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Declined for Apple upgrade program?
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Since you have 14 days to return the phone, there's no reason not to give it another shot, unless you live a long distance away from the store or are paranoid about having your credit checked, which some seem to be. I could understand it if you were in the middle of trying to get a home loan, but some seem a bit overly worried about it. Reservations opened up again at 8AM this morning and I made another appointment for today. Hopefully all will go well.
Just got off the phone with Citizens Bank and they said my application was denied since I didn't "meet program guidelines" she then said they are having problems with Amex, Chase and LLBean credit cards. She said I have one more try, after that I'm locked out for 30 days. Tempted to try one more time and return the phone I paid full price. Really want to take advantage of the yearly upgrade perk...
Interesting. Thanks for the feedback. I have cards from Chase and Capital One that I use the most. I happened to pick the Capital One and it went through without a hitch. Interesting how such a big bank as Citizens One would have such an issue yesterday. I plan to upgrade annually so will see whether Apple sticks with them or decides to change banks. Given Apple's connection with Barclaycard I'm surprised Barclays didn't sponsor the program. Maybe Apple wants to spread the wealth a bit.
It's not that people are "paranoid," it's that some may already have quite a few inquiries (normal for those building their credit, acquiring more credit cards to increase their available credit line etc.) and thus are inquiry "sensitive." They would rather not get another hard pull on their credit report, especially not for a phone as it can (if there are quite a few inquiries already) drop your credit score by 5-10 points.
Anyway, to me, it's not worth it for a phone. To each their own, though.
What they issues with some people could be because of security checks institutions have in place.
Such as equifax personal details not matching to the applicant and rejecting the application.
Banks want to make sure they are not going to get stuck eating the loss and Citizens is one that has many strict terms when it comes to lending for their own protection.
My chase card went through with ease. So definitely not all cards are being denied 
One other point to ponder is that some Amex's are more 'credit' cards (like my Costco one that I had no problems with but I think did have to be run twice...) and some are the old classic ones where you aren't supposed to carry over a balance. So, don't know if all Amex's are part of the problem or not.
I can definitely see a bank's systems not being ready for the sort of onslaught iPhone day brings to everything!
I can definitely see a bank's systems not being ready for the sort of onslaught iPhone day brings to everything!
So there is no downside. I can try to sell it but if I'm not successful I can just turn it it.
Have been following this interesting thread. I was approved, no problem, using an American Express card.
I suspect the criteria for the loan is more complicated than just your credit score and line of credit. This isn't the same as applying for a credit card, or even using a credit card for that matter. It's a 24-month, 0% revolving loan. It's fixed rate and has no late payment penalty fee. Credit card companies *love* approving credit cards because they're banking on high interest rates and people missing payments, racking up massive charges, etc. This loan doesn't really benefit Citizens One from a monetary standpoint, and they're taking a pretty big risk given the terms of the loan. Have no idea what data they're using to make these accept/decline decisions, but will be interesting to find out.
Has anyone had difficulty getting approved due to differences in billing address and home address? i have stellar credit, and was declined yesterday. OK, Probably because I had credit freezes on my three credit reports (identity theft issues). I do show an Equifax hit. I lifted the credit freeze on all three accounts, so now should go through. I will be trying again tonight (for a 128 6s /rose gold - sweet), but wonder about the address issues. Credit reports use home addresses, DL is home address and billing address, but my billing address is different for the credit card.
When I sign in tonight, should I continue to use the home address?
When I sign in tonight, should I continue to use the home address?
Actually I never got that far because T-Mobile 's systems were all down. I'm gonna try it again today and hopefully T-Mobile systems are working in Citizens Bank's systems are working as well.
Off course it's benefiting citizens bank.
You think they're doing it for free?
Think again. They are a bank, not charity to provide interest free loans.
I doubt that we will ever know, but I would love to know what the deal is between Apple and Citizens Bank. I would think the initial transaction is similar to "swipe fees" where Apple is giving up a small percentage of the transaction amount, but I am sure Citizens Bank must be making money beyond that. There will be some late fees and such, but I would think that this is a sweet deal for Citizens, given the millions they are putting out right out of the gate.
I don't know the specifics of this deal, but I've worked in the industry and know in general how these store card deals work.
They are likely using the same criteria as for regular credit cards. What is happening is that Apple is fronting them the foregone interest. Citizens One knows full well what it "normally" earns on a credit card, and so the deal they have with Apple is that they will take their normal margin and service the loans (they might have offered a little less than their normal margin to get Apple's business). So for a $649 phone, Apple will get, say, $575-$600. Because Citizens is charging your payment to another credit card, they have somewhat less credit risk than with a normal loan, but they get charged the interchange fee (usually about 2%) by the other card company.
It works for Apple because they still get more than what they get by selling a phone to a carrier. It works for Citizens One since they get a lot of new customers.
Great explanation, KPOM! Thank you! I would think that for the most part this would be fairly low risk for Citizens Bank, since the payments are being charged to customers credit cards. Sure, there will be a percentage that for one reason or another have declined payments or even closed cards, but I would think that percentage would be small. This is one reason why I have been somewhat surprised that there have been so many denials. It seems like with the auto-charge to credit cards, the default rate would be pretty low.
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Some of the denials were because of glitches. Citizens One still has some risk because customers with low credit scores often have balances near their limits. So if a customer is already at the limit, the monthly payment Citizens One tries to put through could get declined. But I agree it should be less than with a normal credit card.
Called Citizens One and they said that the credit checking agency, Equifax (where I have a 750+ score) said I have "Insufficient credit history on file at the credit bureau". I mean sure, I'm not 40 years old, so then how did folks younger than me on this forum get approved?
They said to call Equifax to clear it up. What a headache.
They said to call Equifax to clear it up. What a headache.
That's what they told me as well. And yes, they specifically stated that this was a hard pull (I just got off the phone with them).
Also, they stated that they only check one of the reporting bureaus, so They don't deal with Transunion or Experian. ONLY Equifax. That annoyed me, as TransUnion was reporting things completely different to what EquiFax had. And this was after being on hold with them for an hour.
I'm now stuck with going with Next, which sucks as I'd have to pay off the phone completely before trying AUP next year, or wait two years for the prices to even out. Additionally, all they will say as to anything to do about the decline is to take it up with EquiFax.
This has been an absolute hassle over the past 24 hours.
BL.
