<p>Am bemused that I have just been rejected by CCard company for a CC while according to their and credit bureau records, my credit is near the max possible. I had decided I didn’t want the card because its so hard to speak with a live person and customer service is AWFUL. </p>
<p>Just was amused to get the rejection. We have over 6 figures in credit we can draw from, never carry any balance, and have never had a late payment EVER. I just find it vastly amusing.</p>
<p>Are you currently employed with a job that matches your mortgage? I know my mother was rejected because her income was considered too low to pay the monthly mortgage bills, even though she’s not the main breadwinner in our household. </p>
<p>Also when I read the title I thought this referred to some new College Confidential card that only people who scored above a certain score on the SAT could qualify for.</p>
<p>Haha! Whenhen, I was thinking the same thing!</p>
<p>I also thought she was talking about a College Confidential card. :p</p>
<p>
This is most likely the problem. Do they know that your DH is retired now?</p>
<p>If you were to tap all of that credit, plus whatever the new card would give you, they probably don’t feel you could easily pay it back without a large income.</p>
<p>We have no debt, including no mortgages or loans! I make a minuscule income but we mostly live on H’s pension and our investments.</p>
<p>The pension is more than many incomes and guaranteed for both our lives. Even if we tapped out our credit, our assets are many times our credit and repayment would NOT be any problem.</p>
<p>^ I have heard of retirees being turned down for mortgages despite excellent assets. The steady stream of non-investment income is what counts, apparently. Ironically, a job can disappear but issuers apparently do not count assets much into their calculations.
A lifetime defined benefit pension* should *count as the most steady of income streams (unless it is for a pension based on having worked for the city of Detroit)! </p>
<p>Aren’t you entitled to an explanation of why you were turned down?</p>
<p>You were turned down because you won’t carry a balance so they won’t make money from your interest.</p>
<p>Assets can disappear overnight.</p>
<p>I’m not doubting your ability to repay at all, I’m just trying to look at it from the CC company’s point of view.</p>
<p>I’m sure age factors into it, as (not to be morbid) death becomes increasingly likely with each passing year. This creates risk tho the CC company.</p>
<p>
If someone uses the contents of your credit report to turn you down for credit, they are required to offer you a copy of the credit report they used, so you can check for errors. But I don’t think they are required to specifically state their reason.</p>
<p>Rather moot because I don’t want the card, but it was a shock, especially since the credit score was so high. Oh well, won’t lose sleep over something I decided I don’t want but admittedly it WAS a surprise.</p>
<p>Will being declined affect your credit score?</p>
<p>Experian says no, although the <em>act</em> of applying can lower your score slightly because an inquiry now shows up.</p>
<p>[Being</a> turned down for credit does not hurt credit scores](<a href=“Experian's Official Credit Advice Blog”>Experian's Official Credit Advice Blog)</p>
<p>Maybe they are aware of retirement but not yet seeing the pension income?</p>
<p>No, the pension income started in 1/1/13. Oh well, fascinating experience. I really was unhappy trying to speak with their customer service folks even before I got the rejection letter. I prefer cards where you can speak with someone.</p>
<p>$100K in in available debt is too much. The big amount is considered, even though you owe zero. Also, it will likely drag down your score.</p>
<p>Yea, but my credit score is over 800, even with huge amounts of untapped available credit. We have gotten other credit cards before and since with that huge amount of untapped available credit and our >800 credit scores.</p>
<p>Just on principal I try to keep my credit limits from creeping up too high. Not sure if this is smart for credit rating, but I started doing so when hearing about friends getting dinged on mortgage applications.</p>
<p>The huge amount available is a HELOC that has never been used. The CCard totals aren’t as high.</p>
<p>I had a similar experience. When I questioned it with a supervisor, I was told that a change in the credit laws a few years ago meant that I could not qualify based on family income, only on my income. This is a change from the past, when my husband’s income was considered when I applied for credit. Since I am currently not working, I could not qualify for a new credit card, even with an excellent credit score.</p>
<p>So this happened to me awhile ago too, and I just had to laugh. I figured maybe it was because they could tell that I churned credit cards, and I was going to get their bonus and then pay them off. But really, they were sending my kids credit card offers (one of who makes $1.90/hr in the summer as a camp counselor). I don’t remember who it was, but it didn’t irritate me as much as amuse me.</p>
<p>Another thing that cracked me up was a credit card that we asked for a credit increase from, because we were going to use it (they probably had a 0% offer or some such deal). The young girl on the phone was actually giving a lecture about having too much credit card debt, telling me, “You know, that’s a lot of debt!” She didn’t have much to say when I told her that it wasn’t much when you are as old as me, especially since we used it to buy a rental condo, not just running up cards…and by the way, our net worth was 50X that, and our income was 12X that, so it really wasn’t a very large number, considering everything. Maybe it’s a large number if you’re thirteen years old.</p>