Video of a Credit Card Application Reconsideration Call

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A few weeks ago, Rookie Alli applied for her very first cards. Her cards were all instantly approved except the Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card.

She really wanted the Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card because it comes with two free weekend nights at almost any Hilton worldwide. With the recent major devaluation to the Hilton award chart, Hilton points are worth way less, but these two free nights are still two free nights.

Application Link: Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card

When her application for the Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card was not immediately approved, she did what I always suggest. She called Citi’s reconsideration line immediately. These are the reconsideration line numbers I use.

American Express (866) 314-0237
Barclay’s (866) 408-4064
Chase (PERSONAL) (888) 245-0625
Chase (BUSINESS) (800) 453-9719
Citi (800) 695-5171
US Bank (800) 947-1444

I’ve made several reconsideration calls, and this was Rookie Alli’s third. In our experience, reconsideration calls are painless and a bit of a misnomer. Most of our reconsideration calls happen not when the application is denied, simply when it’s listed as pending.

And most of the time, the agent only asks questions we’ve already answered on the application.

The one thing I always do to prepare for a reconsideration call is to rehearse an answer to the question of why I want the card I’m calling about. The best answers reference the co-branded partner (ie Hilton on the Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card), some benefit of card membership besides the sign up bonus, or both.

For this card, Rookie Alli’s answer was going to be: “I want the Citi® Hilton HHonors™  Reserve Card because I travel a lot and am loyal to Hilton, so I want to have a card that has a high earning potential of Hilton points.”

It’s not difficult to formulate a good answer.

But as with many “reconsideration” calls, there were no tough questions and no reconsideration–just a short hold and an approval. Take a look.

Hopefully this video clears up any apprehension you might have about calling the reconsideration lines. Not all calls are this painless, but most are.

Recap

If your credit card application is not immediately approved:

1. Come up with a reason you want the card that does not reference the sign up bonus and does reference the card’s co-branded hotel or airline.
2. Call the bank’s reconsideration line.
3. Tell the agent you wanted to see if the bank needed any more information to process your application.
4. Answer the agent’s questions truthfully.
5. Generally, be approved.