Citi increased the welcome offer on their Premier card to 80,000 points recently which is the highest bonus they’ve ever offered on the card.
As a result, many people have jumped on the opportunity to earn a stack of ThankYou points. Unfortunately it seems like a lot of those applicants have had their plans foiled because Citi has declined their application which raises the question – is Citi getting tougher with approvals on the Premier card?
Miles to Memories posited the same question a few days ago as they’d noticed data points suggesting that Citi wasn’t being quite as generous with approvals as you might expect given historical approvals.
We’ve noticed the same thing in the Frequent Miler Insiders group with a reader reporting that she got declined for the following reasons:
- Your credit report shows a high amount of unused credit compared to your available credit lines.
- Your credit report shows too many bank or national revolving accounts.
Several other group members subsequently shared on that thread that they too had been declined for the Premier card for similar reasons.
Citi has been pretty easy on new approvals in the past, so have they really gotten more stingy with approvals, or are we just hearing more data points of applications being declined due to a correspondingly higher number of people applying for the card in the first place due to the increased welcome offer?
Even if you are declined for the Citi Premier card, all hope might not be lost. One of the commenters on that Facebook thread shared that they were declined for the Premier card and then called the reconsideration line (1-800-695-5171). The agent he spoke to then approved his application without any further information being required. I suspect that your success when calling the reconsideration line will be highly a case of YMMV, but it’s certainly worth a try if Citi initially declines you for a new Premier card.
Question
Have you applied for the Citi Premier 80,000 ThankYou point offer? If so, were you successful? If not, did they give a different reason to those above? Let us know in the comments below.
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Instant denial for myself in December and again today, despite reducing revolving credit on accounts. Same reasons as posted above. 1 inquiry in the last 12 months (several business accounts opened). Wife instantly approved however, only three accounts on file and sub-$20k total credit between the three accounts (2 Chase and 1 Citi). They gave her $3k credit line, funny since she’s expected to spend $4k for the bonus but that’s navigable.
Denied because of the same 2 reasons mentioned above. I even have a Citi checking account with a good amount of deposit
Denied because of Your credit report shows a high amount of unused credit compared to your available credit lines 🙁
Just declined for having too much available credit. 815 credit score and high income earner. I nearly sh!t my pants when I saw that I was declined. 0/24 over here with 2 biz cards in the past 2 years.
Declined because I have too much credit with not enough usage. 810+ scores across 3 bureaus. The agent suggested that I used more credit, but I do it is just that I pay them off. Like others said I will put Citi on my blocklist and not apply for their cards again. They wasted my time and added a hard pull on my account. Very annoying.
Denied just now too many revolving accounts with zero balances add I post them off every month. Credit score 827, 2/24, earn 129k, 49,500 available on my other cards. Called recon and they said I had to much credit available. Will call again but that’s a hard pull on my credit.
Me and my wife Got declined with excellent credit due to We have mutiple credit cards with available credit because we don’t owe money so if you are the same don’t apply or waste inquiry reconsideration dept can’t approve unless credit report shows other credit cards account are closed
Also denied for similar reasons as above — and when I spoke with the “reconsideration line” (which is just their acquisition department) the agent told me that she also noticed Citi being much tougher on applicants. I guess Citi is off my list for future credit lines!
I applied, also got denied for high amount of unused credit & too many accounts, plus they mentioned I opened a new card a couple months ago (was 1/6, 4/12, 6/24). I had lowered the credit limits on a couple Citi cards a couple weeks before applying, but was not optimistic based on these data points. Citi has been great to me in the past–always approved, high credit limits, great retention offers, etc. Guess it is over!
I called recon and they said I could try further reducing credit limits with Citi & with other banks, closing unused accounts, and they could try reprocessing my app in a month, but it would be another hard pull. No thanks. Based on the recent data points, I figured my chances were slim, but given my better than average experience in the past with Citi, I thought I would give it a shot. You win some, you lose some.
I simultaneously hit submit for this card & Barclays Choice Hotels card. Figured Barclays would deny me too since they just gave me a new card less than 2 months ago and I am at 6/24. That one was approved.
I applied and was not approved due to 2 reasons: 1.”Your credit report shows a high amount of unused credit compared to your available credit lines.” 2. Your credit report shows insufficient history on accounts” (I had just opened an AAdvantage card 1 month before). I called the Reconsideration line and they told me reason #1 was a “system decline” aka automatic, not a “judgmental decline.” My credit report showed 4 open credit cards and 90+k available credit due to the limits increasing over time. I called those cards to lower the limits to about 40k total and will reapply for Citi Premier in one month.
Meanwhile My brother who had only one credit card, was approved.
First card I’ve ever not been auto approved except that chase oops which was auto decline >5/24:
“We have received your application and further processing is required. We will contact you in approximately 7-10 days regarding our decision”
Guess I wait and see now.
instant decline, saw reasons in post, 800+ score, 4/24.
I have not had this card for over 2+ years so I thought I’d apply for it again on 7/9. Despite having a credit score of 800+ I still got an instant rejection. It’s been an entire month and I never received a letter explaining the rejection reason. I’m wondering if calling their reconsideration line is worth it?
Instant decline.
Reason-
Your credit report shows a high amount of unused credit compared to your available credit lines.
I applied on 7/19 and was denied for the same two reasons Stephen stated in the post. Based on past experience and ~820 credit scores, I was surprised.
I called reconsideration on 7/21. I was polite and offered that I would be open to closing my two open Citi Preferred cards to help address the reasons for denial if that would help me get approved for the Premier. The agent said she’d escalate my application for higher-level reconsideration and that I should hear back within a week.
Today (7/27), I received one email saying “we’re working on your application” and then, a few minutes later, an email saying that I’ve been approved.
I, too, received a much lower credit line than I would have anticipated, but one can meet minimum spend with almost any credit line…. 🙂
That’s good they listened to your appeal despite the “high unused credit” reason being a “system decline” that supposedly can’t be negotiated. I might try a second reconsideration call saying I lowered a bunch of other cards limits, which I did