Dear Liz: We are fortunate to be debt free with a nice cash reserve. We typically pay our bills in cash, by check or by a credit card that’s connected to our brokerage account. Imagine our surprise when we applied for credit at two retail stores to get a discount on items we wanted and were turned down on the spot at both places. We have asked for, and received, the government-required reports from the three major credit bureaus, and the information provided seems correct, to the best of our interpretation. Short of a significant effort to get more credit, which we can survive without, what do you recommend we do?
Answer: Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, you have a right to know why you were turned down for credit. Simply referring you to the credit bureaus isn’t sufficient — the retailers should have given you the reasons your applications were refused. If you haven’t received letters by now explaining their rationale, write each retailer’s credit-granting department and point out that they’re required by law to give you an explanation.
It could be that your scores weren’t high enough. Even though your finances are in good shape, the fact that you have only one active credit account might be damping your scores. If that’s the case, simply adding another credit card could boost your scores and make you eligible for instant credit offers.
Or it could be your scores are fine and the problem is your income, or what the retailers think your income might be. Credit card lenders are under regulatory pressure to consider borrowers’ incomes, and some are using various services that purport to estimate incomes based on other information in your credit reports, such as the size of your mortgage or your credit limits. If you have no mortgage and only one card with a low limit or no limit reported, that estimate could be way off.
But you don’t have to guess. The retailers should tell you. If they don’t, you can report them to the Federal Trade Commission.
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