I’ve recently applied for the Citi bank signature credit card to take advantage of the bonus QF points on offer, and unfortunately been declined with no reason given.
I then requested my credit report from Veda and im assuming it is due to a $150 listing on my file I had with Vodafone, which has been settled. Back in 2012, I had the Vodafone dispute when they network broke down, long story short, left Voda and they billed me for that amount, the emotion then got the better of me and decided not to pay it, but the amount has been settled in 2014 eventually.
And since I had no issues with my credit rating, renewed my Telstra contracts through out the years after I left Voda, and applied and approved for the ANZ black card, however Citi seems to be a bit tight on their policy, and when I contacted them to enquire (mind you their communication was poor, a foreign call centre with different staffs telling me different stories), they basically said no reason is given, and its just been declined, and that was it.
I would have thought there could’ve been some sort of investigation team where I could present evidences re the listing on my credit report (countless of email threads back and forth with Voda back in 2012 and the TIO corresppndance as well).
I was just wondering if this is a common practice? or is it only a few particular banks?
Seems weird that ANZ had no issue with a $15k limit black card.
Just quietly banks all have different requirements for lending and how they judge your credit and whether or not they’re happy to approve your application. So just because you’ve got card A with one bank doesn’t necessarily mean anything in regard to bank B approving you for a different card. All banks have different risk assessments, different criteria and everything so having a certain card is not a reliable indicator that you’d necessarily be approved for another one.\r\n\r\nYou could possibly chase some customer service representative in Australia if you had a mind to, however I’m just not sure it would do any good.\r\n\r\nYou’ve obtained a copy of your credit report which is great, but now that you know what’s on it and that it’s accurate, I don’t know what more you could do. Citi have clearly seen this credit report, and something on it has told them that you don’t fit the mould of people they’re happy to approve for this card. Maybe if you could find someone more helpful you could get some clarification as to exactly what it is on your history and about your score that’s led them to judge you unsuitable, but since you’ve determined that your credit history and score is accurate they still wouldn’t accept you I wouldn’t have thought?
Banks are under no obligation to reveal reasons for credit card application decline. Nor that I'm aware of any appeal process .
Unfortunately it appears a 1 unpaid bill appears as a black mark on your record. As Jimmy says it appears Citi has tighter criteria than other providers.
Yes, I’ve found Citi very difficult to deal with in the application process. In fact, when I used them a few years ago they were utterly useless. Not bad for ongoing service once you have the card.