Author Topic: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass  (Read 9493 times)

MoustacheDArgent

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My goal was to apply for both the Personal and Business card from southwest and get 100,000 points with the ultimate goal of getting the companion pass.   I was approved tonight for the personal card but i was denied for the business card.   I called the retention line and guy was pretty short and kinda rude.  He had a list of question and would cut me off and say things like "I just need to get throught these question ok?" when I answered him.   Anyway he said the reason for the decline was a lack of business credit and not sufficient revenue.    My salary is 76k  have a  768 credit score and I have about 23k in rental income.  I applied today for a business employerId.    I just tried to call back again to speak to someone else but they are closed now.

So here's my question,  what should I do to get the next 60k rapid rewards points needed for the companion pass?   Do you think maybe three months from now I should apply again?  Or call again tomorrow?   Or just forget about it?   I'm new to all this rewards stuff.   The only other points I currently have are Amex Member Rewards of 50k.   Any advice appreciated.  Thanks

bacchi

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2015, 08:40:43 PM »
Try again in 3 months.

iamlindoro

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2015, 08:47:56 PM »
HUCA (Hang Up, Call Again) *can* work, but make sure you really have your shit together, and understand that the outcome may very well not change. 

I've got the companion pass, but my business also makes more than 23K.  For what it's worth, you do not need an EID to apply for the business cards, and applying with your SS# is fine for Chase... but you do need to have real (honest) answers to business questions that are acceptable to them.  Definitely don't inflate things to try to make it more palatable to Chase. 
« Last Edit: October 28, 2015, 08:52:05 PM by iamlindoro »

johnny847

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2015, 12:15:07 AM »
Try again in 3 months.

Normally good advice but that would mean the OP would need to find another source of 50k Southwest pints for the companion pass. 110k points needs to be earned in a single calendar year to get the pass.

nanu

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2015, 05:00:48 AM »
Try again in 3 months.

Normally good advice but that would mean the OP would need to find another source of 50k Southwest pints for the companion pass. 110k points needs to be earned in a single calendar year to get the pass.
Since he was just approved for the personal card, he should try and time it so the points from that bonus post in January.
That way it'll be easier for him to get the companion pass (won't have to rush to get another 60k points in two months of 2015), and he could have the pass for almost two years rather than just over a year.

Either way, I suggest OP tries calling in again and hopefully will get a more cooperative representative. Otherwise he might indeed have to wait a few months and try again.

johnny847

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2015, 07:05:05 AM »
Try again in 3 months.

Normally good advice but that would mean the OP would need to find another source of 50k Southwest pints for the companion pass. 110k points needs to be earned in a single calendar year to get the pass.
Since he was just approved for the personal card, he should try and time it so the points from that bonus post in January.
That way it'll be easier for him to get the companion pass (won't have to rush to get another 60k points in two months of 2015), and he could have the pass for almost two years rather than just over a year.

Either way, I suggest OP tries calling in again and hopefully will get a more cooperative representative. Otherwise he might indeed have to wait a few months and try again.

If the 50k from the Southwest business cc posts in January, then the OP would need to get another 58k points (subtract $2k for the spending required on the Personal card to get the bonus) next calendar year to get the pass.
AFAIK, there are only two Southwest cc's available these days, the Personal Premier and the Business Premier.

Getting 58k Southwest points in a single calendar year without the help of a cc signup bonus is incredibly difficult.

What the OP should have done is applied to both of them in December, not a couple days ago. But that's already a done deal. So the OP has two options
1) Try to get the Southwest Business credit card this year. This will limit the usefulness of the companion pass to a year + couple months, but if the OP can get the business card, then the OP only needs to source another 6k Southwest points. This isn't that hard.
2) Try to get the Southwest Business credit card next year. This means the OP will only have 52k Southwest points (again, add 2k for required spending to get the bonus) towards the companion pass. The OP would have to source another 58k Southwest points WITHOUT the help of a cc signup bonus. If this is achieved, then the OP can have the companion pass for almost two calendar years. However, it will probably take substantial time to get 58k Southwest points without a cc signup bonus, so the time taken to do that eats into the life of the companion pass.

If you still think option 2 is a good plan, then please present a way to get 58k Southwest points. Because as it stands, option 1 seems to be the better option.

Dee18

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2015, 07:10:57 AM »
I used the Southwest Plus card and the Southwest Premier card, no business card, to get my points.  I know the Southwest Plus card is currently only offering 25,000, but perhaps it will run the 50,000 point special soon.

johnny847

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2015, 07:16:01 AM »
I used the Southwest Plus card and the Southwest Premier card, no business card, to get my points.  I know the Southwest Plus card is currently only offering 25,000, but perhaps it will run the 50,000 point special soon.

I was looking for an application link to the Southwest Personal Plus card, but I haven't been able to find any valid links recently =/. Can you link me?

jorjor

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2015, 07:24:52 AM »
The Plus card most certainly does exist. For the 50k bonus, the application must be done through phone, with refer-a-friend information. I signed up for it two days ago, and confirmed with the agent that it was a 50k bonus for the $2k spending. I signed up for that along with the Premier card through a refer-a-friend link for a 50k bonus. I bank through Chase and the cards were almost immediately approved and already show up in my Chase account.

Search Google for something along the lines of "Southwest Plus Card Referral Phone" and you'll be taken to a forum with people who will be more than happy to send you links. They'll get a 5k bonus when you use the card, so something is in it for them. If I had confirmation that you could refer through me then I would be happy to give my info. However, my card hasn't yet arrived or been activated and I haven't received any referral links for that or the Premier card yet.

I plan to time the $2k spending on both so the bonus points post in January and we have to fill in the remaining 6-10k points (depending on how much of the spending occurs in January) to get the CP for most of 2016 and all of 2017.  Or like others have said, you can get your 50k points on the Premier card to post in January, wait and try again for the other card when the offer comes up again, and you'll still have the CP for a good portion of 2016 and 2017, just not as much as if you were able to get the bonus points in January.

jorjor

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2015, 07:30:41 AM »
What the OP should have done is applied to both of them in December, not a couple days ago. But that's already a done deal. So the OP has two options
1) Try to get the Southwest Business credit card this year. This will limit the usefulness of the companion pass to a year + couple months, but if the OP can get the business card, then the OP only needs to source another 6k Southwest points. This isn't that hard.

Why? If you sign up today then you still get 90 days, and it can be timed so the bonus points post in January. The only difference is that you might not have a full 104k points if part of the 2k spending occurs in 2015, but that gap isn't hard to cross by transferring in points from a partner program like Hyatt or Marriott. Sure, if you do it in December then you don't have the extra added problem of timing the spending, but again correctly timing it shouldn't be difficult to do and there isn't any guarantee that he 50k bonus will even be available in December.

Melf

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2015, 07:40:45 AM »
I was reading about the Southwest CP a couple days ago and thought I saw that Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to your Southwest account would count toward the CP.  I was considering trying that method (points from SW Business and Chase Ink Plus Business) as part of my next reward strategy.  I've got a $6K installment payment on some dental work that will probably be due early next year.  I am going to try to leverage that into getting the CP.  My worry though is not being approved for the business cards since I don't have any sort of business income.  I figure its worth a shot.  If that doesn't work, then I'll get other cards to take advantage of the bonus.  I don't travel that much but hope to FIRE within the next year and thought the CP would be good to try.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2015, 07:57:13 AM by Melf »

jorjor

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2015, 07:46:32 AM »
I was reading about the Southwest CP a couple days ago and though I saw that Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to your Southwest account would count toward the CP.

From everything I've seen, points transferred directly to Southwest from Chase do NOT count towards the CP. Points transferred first through another partner program can then be transferred to Southwest and those will count, but the exchange rate isn't 1:1. For example, you can put 5k Chase points into Hyatt at 1:1, but then the transfer from Hyatt to Southwest will only get you 2,400 points.

If you see differently, let me know because that's one bit of hassle I no longer have to go through.

Melf

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2015, 08:12:32 AM »
Quote
Quote from: Melf on Today at 07:40:45 AM

    I was reading about the Southwest CP a couple days ago and though I saw that Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to your Southwest account would count toward the CP.


From everything I've seen, points transferred directly to Southwest from Chase do NOT count towards the CP. Points transferred first through another partner program can then be transferred to Southwest and those will count, but the exchange rate isn't 1:1. For example, you can put 5k Chase points into Hyatt at 1:1, but then the transfer from Hyatt to Southwest will only get you 2,400 points.

If you see differently, let me know because that's one bit of hassle I no longer have to go through.

Just read the fine print on the CP over at Southwest and looks like I was mistaken.  Transferred points do NOT count toward the CP.  Oh well.....didn't want to fly that much anyway! Thanks to jorjor for setting me straight.

johnny847

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2015, 08:27:33 AM »
The Plus card most certainly does exist. For the 50k bonus, the application must be done through phone, with refer-a-friend information. I signed up for it two days ago, and confirmed with the agent that it was a 50k bonus for the $2k spending. I signed up for that along with the Premier card through a refer-a-friend link for a 50k bonus. I bank through Chase and the cards were almost immediately approved and already show up in my Chase account.

Search Google for something along the lines of "Southwest Plus Card Referral Phone" and you'll be taken to a forum with people who will be more than happy to send you links. They'll get a 5k bonus when you use the card, so something is in it for them. If I had confirmation that you could refer through me then I would be happy to give my info. However, my card hasn't yet arrived or been activated and I haven't received any referral links for that or the Premier card yet.

I plan to time the $2k spending on both so the bonus points post in January and we have to fill in the remaining 6-10k points (depending on how much of the spending occurs in January) to get the CP for most of 2016 and all of 2017.  Or like others have said, you can get your 50k points on the Premier card to post in January, wait and try again for the other card when the offer comes up again, and you'll still have the CP for a good portion of 2016 and 2017, just not as much as if you were able to get the bonus points in January.

Ah I assumed because I couldn't find it online, it wasn't open to new applications.

In light of this information, I take back what I said above.

nanu

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2015, 02:51:43 PM »
What the OP should have done is applied to both of them in December, not a couple days ago. But that's already a done deal. So the OP has two options
1) Try to get the Southwest Business credit card this year. This will limit the usefulness of the companion pass to a year + couple months, but if the OP can get the business card, then the OP only needs to source another 6k Southwest points. This isn't that hard.

Why? If you sign up today then you still get 90 days, and it can be timed so the bonus points post in January. The only difference is that you might not have a full 104k points if part of the 2k spending occurs in 2015, but that gap isn't hard to cross by transferring in points from a partner program like Hyatt or Marriott. Sure, if you do it in December then you don't have the extra added problem of timing the spending, but again correctly timing it shouldn't be difficult to do and there isn't any guarantee that he 50k bonus will even be available in December.
This.

MoustacheDArgent

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #15 on: October 29, 2015, 09:54:05 PM »
Thanks everyone, especially the info about the Plus card.   I kept looking for it and couldn't find it.   I think I'm also going to move my "business" checking which is actually a second personal checking account to an actual business checking account and maybe open a business savings and possibly see if i can do some other things to establish business credit.

So In 90 days I'll try again.

aspiringnomad

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #16 on: October 29, 2015, 10:54:57 PM »
Question on timing the bonus points: If I hit the minimum spend in mid-December, will the points post in January? Also, is it 90 days from application date or activation date? Thanks.

iamlindoro

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #17 on: October 29, 2015, 11:06:14 PM »
Question on timing the bonus points: If I hit the minimum spend in mid-December, will the points post in January? Also, is it 90 days from application date or activation date? Thanks.

The points will post on (or within a few days after) your next statement date after hitting the minimum spend.  It's 90 days from approval.

gliderpilot567

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Re: Declined on Southwest Bus Credit Card hoping to get Companion Pass
« Reply #18 on: November 27, 2015, 11:02:23 AM »
At the risk of bumping this month-old thread. Today I applied for the SW personal and business cards. The personal was approved immediately, but the business card was declined. I called the reconsideration line and they said the reason for declination was because there were too many requests or open lines of credit with them, and the rep referenced that I applied for both on the same day, which triggered that.

I inquired about moving available credit from the personal card to the business card, but they still said the business card would be declined, due to too many requests within the past 30 days, and not due to credit limits. (I have one very old Chase personal credit card that I need to cancel, but the limit on it is only 1500). Credit score as of 10/31 is 776 and my income is 108k.

So my question, how long do I need to wait to reapply again? Or should I apply for a second personal card instead? My business justification is admittedly weak - I made about $3500 this year selling on eBay - but I've heard of people getting approved for less. The reconsideration rep suggested 30 days, but wondering if I need to wait longer.

I have sufficient planned and manufactured spending lined up over early next year to get the points bonus. And it's ok if I don't get a companion pass right away - I'm ok to wait 90 days if that's what needed before I reapply for the business card.

I live in Arizona and travel frequently for work and pleasure, often using Southwest, so this companion pass would be hugely beneficial.

Thoughts?