Bank of America Card Approval
I generally enjoy quirks in our points and travel hobby. While working with certain banks can come with frustration, the positives generally outweigh the negatives. Recently, I’ve felt this more with Bank of America than any other entity. BoA’s online capabilities are outdated, their niche card portfolio isn’t for everyone, and they have persnickety application rules. But in my experience, Bank of America card approvals are fairly predictable when I thread that application rule needle. Such approvals outweigh all of the other nonsense for me. That still rings true after perhaps my wackiest-ever credit card approval. Here’s what happened.
Application
I’ve previously shared my love of the Bank of America Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard, and it was recently time for me to go back for another. I applied for the elevated offer via dummy booking where I could pick up 70k miles, 100 XP, and a $100 statement credit by spending $2k within the first 90 days.
I was a bit surprised that my latest application went pending, as I had met all of Bank of America’s application rules. In the past, each of my Bank of America card applications were approved when I was on my best behavior with them. I shrugged and opted for patience, as if I had much other choice.
Approved, I Guess?
A couple days later, I checked my Bank of America online account, and I noticed a fresh Air France card with a new last four card digits in my profile. Interestingly, Bank of America hadn’t otherwise advised me of approval – nothing via email, text, notification, etc. I pushed that oddity aside, simply deciding to enjoy that I was apparently approved for another card.
Fraud?
A few days later while conducting some other BoA online account business, I noticed that this new Air France card had been flagged for suspicious card activity. Of course, I found this laughable as I was still awaiting my new card, something Bank of America takes their sweet old time in delivering (up to this point).
I then called the provided phone number to learn more. I was connected to a BoA agent who was either tremendously new, scripted, or both. It seemed like I was talking to a robot. The agent issued way more “thank you for being a valued customer” comments than necessary and multiple security verifications via text messages.
Long story short, he cleared the fraud and said my card was on the way. In his most human-sounding sentence of the conversation, he stated that Bank of America just wanted to verify it was truly me applying for the card.
Wow, That Was Fast
Less than 24 hours later, I received an Air France card and related materials via UPS. I was quite surprised, as the Bank of America phone agent hadn’t mentioned expediting the card shipment. While activating, I noticed the card’s last four digits were different than what I’d previously seen online. No matter, I was able to activate it without issue. I was good to go!
The Next Day…
…I received another Air France card via regular USPS mail. This card’s last four digits matched the initial card I had originally seen in my profile. BOA had essentially sent me a package of materials to recycle.
Conclusion
In my experience, if an issuer has suspicions on an application, they contact the party before approving the card, or they just deny the application. The latter has happened to me on multiple occasions when I’ve applied for the FNBO Best Western Rewards Premium Mastercard. Instead, Bank of America decided to unnecessarily grind gears – theirs and my own. I guess I don’t need to understand it, since the process ended positively for me. Regardless, it’s a reminder that patience often wins the day. What’s been your weirdest experience receiving a credit card approval?
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The same exact thing happened to me when I applied back in May. Really annoying to have to deal with all the fraud stuff for seemingly no reason.
Misery loves company! But glad it worked out for you, bc.
Define “dummybooking” plse
Al,
Start booking a flight, and see what credit card offer appears. (As Chris stated, it looks like this offer has since been pulled.) Use the same logic across the credit card spectrum.
I was actually denied when applying online but later got paper mail that said “we need more information”. I called and was approved so ???????. P2 applied for the First Bank Best Western card and was approved instantly but went back to her country for a few months. Then came the letter from First Bank “we noticed some suspicious activity” before we even received the card! She couldn’t call as she was in Asia, and doesn’t speak much English anyway. I take care of anything P2-related for USA banking of any sort (I’m not Korean, but I can speak Korean). It was two months before I went back to Korea but by then they had cancelled her card. At least I did get my 70000 FB points with $100 too for the dummy-booking trick.
Banks are getting weird these days.
I think that last sentence sums it up, Billy Bob. But again, I’ll take the weird with the good.
When is the big France trip?
Stay tuned, JL100!
Bummer. Looks like the 70,000 offer has been pulled. Can’t even get a credit card offer of any amount to show up at all in a dummy booking.
Boo.