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Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline

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Anonymous
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Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline

First i would like to say thank you to this forms. I've been a lurker for almost 6 mos and i have really turned my credit around.

Now regarding my Amex journey...I became a member in 2007 and unfortunately burned them in 2014 due to unemployment for 697.00. 

the collection fell off my credit reports in December 2015...so after reading the forums i decided to apply for another card just to see if i was blacklisted and sure 

enough i was. So I kept reading and was pondering if i should call and just pay them off.  Last Wednesday Nov 14th i just deciede to go ahead and pay just to see what would happen...So here's how it went for me:

 

9-15 Applied for Delta Skymiles ~ Denied due to previous account being closed by Amex

9~16 Called Amex and was told i had an oustanding balance but once I pay i would be welcome to Apply in future.

9~28 Applied for Green Rewards Card ~ Application didnt even show in the application status (called and denied due to the above reason)

10-30 Applied for Gold rewards ~ same results as 9/28

11-08 Called Amex and paid outstanding balance of 697.00 (received email confirmation of payoff)

11-09 Applied for Starwoods Preferred Guest Rewards  ( APPROVED C/L 1,000)

11-09 Applied for Green Rewards (Still Denied and it still didnt show up application status..I had to call for the denial and same response as deragatory)

11-10 Applied for Blue cash (denied..awaiting the letter to come in the mail)

11-14 Applied Pemier Rewards Gold (App went in to progess then I had to call because of fraud alert on my experian...the finally an Approval after verification.

however due to so many charge card apps back to back I have to wait 3-5 for final processing..the status did change from in progress to APPROVAL YAAAAY!!!

 

I received my SPG card in the mail today and my online account date does show member as 2007!!

So it was a 24 hour turn around after paying the charge off and getting an approval.

 

Experian score from Amex is 658

 

Thank you guys so much..Im happy to have my Amex back Smiley Happy

 

Message 1 of 14
13 REPLIES 13
happypill
Valued Contributor

Re: Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline

Congrats and thanks for sharing.  Just wondering, if you burned them in 2014, how did the collection fall off in 2015?  Was the date of first default much earlier?

Message 2 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline

I honestly dont know..the last time i checked my reports was Dec 2015 due to employment and i did see the Amex Acct there. However when i decided to finally try and get my credit back in shape and pulled my reports in July 2016 it was no longer there. 

Message 3 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline

Congratulations big time! So happy for you. Smiley Happy Smiley Happy Smiley Happy

Your story reminds me of another poster who owed Amex because (long story). Bottomline, he also burned them for a small amount ( maybe about $200). He applied for atleast two different cards with them - and was denied both.

It was suggested that if he just paid what he owed them, he could apply in the future. He went round and round about why he couldn't/wouldn't/shouldn't pay because of advice he received from his lawyer (sounded like bad advice to me, but what do I know. lol),

But anyway.. most people here on myFico suggested to him to just pay Amex what he owed and be done with it. Last I remember reading, even with him making well over 200k per year, Amex refused to give him a card.

YOU are living proof, that if you pay Amex back, they very well might give a person a second chance.

Way.To.Go.! OP. Nice job! Smiley Happy
Message 4 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline


@Anonymous wrote:
Congratulations big time! So happy for you. Smiley Happy Smiley Happy Smiley Happy

Your story reminds me of another poster who owed Amex because (long story). Bottomline, he also burned them for a small amount ( maybe about $200). He applied for atleast two different cards with them - and was denied both.

It was suggested that if he just paid what he owed them, he could apply in the future. He went round and round about why he couldn't/wouldn't/shouldn't pay because of advice he received from his lawyer (sounded like bad advice to me, but what do I know. lol),

But anyway.. most people here on myFico suggested to him to just pay Amex what he owed and be done with it. Last I remember reading, even with him making well over 200k per year, Amex refused to give him a card.

YOU are living proof, that if you pay Amex back, they very well might give a person a second chance.

Way.To.Go.! OP. Nice job! Smiley Happy

Thank you!!..I'm so happy...

Message 5 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline

Well done, Grasshopper..

That must have stunk - to have defaulted for almost nothing, and have to pay for it. I defaulted in 2003 for a substantial sum, and prob deserved to be on their BL.

I tried once, perhaps in 2010 to app and got an immed don't bother to apply reply. Then in 2015 when my credit finally came back to life, I app'd and got a totally diff response. The letter cited reasons from info they got off my EX report. They did a hard pull...  Since then I couldn't really believe I was off their infamous Black List... Until today...

Today I checked their site for pre-qual offers, and it came back with 3 personalized offers - with my name at the top of the screen. An Instant approval Blue Cash Preferred with an initial $2,000 CL. 

My scores are 720-725, and tomorrow morning'ish they climb to 760/770 bec my util just dropped to 3%, and the 2k got added to my avail credit. Now my util is prob under 1% - have to calculate it. I have 6 other TL's with flawless payment history, no bads, low inq's, and income 106k.

I mention this because upon the 61 day CLI request you'll make - just pay it back your balances fast and in full. And if you're in the position of defulting for pennies - go borrow the money for someone, rather than ruin your credit for x years. If you are good to Amex, they'll show you love.

And again, well done, and congrats.

Message 6 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline

Wow, you're really lucky, congrats!!

I burned them in 2009 for around $3k on a 14 year old acct & ignored settlement offers for years. They never sold my acct and in Sept 2015 when I finally started to face it all and rebuild I got another settlement offer. Called to accept and ended up agreeing to pay in full in exchange for the Optima Oasis "probation" card. I got that in April 2016 w/ a $900 limit. I'm not eligible for anything else until April 2017 but your story gives me hope that I'll get a real card again one day Smiley Happy
Message 7 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline

April is nothing of a wait. But I'm curious as to why you paid in full.. Was that your idea, or their offer?  Also, I've read very recently about people who have paid old charged-off accounts to Amex and after a time getting back in. But it looks like you're back in, also. Feels good, eh? I must say, I shed a few tears when that screen popped up with "Congratulations".  It's one of the last things I had to overcome. 

Symbolically, I'm going to use my new Blue Cash Preferred card, when it arrives, to pay the filing costs to establish my new LLC. Only one direction from there. 

Btw - If Amex had asked me anytime within the past few years to pay back my debt, I would have. But they didn't. And I definitely took notice of their monitoring of my EX report - monthly for the last 2 years. Sometimes several times per month. I think because my report was so clean I met their criteria for approval - no bads & perfect payment history, but my utility was over 90% up until November 2, 2016 (6 weeks ago). I was a novice, and knew nothing about utilization. When I found out about it, my score went from high 500's, up to 725 (yesterday) - not all of my accounts have yet reported my zero balances yet. Tomorrow Discover does, and I have about 5 or 6 guaranteed 3 to 5 point increases in the next about 40 days..

By the time the 61 day assessment for a CLI comes up, my scores will be possibly touching 800. Nice fast movement. Amazing to watch.

So  - you know what to do... charge what you need to, and pay it fast. If your spending & payment habits warrant it, they'll bump you up. They like their responsible cardholders to have lots of their card products, with lots of available credit. 

Congratulations. April is nothing to wait...Which Amex card do you want then?

Message 8 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline

Congrats! I just applied yesterday 12/19 for a Gold Card and was denied I owe a balance of $916 since 11'. They use to send me Business Gold Cards apps I would apply and be denied I'm thinking of paying them in full now today because of your storey. This past friday 12/16 PenFed approved me for a Visa Plat card with a $28.5k limit and I was stunned my score with them was 653 even though my MyFico score 8 is 671. Hopefully I can get my amex back any know the number to call and pay in I don't want to deal with any 3rd party collectors. Also, the owed balance is still on my CR. I wonder if there's anyway I can have it removed. Congrats again.

Message 9 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally off Amex Blacklist..My timeline


@Anonymous wrote:

April is nothing of a wait. But I'm curious as to why you paid in full.. Was that your idea, or their offer?  Also, I've read very recently about people who have paid old charged-off accounts to Amex and after a time getting back in. But it looks like you're back in, also. Feels good, eh? I must say, I shed a few tears when that screen popped up with "Congratulations".  It's one of the last things I had to overcome. 

Symbolically, I'm going to use my new Blue Cash Preferred card, when it arrives, to pay the filing costs to establish my new LLC. Only one direction from there. 

Btw - If Amex had asked me anytime within the past few years to pay back my debt, I would have. But they didn't. And I definitely took notice of their monitoring of my EX report - monthly for the last 2 years. Sometimes several times per month. I think because my report was so clean I met their criteria for approval - no bads & perfect payment history, but my utility was over 90% up until November 2, 2016 (6 weeks ago). I was a novice, and knew nothing about utilization. When I found out about it, my score went from high 500's, up to 725 (yesterday) - not all of my accounts have yet reported my zero balances yet. Tomorrow Discover does, and I have about 5 or 6 guaranteed 3 to 5 point increases in the next about 40 days..

By the time the 61 day assessment for a CLI comes up, my scores will be possibly touching 800. Nice fast movement. Amazing to watch.

So  - you know what to do... charge what you need to, and pay it fast. If your spending & payment habits warrant it, they'll bump you up. They like their responsible cardholders to have lots of their card products, with lots of available credit. 

Congratulations. April is nothing to wait...Which Amex card do you want then?


I had every intention of just paying the settlement, which was like $1,500 or so. At that point I was trying to tackle all outstanding baddies on my reports. Finally paying back everything I could was important to me, as was trying to get back in the door with all the creditors I had burned.   I accomplished that in full by paying back my AMEX.


The CSR told me that paying just the settlement amount would result in nothing more than the account being updated to show "settled" with the CB's.  However, paying the acct in full would result in both an update to "current" on the CB's as well as an auto approval for the Optima card.  Given that I had assumed it would be years if I ever got back in with AMEX, I jumped at the opportunity,  In fact, he all but told me that if I never paid it in full (only settled), I would likely never be granted credit with them again or, at the very least, it would be a really long time.  
 
The Optima card is a kind of probationary account that is only offered to  folks like me who pay back their CO debts in full.  But it has restrictions in that it will not get a CLI for at least a year, if ever, and I can't apply for any other AMEX cards for that year.   I have used it quite a bit and paid it off. I am hoping I can PC it once my year is up but there is conflicting info on whether this is allowed or not. Some say that AMEX makes you close the Optima and open a whole new account, which would of course remove the positive pay history.  Lucky me, they stopped backdating on the CB's last year sometime so, even though I have been a member since 1994. the CB's reflect the open date of April 2016.
 
Just this last week I got several new (an unbelievable) approvals so I really don't plan to use this card too much more as there is no real benefit since there are no rewards associated with it. 
Message 10 of 14
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