Last Spring, I applied for an Ink Bold.
Back in January, I had actually applied for the same card, but was denied because of lack of history with Chase. Up until that point, I did have no credit history with Chase, and all of my credit cards were with American Express. For a little background on my application for the Ink Bold — In April, I had applied and was approved for 2 Chase cards: The Disney Rewards Visa, and the Amtrak Guest Rewards Visa. My reasoning for applying for both was actually kind of lame and impulsive, but I did it nonetheless. I applied for the Disney Visa just to receive some discounts on an upcoming Disney trip I have planned (and a $50 free gift card), and the Amtrak Guest Rewards because at the time, I was on the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Seattle, and really loved the concept of traveling on trains and wanted 12,000 free points. It wasn’t the best use of my 3-credit card application day, but I was happy I guess. The other card I applied for was the Barclaycard US Airways World Elite Mastercard, which I’ll cover in another post.
Back to my experience applying for the Chase Ink Bold. Yesterday, I filled out the application online and was given the usual “we’ll get back to you within a few weeks” email after application. Nothing surprising as this was the same email given to me when I applied 5 months ago. I called the reconsideration line, to no avail. The first representative denied my application because of a lack of credit history with Chase. Then the second representative. Then the third. Then the fourth. I think I must have called back at least 10 times with 10 different re-evaluations, before I attempted a different strategy. I called the 1-800 customer service number on the back of my Amtrak card. I explained to the service rep that I wanted to reduce my credit limit on both my Amtrak and Disney cards, and apply that “extra” credit to my new Chase Ink Bold application. It worked! Within moments, then connected me to a business lending specialist who asked me several questions about the need for the card, and then suggested reducing the credit limit on both the Amtrak and Disney cards by $2,500 each, to make up for the necessary $5,000 minimum limit on the Ink card. Success. Within minutes, she had the mathematics all worked out, and was able to successfully approve the Ink application I had been denied so many times for earlier in the afternoon. If you don’t get the right answer the first time, hang up and call again. Everyone says it, but it really works. Within days, I’ll have my new Chase Ink Bold to put a minimum spend of $5,000 on to receive 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points on.
Has anyone else had any difficulty applying for either the Chase Ink Bold or the Chase Ink Plus?
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
Now, this is a useful post! Well, I’ll let you know when I try it. I too got a ‘no’ when I called recon, though I did only call once.
Weird because the call went well and I had good answers. I’ll try your method and see.