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Seems like this would be effective if only because the fact that you are able to put together a cogent written communication with reasonable arguments is suggestive that you have some degree of maturity.
Seems like this would be effective if only because the fact that you are able to put together a cogent written communication with reasonable arguments is suggestive that you have some degree of maturity.
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Why is he writing letters for his son? I get that you want to help your kids, but when they're old enough to be married it seems kind of helicopter-y to be writing their credit request letters for them.
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@h3llc4t, breaker of office dress codes: There's no indication that his son is old enough to be married. He could be applying on the part of his son because he wants his son to build credit while he is young. I got my first credit card at 16 and it was in my name, but my parents applied for it.
@pecan 3.14159265: The article mentions that he's at least 24 (or that they tried to get him his first card at 24, anyway), and that the author wrote the letter as if he were Josh, who is married to a woman named Shannon.
I checked the article a few times to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding, because I, too, had a card when I was quite young. I guess if that's what the parents want to do then that's what they should go for, but it seems like a valuable opportunity for the consumer to become more educated/responsible by writing his own letter.
@pecan 3.14159265: Not really. The son could simply have asked his dad for help since the dad had experience in dealing with this stuff. No big deal.
I was denied through bank of america for a small business credit card.
I had applied for it after Advanta went out of business(Thanks consumerist for alerting us to advanta failing)
Anyways boa denied me. I called them up(even though they say on the denial letter to send them any additional info via mail and said they needed to reconsider and basically said to them I was a great customer and they should want me.
It worked!
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Hey, I did something like this years ago and had no idea it had a name. I didn't actually get a denial, I got a stringing-me-along-and-hoping-I'd-go-away, and after several months of that I sent an overview of what I'd provided and why it met their terms. It did work. (I think it was for an AmEx, which I actually haven't had in years.)
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One time I got banned from commenting on Consumerist because of a horrible mistake on my part. I sent an email to Consumerist explaining what I was trying to do, and that my intentions were good, albeit immature. They agreed to reinstate my ability provided that I behave myself.
Thanks Roz!
/ True story
Great tip. I'll have to keep this in mind for the future!
\"We are not heavy users of credit and never plan to be,\"
I would have left that out, AMEX likes lots of usage AKA lots of interchange.
@wcnghj: Dear Visa, I'm a deadbeat who will ring up plenty of late and over limit charges and carry a maxed balance generating the highest interest payments. I can haz card now?
I did this for an airline rewards Chase card.
I was denied because I was a recent immigrant and therefore had no credit history. I called up and discovered there was a secret address to send these sorts of letters and any extra evidence you have.
So I wrote a nice letter and attached my credit history from the UK (managed to find it online and print it from the UK version of Experian). I got my card albeit with a slightly lower limit than I had originally applied for and now I am building credit history.
Search online and you can find \"Recon\" numbers for the various banks. That's a bit quicker than a letter. I've used it for two different cards (Chase and Juniper) with success. Once to get approved, once to get a higher initial credit line.
Expect to talk about your credit history, and why you are 'rehabilitated'. Also about your ability to pay. Shouldn't take more than about five to ten minutes though.
Citibank--American Airlines card. I was traveling a lot and wanted it. I got a \"please apply\" letter. I did. I was denied. I was annoyed. Not even EXPECTING it to work, I scribbled on the BACK of the letter in my terrible writing that I had good credit and really wanted this card due to the airline rewards. I added that if they didn't want to give it to me, they shouldn't have asked me. A couple weeks later a card with a $5000 limit arrived. It's now $11,300 and has always been paid on time, and carries a small balance. Try scribbling!
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Most of the time, these decisions are automated - they go through a series of rules set up by a risk department and are never seen by human beings.
So there are a series of if this is met then this decision is made type paths - and in the end it's either a YES or a NO. And it's a good decision for a majority of the people. As in a model.
For individuals, there are always good reasons to go against the model. The credit departments just need good reason to look at these individuals. These letters will get a set of eyeballs on your credit if it was decided automatically.
First step before you do this: take a step back and carefully consider if there is a good reason you were denied the card in the first place.
Credit card companies want to give people credit cards; it's how they make money. So, they usually have a pretty good reason when they deny credit.
\"insure\" is the wrong word.
I thought this was a \"professional letter.\" If it were truly professional the author would have used \"its\" instead of \"it's.\"
@pgh9fan1: Back that horse up folks... \"its\" is not the same as \"it's\". The former can be used... \"the bear went into its den.\"... the den belonging to the bear. The later is the contraction of \"it is\"... used \"It's the bear's den.\" who's den the one belonging to the bear.
@pgh9fan1:
Well, it truly worked, though.
@pgh9fan1:
Anyone who fights over spelling or punctuation with a snarky attitude is very petty.
@pgh9fan1:
Just for the hell of it, here's a few more things:
...card application, reference #... (Semi-colon, even?)
...you can see from our credit report that we have neither missed a payment nor been late; I know...
...your reconsideration and my receipt of a new...
Can I has win?
Honestly, I believe this was a perfectly fine letter. Nobody needs to be this exacting. And I know I've probably made some mistakes in my corrections. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to point out where they are, if my vowels remain intact.
@pgh9fan1:
Also, ensure
</pedant>
@pgh9fan1: i think your both jerks