I'm in total shock for many reasons.
1) I had a bad account with Amex in the late 90s. Not for a ton, and it was a corporate card - but I was worried even though I was initially approved it might come back to bite me as I've read about that on here. But nope did not have any impact. Even got my card backdated.
2) Utilization - we are doing lots of reno on our fixer upper we bought 2 years ago. Mostly paying as we go - but had a fence install recently so I have 5k on Lowes. And then, this past month, we had an electrician friend visit so I had to buy a ton of stuff for him while he was briefly here and able to do the work. That was another couple k across my cards. All be told my utilization has been running about 30% (I have 5.99% on Lowes, and the rest on 0% until end of 2014)
I've been using Amex heavily as I have my DH on there for AU purposes and he does most of the groceries and such, so this has become our everyday card. First statement was around 400 in purchases. Paid 100 before statement close and the rest after statement close. Second statement - had around 3300 in charges and paid $1100 before statement closed. So I have 2k that reported onto the statement as of yesterday.
3) This is the most shocking. I had a collection report JUST after getting my Amex. This account should not be reporting. I paid the OC directly (was a cell bill from when we changed carriers). Never heard a word from the CA, they just popped up as UNPAID AFTER I paid OC. I disputed, and it came off TU, but EQ and EX just updated to Paid. Still nothing from the CA. So I sent them a scathing letting cmrrr 2 weeks ago. No word back yet, but if they don't delete soon I will be turning over to my attorney.
So - I was trying to wait until scummy CA deleted and Amex would resoft. The last time they softed the CA was at least showing paid. But I thought for SURE this would be the dealbreaker. But I figured it might take me at least 90 days to get it cleared up so no harm in getting a denial.
I was AMAZED when I got an instantaneous approval for the full amount requested 3600-10800. Both DH and I had starbucks for our first purchase - due to the old tale of first purchase impact - maybe starbucks saved the day! (that isnt in the 3x guide hahahaha) And we are running most of our daily charges through it so maybe Amex figured the limit wasn't enough. And I did pay first statement in full, and prepaid a big chunk of the 2nd statement before it cut knowing this was coming up. Also, I have other cards that have 0 reporting...such as my credit union card with a 5k limit I don't use. I also did update my income on the request form from personal (52k) to household (75k) not sure if that made any difference.
So there is hope for those who don't have the "perfect" profile. This is now my highest CL with my 2nd being lowes at 7500, Home Depot at 7k, credit union 5k, Citi 5k (also use pretty heavily), Cap One 1250, Chase Amazon 1k, and the baby toy Target 200.
Eq 702 TU 707 Exp 718
Discover IT $17k / US Bank Ace (VSig) $13.5K / US Bank Cash+ (VSig) $13.5k
