Rejected for a Credit Card? Call Them Up

I applied for a Chase Sapphire credit card for the $100 sign up bonus, obviously.  I have very good credit but I received a letter that I was rejected because I did not have enough income, which makes sense based on my income (which is another reason I sign up for credit cards in the first place).

I called  their re-evaluation number (1-888-270-2127) and explained that I have been a Chase customer for many years and I have always paid on time.  They said that doesn't really factor into their decision but there still is something they can do.

The Sapphire card needs a minimum of a $5,000 credit line.  They said that I could transfer $5,000 of credit from other Chase cards and then open the new card. So, I transferred $4,500 from my Chase Freedom (leaving me with $5,000) and $500 from my Toys R Us card (leaving me with $900 on that card - but how much can you really spend at Toys R Us anyway).

They would have allowed me to close my British Airways card (50,000 point bonus with a $95 fee - only worth it for me because I will be traveling a lot next year) to get the last $500 of credit (only had a $500 limit on it) but since I had just opened it and I still need to make a purchase to get my rewards from that card I decided to not do that :)

So, if you are rejected for a credit card and you have other credit cards with the same company, call them up, they might be willing to transfer credit from one card onto another one.

Chase Sapphire Preferred - $625 for Hotels and Airfare Sign Up Bonus

Chase Sapphire Preferred 

update: sign up bonus has been reduced to 40,000 points, from 50K.
This is a great sign up offer.  You get $625 towards hotels and airfare.  There is also no annual fee the first year.  This means that if you are signing up just for the bonus, you should cancel within the first year otherwise you will incur a $95 annual fee the second year.

Updated: You have to spend $3,000 in the first 3 months on the card in order to qualify for the sign up bonus.

The United Credit card had the first year free too but required you to keep the credit card open for six months in order to keep the bonus so I would keep it open for between 6 months and 11 months.