AMEX Charge Card or Revolver

[Anonymous]

Basic question, which is Amex more lenient with, their Delta Sky Miles card or Green Charge Card?

I once had an Amex Blue Cash... divorce led to debt led to credit tanking. It's the New American Dream, right? I avoided BK, got into payment plan with BoA and Amex. Both are PIF.

Amex recently approved a corporate card for me, with some limitations. Applied to replace Amex Blue Cash, denied, letter said recent baddies. Recent baddies now removed. Worst thing on my CR now is Amex CO in April 2005.

BoA was kind enough to report Closed by consumer/Current/Pays as agreed, but with some 30/60/90/120 lates over 2 years ago, but NOT CO. Oddly, this was an MBNA card originally and I had another BoA card opened at the same time that BoA never closed. I was able to call them and have a card reissued, CL  $500, but beggars can't be choosers and 10 year history is great. They refuse to rehab the MBNA card. I'll try GW the lates, but need Amex rehabbed first.

Do I stand a chance in XXXX of getting a Delta or Green Charge? I really want the 10 year history back that Amex gives you, Member since 1998.

Oh, current EQ FICO from SW is 665.

No FICOs for TU/EX, but both CRs 'look' better than EQ according to TC.

[Anonymous]

I think a Delta may be easier for you to get. I am not sure that you would necesarily get it because of your baddies. You may want to get as many of the baddies removed as you can. Amex has a long memory if you have screwed them over.

[Anonymous]

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Sithkitty wrote:
I think a Delta may be easier for you to get. I am not sure that you would necesarily get it because of your baddies. You may want to get as many of the baddies removed as you can. Amex has a long memory if you have screwed them over.

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That was sort of my point. I did have a bad 'time' with them, but worked out payment arrangements and am now PIF. They never offered the Oasis I've read about here, wish they had. They turned down my corporate card app 2 years ago, but told me once I had PIF they would grant it. I PIF about 6 months ago, was approved for the corporate card, but still a no go for the old Blue Cash. They said it was due to recent baddies. Those are now gone.

As far stuff still on my CR, AMEX is the only CO still there. In addition, BofA has those serious lates, 3 years ago, one late car payment, 3 years ago, and one late house payment, 2 years ago. Those are the only baddies still on CR. Hence, why I want to rehab AMEX, remove CO and regain 10 years of

history from them.

Attack worst most recent baddie. That approach has been working for me. My EQ is my worst CR due to 3 good accounts showing on EX but not on EQ. TU is the best as they delete stuff much faster than other two CRAs for me.

So you think Delta is easier than Green Charge?

[Anonymous]

I have to admit that I have heard that the Delta card is easier to obtain than the green. I would hold off on getting an Amex because I am hearing quite a few things about people getting a CLD or a financial review.

[haulingthescoreup]

FWIW, I got a charge card (Gold Rewards Plus) to position myself for an upgrade to a revolver next year. (Also because I was too chicken to go for a revolver, LOL.)

Gold looks very lah-de-dah, but I really don't think it's hard to get at all, unless you have some deadly sin in your past. It's free for the first year, so you can wind up having an extended engagement to reassure AmEx that you're not a ticking time bomb. They let me in with a 30-day that had just turned 12 months and a 90 day that was 25 months, plus a bunch of new accounts less than four weeks old.

I don't think that back in the glory days of AmEx that they'd even have cracked the door for me.

[Anonymous]

Any other ideas/thoughts on which type of account is more lenient for approval?

[haulingthescoreup]

IMO, the Green is easier to get than the Delta.

One option: apply for both on the same day. If you're declined for one, try the other. AmEx will pull a hard each time, and they will both show up, but if you do it on the same date, only one will count for FICO scoring.

So the decline for Blue Cash said recent baddies, not "you messed up with us before"? That might be a sign that they'd give you a try again, although the decline reasons are often weirdly inaccurate.

What did you have to go through to get the corporate card? Did you get the feel that it was because of your actual history with them, or more the overall recent troubles?

If you're willing to risk being declined twice, and you don't mind picking up an inq on EX, I'd do the app twice (if necessary) in one day approach.

[Anonymous]

haulingthescoreup wrote:
IMO, the Green is easier to get than the Delta.

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

One option: apply for both on the same day. If you're declined for one, try the other. AmEx will pull a hard each time, and they will both show up, but if you do it on the same date, only one will count for FICO scoring.

Hmm, thought that only worked for mortgages and auto loans?

So the decline for Blue Cash said recent baddies, not "you messed up with us before"? That might be a sign that they'd give you a try again, although the decline reasons are often weirdly inaccurate.

Do they actually say that to some people? Mine most definitely said recent collections, which have now been removed (AFNI, too boot, must have had someone watching out for me).

What did you have to go through to get the corporate card? Did you get the feel that it was because of your actual history with them, or more the overall recent troubles?

They gave me a number to call after the decline 2 years ago. I was already or just beginning a payment plan for personal card at the time. They specifically told me once I PIF they would approve. After PIF, I re-apped. I was approved, but received a letter that stated it had limitations for a review period. I work at a Fortune 10 company, and the card usually has no limits.

If you're willing to risk being declined twice, and you don't mind picking up an inq on EX, I'd do the app twice (if necessary) in one day approach.

I have one EX inquiry in April for the corporate. Apped for Blue Cash in June, they put a Hard INQ on all 3 for that, and declined. I should have waited until the CAs were gone, thought they might be lenient with having finally PIF them. Next time will be as soon as all CAs are gone. AFNI was a 3 year old account, but of course they reported an Open date of 10 months ago. Go figure.

[haulingthescoreup]

Yes, mortgage and auto loan inqs get de-duped when they occur within a certain time frame, but we learned fairly recently that multiple CC apps with the same company, on the same date will also be de-duped for scoring. Again, all the inqs will display, so another lender might get snotty about the extra inqs.

It's always good to shine up your reports before app'ing anywhere, as you found to your sorrow. I'd definitely wait until the AFNI thing is cleaned up, which will also allow the steam to clear from the corporate and Blue Cash inqs. They might even want you to wait 6 months before trying again. It would be worth a call to ask. Nothing more maddening than having a string of inqs for declined apps, all of which make you have to wait even longer to try again.

It will also help to establish a squeaky clean record with the corporate card.

BTW, I said that I thought that the green would be easier than the Delta. That's because even though we've seen surprisingly low scores get Deltas in the past, the recent jitters by AmEx make me think that that might no longer be true.

Since you've had some issues with them in the past, I think that returning via one of their classic charge cards might be a smart idea.