Rejected by citibank

[brownbag]

Has anybody been rejected by Citibank for a credit card? I have a very good income and low spending. I've been with Westpac for 10 years and never paid a cent in interests.
They rejected me and won't tell me why. Any ideas? Are they completely incompetent or do they only like customer that pay interest?

 

[MelUser]

Banks are doing very strange things at the moment and lots of loan etc applications are being rejected or accepted with many conditions.

Even on the home loan front, things that were a given 2 years ago are now an uphill battle.

I wouldn't lose any sleep - simply take your business elsewhere.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

i'm with CB but recently applied for a Westpac earth Card when they had a good promo on the Platinum card and was rejected.

They wont tell you why.

Only thing I would suggest is getting a free copy of you credit history at My Credit File - Standard just n case something is going on.

 

[mimishat]

Yep, i've been rejected with Citibank before - and I was already a customer. The woman on the phone said it was probably because I paid my loan off early with them and earnt hardly any interest - (she implied that hence it wasn't worth their while.) The banks work in weird ways...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Has anybody been rejected by Citibank for a credit card? I have a very good income and low spending. I've been with Westpac for 10 years and never paid a cent in interests.
They rejected me and won't tell me why. Any ideas? Are they completely incompetent or do they only like customer that pay interest?

Credit reference checks do a range of things. On time payments are a critical issue (or rather they will look at the reverse, which is a reported default when you miss a payment).

Other things they may have considered are the credit limit on the existing westpac card - and you ability to service not only that debt if you happened to max out the card, but also your ability to service the limit on your NEW card if you maxed that out as well...

They may also look at how many applications you have made recently for other cards, or other credit.

Or if you have store credit cards or agreements - such as buy now pay later.

There may also be something on your credit file that you're not aware of - like a mobile phone bill that was paid late, or a utility bill. This could be several years old. There are reports of people owing a few dollars residual on a bill but that having been reported and because they have moved address or something they haven't got around to paying.

They may also look at continuity of employment, and who you're employed by.

They can also consider how many times you have moved, or whether you have dependents.

So lots of things they can take into account.

Even worse in the UK - there it is often very hard to get a credit card and they never tell you why... very frustrating.

Since I have been back in Oz I have applied for several cards (most recently to get gold card insurance) and surprisingly have been approved for each one. I think the continued stable employment (almost recession proof) and security of living arrangements are the key. I have never paid interest - so at least the cards I have applied for don't seem to mind that (and they get enough from foreign currency transactions anyway)... but maybe citibank does prefer interest payers!

 

[auriga]

Crazy!!!!:!:

 

[greenfrog86]

Given that with the current credit reporting laws in Australia only allow relationship information (ie Amex indicates you have an ongoing relationship with them on your credit file) and default information (where you have not made a payment for many months) there is no way for banks to have any indication of whether you pay your full balance or not.

The information banks use for assessing apps include all of the things mentioned by a previous poster, with the focus on what YOU tell them in the app and your ability to service current and new facilities. This is of course after they have established you don't have any negative reports on your credit file.

Your being rejected for the app will have nothing to do with whether you have every paid interest or not with Westpac.

This does however come into play in considering you for credit limit increases over time...

 

[tuppaware]

I was in the same spot as you. I applied for an Amex Gold card only to be rejected. I got my credit record and found that it was spotless, except that I had a year with no credit requests, then I had 3 requests within 2 months ( New Earth card, and an upgrade of an existing NAB card and something else)
I guess they didnt like it. And although I handle my credit very well, they only see numbers like a risk.

Wait 3/6 months and try again... btw- I would suggest you dont apply for citibank, the number of times they have offered me to increase my limit to liek $36 grand... something I couldn't afford at that interest rate.

 

[FL360]

may be you recently took out a mortgage ?

Aussie's struggle to foot mortgage bill | News.com.au

also, banks at the moment are hiring a lot of credit risk analysts, that's what I have heard....

 

[wxxnxs]

i'm with CB but recently applied for a Westpac earth Card when they had a good promo on the Platinum card and was rejected.

They wont tell you why.

Only thing I would suggest is getting a free copy of you credit history at My Credit File - Standard just n case something is going on.

I have similar situation as you, have NAB & CBA card very easily but was rejected by Westpac & ANZ. The funniest thing is with Bankwest, I used to have a savings account & term deposit with it, and tried to apply for their zero card but got declined, no reason. I immediately closed the account and took all of cash inl the term deposit. I just don't think Bankwest is worth for me to put any cents in it.

 

[NYCguy]

I have similar situation as you, have NAB & CBA card very easily but was rejected by Westpac & ANZ. The funniest thing is with Bankwest, I used to have a savings account & term deposit with it, and tried to apply for their zero card but got declined, no reason. I immediately closed the account and took all of cash inl the term deposit. I just don't think Bankwest is worth for me to put any cents in it.

So... Did you find an alternative that pays the same interest rate?

To quote Judge Whitey from Futurama - "My caddy's chauffeur tells me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested".

 

[clifford]

I have similar situation as you, have NAB & CBA card very easily but was rejected by Westpac & ANZ. The funniest thing is with Bankwest, I used to have a savings account & term deposit with it, and tried to apply for their zero card but got declined, no reason. I immediately closed the account and took all of cash inl the term deposit. I just don't think Bankwest is worth for me to put any cents in it.

I had a situation with the CBA a couple of weeks ago (I am a gold Visa/Amex card holder with them).

I wrote a cheque for $10,000 and they declined it (even though I had much more than this unconditionally available in an account linked to my cheque account). The whole incident cost me $14 in fees, but more importantly, a lot of running around. In my opinion they could have been a lot more helpful to a client like me.

So, the next day I just withdrew $100,000 from the CBA and they will never see this money again. So who is the loser?

BTW, I got a phone call from CBA on Sunday and we will be having a little chat tomorrow. So they do seem to notice....

:shock:

 

[wxxnxs]

So... Did you find an alternative that pays the same interest rate?

To quote Judge Whitey from Futurama - "My caddy's chauffeur tells me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested".

Yes, I did find the alternative with even better rate. I won't go back to bankwest in the rest of my life, I doubt how long will their brand exist after they were sold to CBA.

 

[byu88]

I was on the BP Citibank for about 1 year and only discovered the benefits of citi business and westpac business, i even applied for card services, I started with BP wanted to cancel and transfer to citi business they said no, so i applied online citi business, it got pre approval and after about 3 weeks of getting pay slips, tax assessments and etc i got declined, fine. So i applied for card services was good then got declined cause they thought i was only casual ??? go figure.. I could appeal that so I did sent a letter saying that I am full time.... have not heard since. Got upset at everything and cancelled all my citibank cards. and stuck with westpac who I have been with for over 6 years plus my home loan. couple of weeks or months can't remember I get a letter from Citibank business saying my credit card was approved and had to get that ID check at the post office and finally I have he Citibank business...