AMERICAN EXPRESS: FICO Calculation and Blue or Other Card?

[Anonymous]

I have a corporate AMEX through which I have earned roughly 300k points over the past two years due to heavy international travel. We've been informed that due to the cost of carrying the point schema, our company will no longer support the programme in 2009. As such, I have the option of either cashing them out before the end of the year or opening a personal card to transfer them into or they will expire.

Since I don't have a need for my points at the moment *and* recently closed two other credits cards (one due to an annual fee and the other by Chase for lack of use (!!!) over two years) which had a total credit line around $40k, I am strongly considering opening a personal AMEX.

I am 1-2 years from buying a property.

Questions:

1. Since AMEX doesn't have a preset spending limit, but rather often updates credit lines based on an individual's risk profile, how does this lack of an upper limit affect my FICO rating, particularly citing the avaible credit / current debt ratio?

2. What about the requirement to pay off the card, in full, each month?

3. Am I better looking at a Blue Card which does have a limit to improve my FICO, assuming it will? (It also has no annual fee!)

4. What other things should I be considering?

I have had great customer service on my corporate card with AMEX over the past two years, however seeing stories like this over the past year have bothered me. 

Thank you in advance.

Message Edited by idlewild on 11-23-2008 09:15 AM

[haulingthescoreup]

I'd take a good look at a straight Blue (not Blue Cash, not Blue Sky.) You can pay $40, I think it is, to register it in the full rewards program, making it at least as good as a Green, for less than half the cost.

Whether you have a traditional charge card (Green, Gold, Plat, Centurion) or an AmEx revolver, plan on paying in full each month. Also, if you have a high balance on a card from a different company, even if it's a 0% APR or BT, that will get AmEx all hot and bothered.

[Anonymous]

Excellent.  Thanks for the information.

I didn't realize you could pay $40 for the full rewards program. Do you have any information regarding how to do that?  I wasn't able to find anything on their site...

Matt

[haulingthescoreup]

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idlewild wrote:

Excellent.  Thanks for the information.

I didn't realize you could pay $40 for the full rewards program. Do you have any information regarding how to do that?  I wasn't able to find anything on their site...

Matt

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OK, dang it, this used to show up on the Membership Rewards page as an option. I don't know if they dropped this, or if I'm having my usual problem of finding the same AmEx website page twice. (I don't do well with their site --IMO, the most confusing mess I've ever seen.)

You might want to ask a CSR if this option is still around. They probably realized that I was thinking of replacing my Gold card with a Blue and save $105.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I called AMEX and had this (the fact that you can't just pay the $40 to buy into a "better" rewards schema) verified by a CSR.

I also opened a Gold card and here's my logic:

1. My current corporate Rewards points will not down grade to Rewards Express.

2. No annual fee, first year.

3. Double points on hotel and airfare, first year.

4. I can downgrade after a year to the Blue.

Thanks for all your help.

[haulingthescoreup]

You're welcome, and that's pretty much what I've done. I have a Gold Rewards Plus, and I'm getting the double points and other goodies, with no fee for the first year. It will turn one year in March, and I'm waiting to see how nutso AmEx goes in the interim before deciding what to do.

And I do think that, completely by accident and sheer dumb luck, I blundered into a cautiously safe way to get them to get comfortable with me: first a charge card with perfect history, and then the revolver. Of course, I could log on tomorrow morning and find that they've shut me down, lol.

Makes me mad that they dropped that opportunity to register for the full program with a Blue + $40, though. It was a CSR who told me about it, I think sometime this summer or early fall.

[Anonymous]

Hi Idlewild,

I just saw your post and it hit me because I used to work for American Express Membership Rewards, so I probably can give you another option. Since you are opening up a Gold card, you can transfer (consolidate) all of your points from your CORP card onto your gold card. I'm not sure if you got this deal or not, but they normally offer the Gold card Fee-Free for the 1st year. To avoid having to pay that $125-$150 annual fee, you can get a Blue card at the end of your year with your Gold card, and consolidate those points once again from the gold card to the blue card. That way you NEVER get charged an annual fee AND you don't lose your 300K + points. Because once you cancel an account without having another card with the MR on it, you lose the points within 30 days. The only difference between the Blue and the Gold card is the travel. You can't transfer points with the Blue card, but you can Pay with Points on their website for any flight, hotel, or cruise you want. Hope this was helpful and good luck with everything.

[Anonymous]

MSJAN, thanks for the information. I opened a Gold Rewards Plus, specifically, as this card gives you 2x points for the first year with no annual fee.

But, here's the kicker, shortly after I opened this account I received an offer for 50,000 point bonus to open *the same product.*

Please see my post here as I have a new dilemma!

Thank you in advance!