Chase Cards After Bankruptcy & A Fantastic Story
I have written a few posts this year aimed towards helping readers who have a bankruptcy on their credit report. We all know that rewards cards are difficult to get without great credit and thus it can be difficult for people with even a single blemish to get in on the fun.
Back in January I wrote a post called Getting Chase Rewards Cards with a Bankruptcy on your Credit Report. In that post I walked through how to handle the application and the eventual reconsideration call that you will need to make to Chase if you have a bankruptcy. I highly suggest taking a look.
One Reader’s Story
Yesterday I heard from a reader who I have corresponded with a few times. This reader ended up having to file bankruptcy in 2010 because of hardship due to the economy. I know there are many people out there who had similar issues.
Since his bankruptcy, he has worked diligently to rebuild his credit and now has cards with Barclay’s, Wells Fargo and a few other banks. After careful consideration he decided to go for the big one. He applied for a Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Chase is pretty conservative with new customers, especially those with credit issues, so the Sapphire Preferred can be a difficult card to get. This is because it is a Visa Signature and thus requires a $5,000 limit. It can be tough to get Chase to give you such a high limit in the beginning.
After applying, his application went under review. He immediately called Chase reconsideration as was detailed in my prior post. The first rep was friendly, asked him questions about the bankruptcy and eventually denied his application. He called back a second time and went through the same process with the same results.
Before giving up he decided to call one last time. This time a friendly agent agreed to forward his application to the “Senior Lenders” division. It took 48 hours for them to review his application and when he called in to check his status he found out that he had been approved with a $5k limit!
Takeaways
There are a few key takeaways here. First, it is definitely possible to get Chase cards with a bankruptcy on your credit. In this case it was less than five years since the bankruptcy and he was still able to get approved for what is arguably Chase’s flagship card.
For those without a bankruptcy, this is just another example of why HUCA (hang up call again) and persistence are needed in this game. On past denials I have been escalated to upper management and written letters in order to overturn a denial. I have only failed once at overturning a denial.
See: Credit Card Reconsideration Strategies When Calling In Fails
Conclusion
I am so happy to be able to share this story with you. It just shows that you don’t need spotless credit to begin to reap the rewards from this hobby. As a quick reminder though, never take on debt and don’t forget to take it slow! Have a great Saturday!
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@ Shawn,
Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I am just wondering if Chase agents don’t put a note into the system….. so that the next agent will see whats in the notes when we do HUCA.
My experience, I bought giftcard to get reimbursement for Chase Ritz Carlton yearly airline incidental credit and called to get it reimbursed, a friendly agent picked up the call and check the transaction, unfortunately she can she the code that used in the gc transaction was for giftcard and not eligible for airline incidental reimbursement credit. I politely hang up and called 2-3 times and everytime I got different agent…they knew that I called before and that it was for giftcard purchase that ineligible for reimbursement….from the note that the first agent wrote! So I wonder if this practice is not applied globally in Chase customer service rep……or this reader might just had been lucky that the 1st and 2nd agent didn’t put a note into their system for next agent.
I know certain banks (Barclay’s in particular) do have notes when you call in to reconsideration. In fact, I know that Chase business does as well, but I am not sure about Chase personal, although I would assume they do. In your case they are notating your account and in this case it is just an application, so the procedures may be different.
In this story it just took finding a rep who was willing to escalate the application higher up. They weren’t overturning the previous reps decision, but instead they moved it to a higher level where that appeal could be made. It really is all about persistence.
That make sense….thank you Shawn!
Just chiming in from experience, Chase reps do leave notes about recon calls for personal cards, at least some of what do. I tried twice after getting denied the Southwest card back in January, and the second rep mentioned that I’d already tried recon. That made me give up.
Glad persistence paid off for this reader though. And thanks for sharing his story.