drop it and think see ya later.  BUT.... the credit bureaus are essentially private owned.  they are there to make money. So this whole Vantage score thing makes perfect sense.  You create your own scoring, which is lower than fico, offer businesses a cheap rate to  pull the vantage score over fico and in turn they can say your score is low and  offer a higher interest rate.  I it's just a theory but that's the way it seems to pan out.  Why would a business not benefit from using the  vantage score over a fico score when it makes them more money?  It seems to me a way to work over the consumer.    

 

Just my rant for the day.  

[MP80]

I have never heard of Wells Fargo using the VantageScore 3 model for credit applications; Wells Fargo has always used FICO scores.

 

I hold a Wells Fargo Reflect credit card; at the time I submitted my application, the bank utilized the FICO 9 credit scoring model, and it has since managed and maintained my credit account monthly.

Today, I received an email from the bank offering a promotional incentive: a 0% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on balance transfers for up to 15 months. Under this offer, the fee for balance transfers is 5% (with a minimum charge of $5).

 

 

[Flyingifr]

Keep in mind that when a lender decides they don't want to do business with you they will make up ANYTHING for the Adverse Action letter they are required to send you. Lenders typically cite at least three factors for the AA letter, and facts have nothing to do with it. Here are some of the AA reasons I have gotten in the past and the truths behind them.

 

#1 on the list - too many recent inquiries for credit. Truth - at the time, their own inquiry was the ONLY one on the CRA they cited.

 

#2 - High balances in relation to credit lines. Fact - the account they cited had a $25,000 credit line and was reporting a balance of $8 at the time.

 

#3 - Insufficient collateral value. Fact - this was to be a passbook loan of $1,000 and $5,000+ was in the account I was offering as collateral. I found that with that bank it was far easier to fill out a withdrawal slip than a credit application.

 

#4 - Previous experience with debtor. Fact - that "previous experience" was Identity Theft and they knew it.

 

#5 - FICO score too low. Fact - at the time my FICO score was within 5 points of 800. It is now in the 820's.

Edited April 10 by Flyingifr

[Flyingifr]

12 minutes ago, Flyingifr said:

Keep in mind that when a lender decides they don't want to do business with you they will make up ANYTHING for the Adverse Action letter they are required to send you. Lenders typically cite at least three factors for the AA letter, and facts have nothing to do with it. Here are some of the AA reasons I have gotten in the past and the truths behind them.

 

#1 on the list - too many recent inquiries for credit. Truth - at the time, their own inquiry was the ONLY one on the CRA they cited.

 

#2 - High balances in relation to credit lines. Fact - the account they cited had a $25,000 credit line and was reporting a balance of $8 at the time.

 

#3 - Insufficient collateral value. Fact - this was to be a passbook loan of $1,000 and $5,000+ was in the account I was offering as collateral. I found that with that bank it was far easier to fill out a withdrawal slip than a credit application.

 

#4 - Previous experience with debtor. Fact - that "previous experience" was Identity Theft and they knew it.

 

#5 - FICO score too low. Fact - at the time my FICO score was within 5 points of 800. It is now in the 820's.

Someone once said that a banker is a person who will approve a loan application only when you can show you don't need the loan. Now that my credit scores on all 3 bureaus is over 800 and I have six figures in the bank and I own 5 houses free and clear, I certainly don't need any loans. I wonder if I will still get these *Admin prohibits insults that reference an individual's intelligence.* AA letters. Based on the OP's post, probably.

[hdporter]

Credit denial letters tend to be misleading:

 

There is the section of the letter which concisely states the one or two factors that led the lender to reject the credit request.  (THIS IS THE PART THAT MATTERS!)

 

Then there's the supplemental part that references the score pulled and the credit factors that prevented the score from being higher.

 

(THESE FACTORS EXPLAIN THE SCORE, BUT HAVE NO DIRECT BEARING ON THE CREDIT DENIAL.)

 

--> Forgive the "shouting", but there's widespread confusion about these letters' content. 

 

So, about the credit scoring explanation section ... yeah, it tells you that your score would be higher if you had "0" inquiries rather than an "1".  Period.

 

The letter NEVER claims that inquery was a factor in the denial (unless also stated in the section providing the reason for denial).

 

I trust this is helpful.

 

 

 

[Wildchilde36]

On 4/10/2026 at 4:03 AM, MP80 said:

I have never heard of Wells Fargo using the VantageScore 3 model for credit applications; Wells Fargo has always used FICO scores.

 

I hold a Wells Fargo Reflect credit card; at the time I submitted my application, the bank utilized the FICO 9 credit scoring model, and it has since managed and maintained my credit account monthly.

Today, I received an email from the bank offering a promotional incentive: a 0% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on balance transfers for up to 15 months. Under this offer, the fee for balance transfers is 5% (with a minimum charge of $5).

I figured they used a Fico also and was surprised. In loking into it i went to credit karma and that's where I saw the matching score based on vantage. 

[Wildchilde36]

On 4/10/2026 at 9:04 AM, Flyingifr said:

Someone once said that a banker is a person who will approve a loan application only when you can show you don't need the loan. Now that my credit scores on all 3 bureaus is over 800 and I have six figures in the bank and I own 5 houses free and clear, I certainly don't need any loans. I wonder if I will still get these *Admin prohibits insults that reference an individual's intelligence.* AA letters. Based on the OP's post, probably.

Well, the first time I read your comment I didn't think much about it however you are the one that's referencing intelligence based on A letters of which we do'nt  typically get when applying for a neded or not neded card.  

[Wildchilde36]

On 4/10/2026 at 1:20 PM, hdporter said:

There is the section of the letter which concisely states the one or two factors that led the lender to reject the credit request.  (THIS IS THE PART THAT MATTERS!)

 

Then there's the supplemental part that references the score pulled and the credit factors that prevented the score from being higher.

 

(THESE FACTORS EXPLAIN THE SCORE, BUT HAVE NO DIRECT BEARING ON THE CREDIT DENIAL.)

That's what was made me worried. They listed inquiries twice in the reason of denial, of which I knew he hadn't applied for credit. Too many in the past 14 days and too many in the past 3 months.  Last inquiry was trading auto's back in September that I was aware of. Too few months since recent installment (Vehicle installment) and amounts too high relative to limit but that's their discretion it was about 25% at the time I think. 

The score factors were essentially the same reasons.  Too many inquires, length of time accounts have been established.

 

It appears when We were sent a new card because of a fraudulent charge, we lost points with the account # change (credit karma) not Fico but technically ck gives vantage scores from equifax not experian.   Maybe they thought it was a new account?  

[hdporter]

You need to request a free credit report disclosure from the Experian so that you can investigate these questionable inquiries.

 

https://www.experian.com/ncaconline/creditreport?type=declined