I was lurking this thread all day yesterday as I had an 830pm appointment and was unsure what to expect, but this gave me a good idea of how things were going to go down. Here is my experience with this program:
First, I was expecting to get denied due to my credit score. My score is sub-600s, and I figured if I go in expecting the worst, at least I won't be disappointed. After showing up around 815p I ended up having to wait until almost 945p before I even got into the store. Apparently the sprint and t mobile outages early in the day really delayed the appointments. So I finally get paired with an associate and begin the process with a capital one credit card. I get declined. Ok, no surprise there. I mention to the associate that someone claiming to be an apple associate on Reddit said that applications that were run a second time were usually going through in his store. He says ok, we try again. Declined again. Oh well. I opt not to buy the phone outright and head home to think about my options.
This morning I got the Truth in Lending disclosure from Citizens. I got two emails, one for each application processed. I called up to inquire a little further as to why I was declined. The Citizens rep said that it was too early to tell in my specific situation and that the letters with the official reasons for the decisions would be available on Monday if I called back then. But she did take some time to explain the parameters used for this loan and try to narrow it down for me. She told me that there is no minimum credit score, and what they're mostly looking for is that there aren't charge-offs or collections on the report (I have neither on mine) and that the credit card being used had enough available balance to cover an amount of three months of payments (mine did). So this just further confused me, and seemed to confuse her as well, since I seemed to be a "qualified buyer" despite my credit score.
About two hours later I get to work and speak to a coworker who was approved through the AUP yesterday. I tell him what the Citizens rep told me and he said that he does have an active collections on his report and the credit card he used didn't have enough balance for three months of payments on it, yet he was approved. It completely contradicted everything Citizens told me.
So I have no idea what the hell is going on with this whole thing. At this point I'm just waiting until Monday to call back and get the actual reason. If it's credit score related, fine. I'll figure out another way to buy the phone. If it's something that can be corrected, great, I'll make another reservation and head back to the Apple Store.
And before anyone asks, I didn't ask anything about a hard pull vs soft pull. I don't really care about that. But as of right now, nothing has shown up on credit karma as far as a Citizens credit inquiry.
I don't expect this to clarify anything for anyone, if anything it just raises more questions. But I just wanted to share my experience.