I received a preapproved offer for a citibank card and was wondering if anyone else has received one and whether it is a true preapproval or just an opportunity to generate an inquiry. I read the fine print which says that I satisfied the bank's standards for approval based on credit bureau information but the card might be denied if my credit profile changed after the date of the offer. (It hasn't). Anyone have experience with this in relation to a citibank preapproved offer? .
Dave, My experience has been that "pre-approved" offers are quite reliable. I have never yet been turned down after an offer that was labeled "pre-approved." If they really want to weasel out of it, they have another term, "pre-qualified," which I believe is somewhat weaker. Then there is "pre-selected," a term used by the Discover organization, which simply means that they initiated the transaction. As far as Citibank goes, I have had a Citibank MasterCard for over six years now. I have actually skipped payments on a couple of occasions, although I made them later and they aren't on my credit report for some reason. My recent payment performance has been excellent, and I recently received a "pre-approved" offer for another card, the "Click Citi" Internet card. There were no problems, and acceptance seemed almost automatic. I got the card today, and the credit limit was $3000, my highest ever. My experience has been that Citibank plays fewer games than most banks, and that even if you were to get an inquiry but no card, it still would have been worth the try.
I received two pre-approved offers for their Platinum Select. The first was in Aug(?) 99 and then again in Sept 99. I was turned down for both cards, even though they had the 'we checked your credit file' statement on both. Supposedly, you can challenge the decline if that statement is there, but I didn't bother.
My husband and I both were approved for our own, I got mine he got denied. Pre approval DOES NOT guarantee a card believe me
Got my offer a couple of month ago and the card shortly after. It was a 12.9% APR, no annual fee, all the good platinum stuff. This is surprising, since my credit history is very short, my first secured card has about 9 months. I was impressed by their customer support reps...had to call them several times with various problems and they were very helpfull However i have a problem with an online merchant who didn't ship the order, i'm curious how they'll solve this... Anyway, this card's a keeper...
My experience with citibank's pre-approved offers has been positive. I received a pre-approved offer for the platinum select and received the card 2 weeks after phoning in my acceptance of the offer. My understanding of pre-approved offers is that the lender, generally receives a pre-screened list of people who fit certain pre-selected criteria (for e.g., they may request pre-screenings for all people in a specific geographic area with at least 4 trade lines, no 30 day lates, revolving credit usage at less than 40%, etc... All folks that fit this profile will receive a pre-approved offer. If you accept the offer, then the lender will check your credit. There could be a time lapse of up to 60 days (from the time you were originally screened to the time you actually accepted the offer and granted them permisson to check your credit report). It is possible that your circumstances may have changed by the time they actually check your credit. If you no longer fit their pre-selected profile, say you suddenly have revolving credit usage at 70%, or you are 60 days late on one of your trade lines, they may deny your request for credit. Sorry this is so long. Hope it helps.
