Amex Gold and Chase Freedom approval

[jhr4]

Figured I would share since these boards have helped me so much in the last few months.

On 12/5 I came home from a last minute work trip annoyed that I always have to front these trips with cash (company reimburses later) because I only have $800 of credit to my name. A guy I was on the trip with said he uses his amex card for work because it works really well with being reimbursed later. Upon arrival to my house I had an amex gold pre-selection letter. I knew it was not guaranteed, but I had spent the last 5 months getting all of the collections and all but one negative account (4 year old verizon issue) removed from all reports.

I went a head and pulled the trigger. Instant approval for amex gold. Given the approval I decided to go ahead and go for a Chase Freedom (good reviews, no annual fee, and people like the rewards). My app was not instantly approved and gave me a two week notice (don't remember date range exactly but think it was like 1-14 days). That night I was alerted that amex and chase had both pulled Ex. I don't know my Ex score, but I know that it must be my best because the only negative I have now is not on Ex (only TU and EQ).

The next day (12/6) I decided to call the Chase recon line. The man that answered said that I was not denied but my app needed a manual review and said that he would go ahead and do it. He spend 2-3 minutes reviewing and then asked me some security questions (where was my car loan through?, etc). He spent another 2-3 minutes then came back and said that I was approved with a 5k CL. No questions about my credit report or anything.

A week later (12/12) I received both cards in the mail. I tried the Amex check spending form and was approved for 4k. I only tried it once with that amount. I didn't want to over do it. I was given the worst APR for the Freedom (22%). I don't know why, but I don't plan on having a balance and it came with 15 months with 0% APR.

tl;dr Approved for Amex Gold and Chase Freedom (CL $5000, however worst APR). Both pulled Ex.

Other details

Live in TX

27 yo.

100k/yr salary (plus some investment income that I included in a separate field for Amex...didn't include for Chase app)

4yr AAoA

$800 previous CL (BoA $500 and Cap1 $300).

Util ~14%

TU Fico 722

EQ Fico 709

[SpiceIslander]

Congratulations! You're off to a very good start.

[webhopper]

Congrats,  those are very nice cards!  

I use my Amex Zync for reimbursed work expenses, and you are right, the Amex works very well for work reimbursed expenses...  it does not count against utilization, and the spending limit is rather high. So you don't have to worry about when the statement cuts, and if you'll get your reimbursement back to pay off the card.

I've spent 37k on my card this year, I got my card in Feb.   Its nice to have a card that can keep up with your spending needs.

[scenery_guy]

Nice starting path. If you are getting reimbursements from work the AMEX Gold will serve you well. Don't sweat the initial charge ability as it will quickly adjust to your needs. I started out like that and quickly was able to charge $20,000 a month or more (almost all work related). 

[cashnocredit]

Congrats! Good set of cards.

I love my Chase Freedom/siggy and use an Amex with additional cardmembers for biz stuff.  Great combo.

[Epcot]

Congrats on the approvals!

[rtw]

Congrats! Great cards.