What Does it Mean When Your Credit Card Application Needs Further Review?

The last thing you want to see when applying for a credit card online is that your application needs further review.

Usually if you are not approved you will receive a message that says something like “your application will undergo further review and you will be notified in 7-10 business days.”

Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card

Quick review: You'll earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months of signing up. Plus continue to earn 2X points on travel and dining. The card does have a $95 annual fee. Why we like it: For anyone new to travel rewards credit cards, this card is the best place to start. With a modest annual fee you still earn 2X points on travel and dining. You earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points that are extra valuable when you transfer them to transfer partners. Not to mention the 60,000 bonus point welcome bonus gets you off to a great start on earning free flights and hotel stays.

Of course you would rather have been instantly approved for the card, but just because your application needs further review doesn’t mean you will be rejected. Always call into the reconsideration line to see if you can provide any additional information or clear anything up to get approved.

On another, note its always a good idea to check your credit score and recent inquires before applying for new credit cards. You can check and monitor your credit score with a free service such as Quizzle.com or CreditSesame.com.

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During my multiple credit card applications, I usually get instantly approved the first few cards, then tend to get the ‘needs further review’ screen for the other cards I apply for. I don’t know if this is just protocol of the banks I choose to apply for, but the banks may also see the credit inquiries pending from the cards just applied for and automatically place the application on hold for further review.

Most times you can end up getting approval by simply calling into the reconsideration line and asking to check the status of your application. I like to do this as soon as possible after submitting my application, and can often get approved the same or next day.

Reasons Why Your Application Could Need Further Review

Although there are no hard facts as to why your application didn’t get instantly approved, there are several common themes that seem to indicate a reason why an application would need to go through further review.

Recent credit inquiries. If you are applying for multiple cards on the same day or have more than a couple hard inquiries on your credit report, you may not be instantly approved and the bank may want to look into your recent credit activity before approving you.

Checking your identity. It’s a common practice for banks needing to verify your identity before approving you. This is a simple precaution that credit card companies take to insure that you are really the one applying for the card. Be glad they are taking this extra security step, it is easy to resolve with a quick phone call from the bank and you will often get approved on the spot after your identity is confirmed.

Verify your income and other information. Another reason that your application may go into pending review is that the credit card company just needs more time to review your personal information.

The bank is swamped with applications. Sometimes your application may be pending because the bank is behind processing all the applications. This happened during the Chase’s Ink Plus and Bold 60,000 bonus offer a couple weeks ago. Chase was receiving so many applications that they couldn’t keep up with processing them and many people received a pending status on their applications. This was the reason that Chase extended the offer for a couple more days past the original deadline for the limited offer.

Having 0% utilization is a bad mark on your credit score, and 1% to 10% is good for your score. As a heavy points earner it may help to pay your statements in full the day or day before the statement cycles.

It is certainly possible to have too much credit already available to you from a bank, this is a common reason to be declined. When this happens with Chase it is very easy to call the reconsideration line and ask to basically trade in an older card you have to open up a new card. This has almost worked every time I have had to use this method, and doesn’t affect my credit score because I didn’t have to cancel a credit card and thus have my total credit line decrease.

Obviously you would rather get instantly approved for the credit card you just applied for, but it doesn’t automatically mean that you will not get approved if your application needs further review. Your best bet is to call in to the reconsideration line the next day to check the status of you application and ask if there is any other information you can provide to help the application process.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card

Quick review: You'll earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months of signing up. Plus continue to earn 2X points on travel and dining. The card does have a $95 annual fee. Why we like it: For anyone new to travel rewards credit cards, this card is the best place to start. With a modest annual fee you still earn 2X points on travel and dining. You earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points that are extra valuable when you transfer them to transfer partners. Not to mention the 60,000 bonus point welcome bonus gets you off to a great start on earning free flights and hotel stays.

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