Recon Call After Recon Call, Finally Chase Ink Cash Approved

Here’s one for my record books. I applied for the Chase Ink Cash card with a 90k sign-up bonus after spending 6k in 3 months. I have had the Chase Ink Preferred forever and had eviscerated the minimum spend on the Unlimited months before (see Chase Matches Ink Unlimited 90k Offer). I did not think it would be taxing to be approved for a second Ink Cash in my collection. It was. For those that like misery, read on.

On January 11th, I applied and was not given an instant decision. I decided to call in. I was told that I was conditionally approved but should transfer a credit balance from my other cards if I wanted a higher limit. I asked to move most of my credit from my Business Hyatt which has been subsequently canceled (see Keep vs. Cancel: Chase Business Hyatt) and some credit from my Preferred. I asked if the card could be sent overnight. The agent said two days is the fastest, but she would process it for me right away.

Giddy, I went back about my day. No less than thirty minutes later, I received a message saying that Chase needed more information. In the past, when approved, I see the account on Chase.com. I saw nothing and decided to call to confirm. I was connected to the strangest agent who must have been working from home. He kept asking me questions and then not responding for long periods of time. Finally, he came back and said that I wasn’t approved. I told him that I was just told that the card would be here in two days. He claimed that call never happened.

Too annoyed, I decided not to bother to call again that day. A week later I tried again, and I was told that my application was still being processed and that I would receive a decision in the mail. A week later, I called back and was told that I needed to send information that validated who I was. I said, “Like a bank statement from Chase?” They said yes. As asinine as the request was, I sent Chase my Chase bank statement. A week later nothing.

I had no interest in calling again and was fine with any decision at this point. On February 16th, I received a generic email from Chase congratulating me on my new card approval. I logged in and saw this:

Chase works in mysterious ways.