Vent: Denied credit card at the Gap despite perfect credit record!

Laz

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 18, 1999
Messages
2,712
I have never been so embarassed in my life! We are buying school clothes for dd, and my wife tells me to apply for a Gap credit card so we can get an instant 15 percent off. I can't believe I was denied:mad: ! I did some calling and found out they used Equifax for their credit checks. I got on line and found my family and I have almost PERFECT CREDIT ratings from all 3 credit reporting companies! In fact one paragraph stated that companies should be offering us incentives and perks for taking their credit cards.

For 22 years, my wife and I have worked to keep a great credit rating. We have NEVER had a late payment on anything. We have only been charged interest on our mortgage and we always pay the full amount due on our credit cards. Then, to stand in a store full of people and be denied credit is UNCALLED FOR!

THE CORPORATE OFFICES OF THE GAP WILL HERE ABOUT THIS!
 
IF you have a fraud alert on your credit report -you can not apply for insantant credit (you will get denied).
 
I have a copy of the report in my hand. Their is no such comment or report on it!

In fact, the report states that I have "no actionable negative factors present."
 
Sorry for the errors in spelling- my computer is messing up as I type.

If you have fraud alert on the report - you can not apply for any instant credit. The fraud alert protects you from people stealing your identity and applying for instant credit.
 

Is this a negative factor against my account, or a good one?

I will cool off if the credit companies are trying to protect me.

Don't worry about the spelling, look at mine!:crazy:
 
You'd better look into it -- I had a similar problem -- at the Gap, curiously, years ago when they wouldn't take my check -- after making a few calls I found out that someone was using my driver's licence # to open checking accounts -- with their own name, so mine wasn't affected. All I had to do was get a new driver's licence with a new # but it was still upsetting. This had nothing to do with my credit or how much money was in my account -- maybe your problem doesn't either. But make sure no one is messing with you SS# or your DL#.
 
I feel your pain. I tried to write a check for $23 and change at a Waldens. They use Telecheck. It was denied. I couldn't believe it. I ended up paying cash, but it was embarressing in front of the other people waiting behind me in line. The funny thing was at the time, I had $98K in my checking account. I had sold some stock and hadn't had a chance to move the money to another account. They gave me a number to call for Telecheck. Of course it was an automated system and it just told me that it didn't have enough information to tell me why my check was denied. Sometimes, it is just a glitch in the system. I've written plenty of checks since then with no problem.
 
Sometimes it may have to do with a parent company. For example, DH and I have excellent credit. We wanted to apply for credit at Staples a number of years ago to get a deal on something we were buying. We were rejected. The Staples employee then asked if we have a Sears credit card. We told him, yes. He said because Sears is the parent company of Staples, they may have felt we had too high of a credit line with them already, hence the rejection. We were dumbfounded - especially when you consider the fact that we rarely used the Sears card and it had a zero balance. You would think that they would WANT to get us to use their credit system again. :confused:
 
Originally posted by Feralpeg
I feel your pain. I tried to write a check for $23 and change at a Waldens. They use Telecheck. It was denied. I couldn't believe it. I ended up paying cash, but it was embarressing in front of the other people waiting behind me in line. The funny thing was at the time, I had $98K in my checking account. I had sold some stock and hadn't had a chance to move the money to another account. They gave me a number to call for Telecheck. Of course it was an automated system and it just told me that it didn't have enough information to tell me why my check was denied. Sometimes, it is just a glitch in the system. I've written plenty of checks since then with no problem.

Same thing happened to me years ago. Telecheck couldn't even tell me why they denied me. I avoid places that use Telecheck now. It's embarrassing.
 
Kmart denies my checks EVERY time I try to write one. No one at Kmart or the check verification company can tell my why. Even a search of similar SSNs and DL #s came up empty. Every time I call they say it's Kmarts problem and Kmart says it's the check verification places problem and they can't clear it without their ok. I did once get far enough to learn it has something to do with a bank I've NEVER done business with. Called that bank and they have no record of me. The bank will not give me a letter saying they have never done business with me because after X number of years the files are purged so they have no way to prove they haven't done business with me. I just quit writing checks at Kmart altogether. Same thing at Lowes but no where else. It's a mystery to everyone but no one will try to fix it. I feel your pain as well. I do NOT write rubber checks. Never have. I worry every time I write one at new business that it will be denied.
 
We were denied when we tried to open one of those instant accts. at a local dept. store. I feel for you. It is embarrasing - especially when they won't tell you why.

I know legally they can't give you much information - and that really is to protect you. I used to work in a credit office, so I understand that side of it as well. It does not make it any easiesr when it's happening to you though!

In our case, we found out that there is someone out there with the same name as my husband who was flagged because he had delinquent accts. with the store. So when his name showed up, they automatically denied our acct.

We insisted on speaking with a supervisor and even though they ended up apologizing and opening our acct. on the spot (long after all the people who were staring at us when they first stated we were denied were gone of course) we still got a denial letter from the original inquiry.

Definitely check into it further. With all the identity theft out there you can never be too carefull.
 
For those of you who have had issues with writing checks, why don't you use a debit card, or a Visa check-card, etc.?

The online system knows if you have money or not and it is a lot faster than writing a check. The only issue I can see is if you're trying to draw against non-collected funds that would have cleared by the time the physical check hit the bank.
 
I wondered myself why I had "so-so" credit when I've not had a late payment or problem in 5 years. It turned out, the reason was that I was listed as a co-card holder on a credit card my mother has.

That credit card currently has a balance that is equal to my yearly salary :rolleyes: . I had NO idea I was even on it, and when my mom took me off the card, my credit score went up (although, unfortunately it will take a long time for this to show up).

Check everything on your report again and again.

And also, the fraud thing is correct from what I've been told. It will prevent you from getting store credit cards.
 
You are legally entitled to some information when your credit is denied due to credit reporting bureau information... I believe you can get a copy of your credit report and an explanation of the reason for denial. At no charge to you.

I'm sure someone here knows how to obtain this.

Especially because you know poor credit history wasn't the reason for denial, I'd be certain to follow up to find out what the problem is.
 
Originally posted by RUDisney
For those of you who have had issues with writing checks, why don't you use a debit card, or a Visa check-card, etc.?

The online system knows if you have money or not and it is a lot faster than writing a check. The only issue I can see is if you're trying to draw against non-collected funds that would have cleared by the time the physical check hit the bank.


I don't like debit cards. I have a phobia about someone taking it and just charging up a storm, draining my checking account. It bothers me that your pin# isn't always required to use it.
 
Originally posted by auntpolly
I don't like debit cards. I have a phobia about someone taking it and just charging up a storm, draining my checking account. It bothers me that your pin# isn't always required to use it.

I think they should require a pin number for credit cards as well. It would definately cut down on fraud.
 
Originally posted by auntpolly
I don't like debit cards. I have a phobia about someone taking it and just charging up a storm, draining my checking account. It bothers me that your pin# isn't always required to use it.
Did you know that it isn't your problem if someone steals your card? It's the bank's problem and they have to recredit your stolen money.

I personally don't like debit cards either. My reason is that I can buy 25 extra days to make my cash work for me with my credit card and get miles for using it.

Useless trivia time... Did you know that merchants are migrating to what is called ARC? (I forget what the acronym means.) That is the way that Walmart gets your money from you when you write a check. The merchant scans your check so they can change it to an electronic transaction. (an ACH) They never clear your check and it shows up on your statement with the merchant's name, your check number and the amount. Merchants are doing this because they get immediate availability of the funds (next day) and they also get their returned items faster. It is cheaper for them than processing paper, too.

Anyway, the real problem I have with debit or smart cards is that my kids' school is going to be issuing them to all of the students. Parents will put money on them so their children can buy lunch. While I have no problem with an adult being responsible or irresponsible with their credit and debit cards, I take issue with entrusting them to anyone under 12... maybe 14. I'd much prefer to have the kids take in a ticket for their lunch than to allow them to take a card with money on it so they can buy lunch for themselves and their friends.... let alone the risk of losing the card or having it stolen... since it is like cash.
 
Sometimes companies will deny you because you have too much credit, even though your credit report is perfect. If you have alot of cards with large credit limits but carry little to no balance, you still have the potential to charge those up at any time and not be able to pay, so other companies will deny you on their fear of what your credit future could potentially hold.
 










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