Does pre-approved mean anything?

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by kenny, May 7, 2001.

  1. kenny

    kenny Well-Known Member

    I see so many people getting pre-approved for this and that but it still causes a hard inquiry and most of the time you don't get approved. Does it really mean anything to be pre-approved for a card or is it the same as picking up a app for a gas station and filling it out.
     
  2. DaveLV

    DaveLV Well-Known Member

    There is a section on your credit report that shows "promotional" inquiries. I've found in all but one instance that if I get a "pre-approved" application and send it in, I get the account.

    Amex Optima once sent me a pre-approved application and denied me because of my tax lien.

    Because I am a computer professional and am on a lot of mailing lists as such, I get a lot of "invitations" to apply for cards I know I will never get. By creative use of my middle initial I can tell what list the company got my name from. There is never any promotional inquiry on my report from any of those companies that send these "inivitations". Typically if I get an offer to apply for something, I can look in other people's mailboxes at work and everyone has gotten the same offer.

    So, I think that "pre-approved" means something most of the time. There are those here who do not agree.
     
  3. Momof3

    Momof3 Well-Known Member

    From my experience it all depends on what information they request from you. If they only ask you to sign it and give social security number and phone number, then you have a pretty good chance, only ONCE have been denied after accepting a preapproval.

    The preapprovals I got:
    Amex
    Citi Plat
    Sears
    Associates
    Spegiel
    Discover

    I received them all except Discover, and with their 2 cycle billing who needs them, they are now on my internal "black list"

    Preselected, invitation to apply, those I stay clear from.

    Mom
     
  4. greyfox

    greyfox Well-Known Member

    I have had lots of pre-appovals, and the ones I sent in I got. I got BOA on a "pre-selected" offer.

    I have an unusual living arrangement, and get shot down when applying online, (except for NextCard) so the pre-approved are good for me since the form doesn't ask so many questions.
     
  5. keltexx

    keltexx Well-Known Member

    I have been getting lots of "pre-approval" solicitations for students here recently after finishing my master's degree. However, when I look at the enclosed material, its actually an invitation to apply.

    I have even received phone calls of this nature for the "University of X Discover/Amex/etc. card". The gist of the call is " We would like for you to apply and take your info over the phone..."

    Unfortunately, I just got turned down for a "pre-approval" that looked legit to me. Just SS#, Income. Came with a code to enter. Denied-and the real bummer-it was Orchard.
     
  6. pbm

    pbm Administrator

  7. the other

    the other Well-Known Member

    Re: Does pre-approved mean anything

    I very rarely have been approved for a pre-approved offer.
     
  8. G. Fisher

    G. Fisher Banned

    What proof exists that it causes a "hard inquiry"?

    The three letters "pre" are strange in this context. There's prenatal, prenuptial, prepayment, pre-owned, pre-Columbian, precolonial, predawn, predefine, prefrozen, prewar, premade,prearrange, preassembled, precompute, pretrial, premeasure, presweeten, preflight, pretape, pregame, pretax, precut and prewrap. But no "preapproval."

    http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=preapproval

    http://www.realtytimes.com/rtnews/rtcpages/20010420_quickie.htm

    It's a made-up word created by marketers and lawyers to entice consumers but allow lenders a back door though which to slink. I've got a copy of the Cary Grant Alfred Hitchcock movie North By Northwest at home-- I'll post a quote from Grant's adman character.
     
  9. Ron

    Ron Well-Known Member

    Momof3,
    I got pre-approval application from:
    Associates
    Shell
    Spiegel
    Sears
    Citibank USA
    Washington Mutual
    Discover Gold Card
    Kmnart Card
    Juniper Bank
    Amex Green
    Amex Gold Card
    Fleet Bank Line of Credit
    Advanta Business Mastercard
    Quicken Platinium Mastercard
    I didn't get all of them from the pre-approval and most of them are junk. I accept a fewlike Discover Gold Card and Kmart card. I can't get Amex pre-approval because my name is on their blacklist. Most of them I applied on the web or called in.

    Ron.
     
  10. Nave

    Nave Well-Known Member

    Without a legit answer I totalled up the responses - I get 5 to 3 against Pre-approval meaning Pre-approval.

    -Dave
     
  11. steve

    steve Well-Known Member

    I don't get that many pre-approvals probably because I have 8 cards, but I'm usually approved for most cards that I apply for. A friend of mine has only one credit card and gets pre-approvals from MBNA Platinum, GE Platinum, AT&T Universal Platinum, and Chase Platinum every week like clockwork. I think the banks send out much more pre-approvals to people who have 2 or 3 cards or less rather than people who have 7 or more cards because they feel that people who have few cards are more likely to accept the card if really approved.
     
  12. Sorin

    Sorin Well-Known Member

    If it's a legit preapproval, i.e. they say it on the letter, then you will probably get it. My feeling is they get a list of potential customers that have a minumim score from the CRAs. Then they send preapprovals to all of them. When they respond, the bank pulls a real credit report and then compares it to their internal guidelines. So if you have a good score but a bk in your report and the bank doesn't want any bk customers, then you are denied. Same if you are on that particular bank's black list (i.e. you shafted them in the past). So I would say if you don't have baddies in your CR and you get a preapproval, the card is yours.

    I've never been rejected when I applied for preapproved offers (Providian, Associated). I had success with invitation also (Citibank, MBNA).
     

Share This Page