Good Afternoon! First time poster. I've been working to improve my credit for years. Finally have my median at 685 after a lot of work. Still a ways to go. Well today I decided to apply for my first credit card in years. I applied for the Citi Hilton Honors Premier card. I got the message saying that they needed more time. I then got a call and spent 15 minutes on the phone verifying information with this rep from Citi. He said they still needed more time. I called back later into the automated system which said they were unable to approve the account. 3 hours later, another call from Citi. She was calling to verify my social and dob. She then said no decision has been made yet and they need more time to process. I told her about the denial message and she said the application hasn't been declined and is still being processed. Anyone else go through something like this before? Not sure why it would take them this long, nor have I ever had to speak to two people in one day to verify my information from my application. I'm hopeful that I get approved, but the automated message has me thinking it is a no, just not sure why I would have received another call after that. Thanks for any insight you can provide.
Welcome to Creditnet! This is becoming more common these days. For example, my mother had to actually send in copies of her tax returns to one credit card company before she was approved. They needed to document her income, and then it took about 2-3 weeks before she received a final answer. Anyway, I doubt you were declined already since the rep gave you a call to verify additional information. Give them some more time to process the application. That said, this card is marketed towards those with excellent credit, so your scores are still a bit low. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Please keep us updated!
Just be patient it sounds like you are going to get approved. My husband experienced the same thing applying for a different credit card. It sounds like the credit card will be worth the wait. Good Luck, let us know if you got approved. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
Thank you both for your replies. Unfortunately, I was not approved, just got the email this morning. Bummed but at the same time, it seems as though they took time to think about it which is more than I have gotten in the last few years.
Sorry to hear that. Your credit scores sound like they're still in the "fair credit" range, so wait a few months and then apply for a credit card for fair credit. The Capital One Cash Rewards Card, for example, is a popular option for those with scores similar to yours, and I think you'll have a strong chance of getting approved. In the meantime, what are you doing to improve your FICO scores?
