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Successful Credit Card Reconsideration Calls: Barclays Arrival Plus & US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express

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Good morning everyone, hoppy happy Easter!  As part of my March App-O-Rama, I was approved for 8 new credit cards.  In this post, I will talk about my successful reconsideration calls for the Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card and the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card.  If you are curious, I shared the other results of my credit card App-O-Rama here.  Long story short, I applied for both credit cards toward the end of my App-O-Rama and received pending responses for both credit cards.  At that point, I patiently waited for approval emails or denial letters.

Luckily, I received a call from Barclays a few days later regarding my recent application of the Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card.  The credit analyst told me that Barclays had already extended enough credit to me and she noted that I didn’t use my 2 other Barclays credit cards much (Barclays Lufthansa Credit Card and Barclays JetBlue Plus Credit Card).  She asked if I would be willing to move credit from one of those credit cards to approve the Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card.  I said yes, that would be fine.  I ended up moving $10,000 from my Barclays JetBlue Plus Credit Card (subsequently lowering that credit line down to $9,500) and having a $10,000 credit line on my Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card.  I thanked the rep for her help and asked if it were possible to get the credit card expedited to me so I could use the new credit card right away but I was told that there is a $15 cost to expedite the credit card.  I politely declined and agreed to the free USPS First Class Mail (snail mail) option.

Barclays Credit Cards Lufthansa JetBlue Arrival Plus


After a week and a half, I received a letter from US Bank regarding my US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card application.  In the letter, I was told that my application was declined because I had enough credit with US Bank.  At that point, I *only* had 6 credit cards with US Bank (Club Carlson Personal, Club Carlson Business, FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature, FlexPerks Travel Rewards America Express, Cash Plus, and Korean Air).

I called the reconsideration department and asked the rep if it were possible to move credit from some of my existing US Bank credit cards.  She said that US Bank cannot move credit from existing credit cards, but she did tell me that I could close an existing credit card to free up some credit and ask the credit card underwriting team to resubmit my application and reconsider their decision.  With that info in hand, I asked her to transfer me to the general customer service department and I ended up closing my US Bank Korean Air SkyPass Credit Card that I opened last summer for 40,000 Korean Air miles (miles still unredeemed) – I haven’t used that credit card since completing the minimum spend.  The US Bank Korean Air SkyPass Credit Card had a $16,200 credit line.  After I closed that credit card, I called the reconsideration department again and told them that I closed one existing US Bank credit card and I asked them to resubmit and reconsideration my application for the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card.  I was told that I would hear back from US Bank in the next few days with their decision.  The following day (without receiving any information or communication from US Bank), I logged into my US Bank online account and noticed a new credit card account in the list.   I double checked that it wasn’t my US Bank Korean Air SkyPass Credit Card account, but the last 4 digits shown were different.  That was a good sign!

US Bank Mystery Credit Card Account

I did some more digging and clicked on the My Rewards tab and the new US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card was listed at the top of the page and the last 4 digits of that credit card matched the last 4 digits of the mystery credit card.  I haven’t been home in a few days, but I am sure my new US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card is waiting for me in my mailbox.  I still haven’t received any emails from US Bank about my new approved credit card.  US Bank is always sneaky about their credit card applications.

US Bank FlexPerks Gold AMEX Rewards

If you have any questions about either reconsideration call, please leave a comment below.  Have a great weekend and happy Easter everyone!


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8 thoughts on “Successful Credit Card Reconsideration Calls: Barclays Arrival Plus & US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express

  1. Ben

    Hi Grant,
    http://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/2017/03/10/us-bank-flexperks-travel-rewards-visa-signature-american-express-downgrade-conversion-options/#_ga=1.130630345.778200239.1489072729

    Someone in the comments asked if the Visa and Amex flexperks were kept separate. Did you find that to be true or not?

    I want to downgrade a TravelRewards Visa to a Flexperks Select+ Amex (1pt/$ on everything w/ no AF). But I don’t want to lose my TravelRewards Visa Flexperks in the process.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      I have since converted my US Bank FlexPerks Visa Signature Credit Card to a US Bank Cash 365 Credit Card (1.5% cash back, no annual fee). And I converted my US Bank FlexPerks American Express Credit Card to a US Bank FlexPerks Select+ Credit Card (1x FlexPerks, no annual fee).

      I’m not 100% sure, I think both FlexPerks programs had their own FlexPerks number, but all FlexPoints will pool into a household account.

      I’m not sure if you close/convert a credit card, if you will lose your FlexPoints.

      Reply
      1. Ben

        Ok, so when you converted the USB Flexperks Visa to the USB Cash 365 Amex, you kept all the points that were associated with the Flexperks Visa?

        Reply
        1. Grant Post author

          I only had a few hundred FlexPoints total from both credit cards when I converted but I think all my FlexPoints are still intact.

          Reply
  2. Will

    Nice haul Grant. Did you freeze your ARS/IDA reports before applying for US Bank? I recall reading something a few months ago about US Bank auto-declining people who had those frozen, not sure if it’s still true. Thanks.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Yes, I’ve had my ARS and IDA frozen for a very long time (since before I’ve had any US Bank credit cards). Both reports are still frozen but I guess it’s not affecting applications like it was a few months ago.

      Reply

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