Advice on limits for applications, and more.

[jabbairc]

Thanks @Dr Ralph appreciate the reply!

Trying to get to churn as a goal, currently do rely on both the Amex Explorer and 28 degrees, so ideally keep both, dump the Amex PE and churn.

 

[kdser]

If you are serious about churning, get rid of the existing cards. If you don't feel that committed, you may keep one card, or two maximum.

Make up your mind what you really want to do first.

 

[theblank]

1/ I have 3 cards (2 Amex, 1 Visa) how easy / likely is it to get approved for a 4th?

Number of cards you have is irrelevant. It is an affordability issue. Income v expenses.

2/ I tried to get a St George Amplify abt 6mths ago and was rejected. Shld I apply with a different amplify bank or all the same?

wont make a difference.

3/ I'm thinking of getting rid of Amex PE and also reducing the high limit on Amex Explorer, cld that be the issue?

depends, on what your total limits are, and what you can afford to repay.

the only way to know is apply, if you get rejected, then you know that your limits are too high. Cull more and try again *after* your credit file shows they are cancelled. (assuming that you have stable employment etc)

In saying that last year I cancelled a 12k limit and a 6k limit, and then last week applied for a 6k limit with another bank, and even though conditionally approved subject to payslip it was later declined. This means that a human has made a decision to deliberately override that auto-assessment. I am yet to question this, although its likely going to be a waste of time.

 

[jabbairc]

@theblank that's very valuable, thank you! Especially your own experience and insight.

 

[Kefuan]

Number of cards you have is irrelevant. It is an affordability issue. Income v expenses.

Not sure why but have had 2 declines recently.

120k pa. One cc of 15k but I would be churning that.....and a 30k car loan and rent is only 250 p/week.

Dont really understand sometimes!

 

[tdimdad]

Same here. two rejections recently (1 Amex + 1 Citi) so time to wait for a while and see if I can cancel a card or reduce limits. Earlier last year I was successful with two cards.
The cancelling hinges on whether the CC travel insurance will still be valid on a trip purchased but yet to be done. That'd be on the Citi Premier QF card.

 

[Spongbob]

Your number of "dependents" could an issue?

 

[theblank]

Ok, I have finalised my battle with CBA, and I lost. I am a former banker(wanker) with a lot of experience in credit assessment and approvals, I get it.
Got approved under their serviceability policy, then declined for failing serviceability and they wont tell you why. This is obviously the status quo now.

I applied online, was conditionally approved for 10k limit, which I dropped to 6k. The Decision is approved subject to verification of income, Uploaded 2 payslips as requested, and waited. 2 days later its declined without explanation.

I rang to question this knowing full well that they wont give me a detailed answer but I am a PITA bank customer (see above, I cant tolerate incompetence) and they said that the Assessment team decided that it failed serviceability. That is nonsense, because the online assessment calculates serviceability according to policy. The reason for this is to save time, and remove subjectivity. For a human to override this is a serious action, means that they discovered a discrepancy so huge, that they couldn't question it, and instead just flat decline. This is what a Credit Manager does when its a customer that the bank doesnt want, for one reason or another, like he dresses funny or the discrepancies are obviously lies.

So I tell the lady this and despite the obvious spiel she is reciting (to be honest CBA staff are pretty good) she realises I know what I am talking about, and offers to escalate to assessments for a 2nd look and a response.

Additionally, i thought it strange the Application process did not ask me if I had any assets. maybe I accidentally clicked 'dont have any'. She said sometimes the application doesn't ask for them because assets dont pay debts (yeah i know), but that seem so odd because assets form an important picture about the applicants creditworthiness. For example a person that claims to have an income surplus, should have assets to demonstrate that. If he doesnt, then something is missing from his story and should be questioned at least.

24 hours later she rings back and reads out what is obviously a long prepared statement. Just really virtue signalling BS about protecting me froim financial difficulties without saying anything. One obvious lie thrown in that the Online Assessor doesnt take into account debts outside the banks, and she kept repeating the issue that I had too many debts, Not the total limits $ amount, but the number of accounts. I have 3 HL splits albeit <$140k and 4 credit cards. Seems having 4 credit cards is an issue. She said they wouldn't indicate how much I need to reduce CC limits by to be approved. She never even said my CC limits was too high.

I can only conclude CBA has adopted a new policy not yet programmed into their systems. Might explain why it took 90 minutes in the phone queue to speak the credit card dept.

Or the fact that I didnt record my assets mucked up the application, but if thats the case, why wouldnt they say so.

I will wait 3 months and try again.


p.s. this is the first CC application i have made since 12/2018. cancelled 3 in last 12 months.

 

[33kft]

I got my first ever knock back recently too, from NAB. I have to admit I laughed out loud when the lady I talked to on the phone was listing the reasoning for it to me and started off with "well for one, you don't have much of a relationship with us...". I told her the recursive nature of that one might rule me out permanently, so I won't try again. She was pretty apologetic so whatever they've all tuned recently is obviously making their poor phone agents lives terrible.

Very altruistic of these money printing machines banks now working so hard to protect us from borrowing money from them.

 

[mrmerc500]

I got my first ever knock back recently too, from NAB. I have to admit I laughed out loud when the lady I talked to on the phone was listing the reasoning for it to me and started off with "well for one, you don't have much of a relationship with us...". I told her the recursive nature of that one might rule me out permanently, so I won't try again. She was pretty apologetic so whatever they've all tuned recently is obviously making their poor phone agents lives terrible.

Very altruistic of these money printing machines banks now working so hard to protect us from borrowing money from them.

Based on this comment, you wonder if opening an Online Savings Account & depositing regular amounts for a little while beforehand could impact the banks view of an individual & their ability to save.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Based on this comment, you wonder if opening an Online Savings Account & depositing regular amounts for a little while beforehand could impact the banks view of an individual & their ability to save.

Unlikely.

Income and ability to repay remain key criteria.

 

[GSP]

Unlikely.

Income and ability to repay remain key criteria.

I think that they are longing at credit card history as well now from the snippets they've let on. i.e # of CC's opened/closed I've nothing concrete however.

Also, I'm wary if the CC limits used in the application differ from the sum on the credit card would cause the problem - another hint provided - i.e was told if you don't agree with your credit history to get it right first. A problem when a credit provider is tardy on update the agencies whilst applications are going on.

 

[maia200]

I got my first ever knock back recently too, from NAB. I have to admit I laughed out loud when the lady I talked to on the phone was listing the reasoning for it to me and started off with "well for one, you don't have much of a relationship with us...". I told her the recursive nature of that one might rule me out permanently, so I won't try again. She was pretty apologetic so whatever they've all tuned recently is obviously making their poor phone agents lives terrible.

Very altruistic of these money printing machines banks now working so hard to protect us from borrowing money from them.

I had my first knock back ever from NAB late last year and it was suggested that if I open an account with them I would be successful on my next application........

 

[casanovawa]

Friggin Royal Commission looks like it has them tighter than fishes rear ends..

 

[EELS]

I was on the same boat. Had never had rejections till mid last year. Since then I have had ANZ (had always had cards with them), Bankwest, St george reject my applications. At the time of application I only had one CC which was tied to my homeloan (10k limit)

I couldn't understand as i thought i was doing pretty well servicing my life and my loans as my investment property was self paying and I only had a small car loan. My income was sufficient to put small amounts aside every month too.

Anyway, I opened a new transaction account and kept it tidy. My monthly salary goes into it, i take money out for my mortgage and CC bills only. I only started applying for new cards 4 months after having the new transaction account. I've finally managed to be approved for the new cards, i'm not sure if i'm lucky but I think this may have helped.

 

[33kft]

A transaction account isn't a credit instrument and isn't reported to any of the agencies, though. The only entity aware of it are the actual bank you opened it with. If you opened it with NAB and then apply for a NAB credit card, it may have some effect. If you apply for a credit card with another bank, they'll never know of its existence.

 

[Dr Ralph]

If you apply for a credit card with another bank, they'll never know of its existence.

They will know if you supply your statements with your application.

 

[33kft]

They will know if you supply your statements with your application.

As an unsolicited additional document, or have people been asked for statements as part of CC applications? Thankfully I've never had to prove anything but income and would decline such a request based on logistics (I have a lot of transaction accounts, at least 10).

 

[EELS]

As an unsolicited additional document, or have people been asked for statements as part of CC applications? Thankfully I've never had to prove anything but income and would decline such a request based on logistics (I have a lot of transaction accounts, at least 10).

I've always been asked for bank statements, at least in the last year or so. They will give you the option to upload OR provide your internet banking details (you can nominate one) that shows your pay being deposited (generally transactions over 2 months) into that account.

 

[Dr Ralph]

As an unsolicited additional document, or have people been asked for statements as part of CC applications?

One recent application I made gave me the option of the 2 most recent pay slips or 3 months of bank statements showing my salary going in.