Hi from Malta! I’m on week three of an epic European adventure currently sitting in a beautiful hotel room overlooking a harbor and a nearly 500 year old fortified city — putting finishing touches on this article I wrote before I left. More on this trip to come! I can’t wait to share once I’m back home.

Here are a few important things in the points and miles world to read before we dive into credit card denials — and how they are not always final (a little known fact!).

• There are some incredibly high welcome bonus offers right now — up to 300,000 points from ONE card. If you spend $5,000-$10,000+/month, message me and I’ll send you links to these cards, some with elevated offers. If you’re getting this as an email, feel free to reply or click below to message me. This many points can get you round trip business class flights, 5 star hotel stays and more.

  Message Rachel Lipson | The Point

• A new transfer partner for Virgin! Rove, the first travel rewards program to provide a flexible way for users to earn and redeem miles (that’s not a credit card) has just announced their newest transfer partner is VIRGIN! This is huge! If you haven’t yet signed up for Rove, use this special link to earn 1,500 transferable points. They transfer to a ton of partners, including Air France/KLM, Lufthansa, Qatar and more. Don’t miss this.

• There is still an elevated bonus on my favorite everyday card that earns 50% more points than a typical 1x card. It’s marketed as a cash back card but when combined with the #1 travel card, it earns points to use for travel. Use this link to apply (thank you!).

• The #1 travel card: This is it! If you don’t have it, you want it! It’s the foundation of points travel. Already have it? You’re also eligible for this card!

• Don’t forget to book Hyatt hotels in advance of the upcoming devaluation. More on that here (ugh).

So, you applied for a card and never heard back (or got denied). Now what?

Applying for a credit card feels so personal. It is personal!

It’s your credit, your finances, the piece of plastic you take out to pay for things for the people you love, the swipe that makes experiences possible for your family.

So when you’re looking at a welcome bonus, earning potential and all the things that make getting a new card worth it and then you get messages like:

“We’ll review your application and be in touch soon”

or

“Unfortunately, we are unable to approve your card application“

It feels VERY personal. Right?

If you’ve applied and run into a denial or any unexpected roadblocks, this post will help you navigate those challenges! It can be discouraging and frustrating but it doesn’t mean it’s final. There’s hope!

There you are, sitting in front of your computer, thinking about all those welcome bonus points you can get from opening a new card, and how great it will be for booking trips.

Maybe you’ve messaged with me, or taken a class, and used my link to apply (thank you!).

Maybe you have excellent credit and you know you’ve done everything right but when you click “submit” on the application, you get one of those dreaded messages.

It’s hard not to feel like it’s some sort of judgment call or punishment. Money and credit are serious things and it feels personal (and sometimes anxiety provoking) when things don’t go as planned.

For many people, receiving a denial feels like some kind of failure.

Others, rush to try to apply again thinking something must have gone wrong only to get yet another hard pull on their credit report and another denial.

Some just wait for that follow up from the bank when the application is in review only to never hear back.

But, here's the thing! Most of these decisions are not final! You have 30 days from the time of your application to have the bank “reconsider” your application. In that time, your credit pull is still good to go and in most cases they shouldn’t have to pull it again.

The reason for your denial or for your application going into review may have absolutely nothing to do with your credit score or bank history. There are so many reasons why this can happen.

Read on for 5 tried and true strategies that can turn a denial or an app in review into the coveted:

“Congrats! Your new card is approved!”

Learn when to hang tight, when to take steps (and what steps to take) and how to know when to move on.

5 tips on how to have the bank reconsider your credit card application:

1. Find out the reasons why

   The bank is required to tell you why your application wasn’t approved. Usually, they’ll mail you a letter — but if you already have cards with them, you might see it sooner in your account.

   You can wait it out. Or you can call after a few days.

   Sometimes an application that’s “in review” magically turns into an approval after a few days, and if you call too soon, they may not even be able to locate the application in their system.

   I’m not a “wait it out” person, so I almost always call. If you do call, make sure you get a person (pressing “0” usually does the trick). Ask if there’s anything missing or anything you can provide to help move things along.

   And if it was denied, don’t leave the call without understanding why. That’s the piece that tells you exactly what to fix before the next application.

2. Prepare for the “reconsideration” call

   Once you know why your application was denied, you can begin to strategize how to address each issue one by one. A handful of examples!:

   • Insufficient credit history: maybe you’re new to the US or have a limited credit history for other reasons. Point to your excellent payment history on the card(s) you do have as well as your income, etc.

   • High credit utilization: If you’re proportionally using too much of the credit that’s available to you, your credit utilization will be high. If you have other cards from the same bank, you can offer to move available credit (not to be confused with a credit balance!) around from another card so that you aren’t asking for more overall credit, just another card. Point out again your excellent credit score, payment history etc to offset this concern.

   • Too much credit relative to your income: see above! Same strategy can work with this one. Ask to move a credit line over if you have one to move. For example, if a personal card has a $10K limit and I’m getting another card from the same bank, I can ask for $5K of the credit limit to be moved to the new card in order to get the card approved. This way, the bank is taking on less risk since I’m not actually asking for more credit overall, just another card!

3. Don’t be afraid to hang up and call again.

   Never underestimate the power of hanging up and calling again! I’m pretty sure your chances of getting the same rep twice are equal to getting struck by lighting (don’t quote me on that!) so if you find yourself chatting with an unhelpful rep, hang up, call again and try your luck with someone new.

4. Don’t assume it’s denied or final.

   An app in review may just need some extra info from you. Perhaps there’s fraud protection and they just want to confirm your identity (can be annoying but it’s for your own safety!), or maybe there was a mistake on your application.

   Calling to find out what’s up can clear up a lot of confusion and speed along an approval. You can continue to call multiple times in the 30 days after applying in order to get approved. Your credit card pull is good for that long so you shouldn’t have to have another pull.

Rather than googling the number for the bank, go to the bank’s website and find the contact info there. Google searches can return fraudulent scammy phone numbers (be careful!). If it’s a business card, check for the business card reconsideration line.

Make sure to speak with a person and be prepared to discuss your application.

Notes on business cards and reconsideration calls

If you’ve applied for a business card and you have an unconventional business, the reconsideration call can feel particularly stressful even when there is NO reason to be stressed.

Here’s a flow chart I did not create (and I don’t take credit for, ha!) but it can be helpful for any denial — especially when you’re looking at business card reconsiderations.

Note: this is info for one popular bank but much of the info applies to other banks as well. And btw, sorry for the lingo (again this isn’t mine) but HUCA means “hang up call again”.

Some denial reasons, cannot be overcome. Opening too many cards in a short period of time, opening more than 5 personal cards in 24 months, opening them in the wrong order or sometimes just having a particular card can prevent you from getting another!

But, a denial is usually not final.

Following the rules and opening cards at the right time, is important! I always recommend doing a wallet edit or messaging me anytime you’re thinking of opening a new card. I’m here to help and truly appreciate your support when you use my links to apply for any cards.

You may just be one call away from an approval.

And once you get that approval? Call and ask to have your card expedited if you need it right away! Many banks will do this.

And just a quick note to say thanks to all of you for being here and a huge thanks to you for using any of my links when you apply for cards.

Have any questions? Leave a comment here or message me!

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