AmEx suggestions for my Fiancee please...

Anonymous · ‎12-03-2015

My fiancée didn't have much credit before I was with her. I helped her pay off with her old collections and a repo where she was laid off from her job 4 years ago.

Fast forward, I helped her open Capital One card (It was recently upgraded to QuickSilver One this week) then few months ago She opened Barclay Rewards MC.

She needs a third card for maximum FICO scoring purpose before we could purchase a home in 2017. (I personally filed for bankruptcy chapter 7 eariler this year due to bad divorce) I have already started to rebuild with my 3 credit cards (Merrick, Barclay and Discover).

My fiancee PREFERS AmEx since her dad has one and I think AmEx is a good one for her but my concern would be be able to get one? which card? She is not employed but she is on SS disability income. AmEx said she can include my income of about 65k since we are living together and she has access to my money anytime for living expenses and vice versa. her income is about 12k.

So far, I think Blue Cash Everyday is a good AmEx for her, agree? your thoughts? Her last FICO on 11/17/15 is EX 658, TU 657 and EQ 677

Thanks!

darwin_wins · ‎12-03-2015

You may want to wait and get the scores up to 690+ if you want non branded Amex. I hear Amex Delta is the easiest one to get and if her credit report is clean, she may even get that easily.

Check Amex to see what she qualifies for before you apply for anything. If you can't get any prequalify offers then don't apply till you get one. Of course a prequalify doesn't mean anything till they actually pull your report and approve or deny you.

All the best

Anonymous · ‎12-03-2015

I agree. A 658 EX is almost certainly a decline with Am Ex. Get her up to 700+ for best results.

I would focus on cleaning up that repo and collection before trying to get more credit.

vanillabean · ‎12-03-2015

How long has your fiancee been an authorized user on her father's card? (At least I hope she is.)

The Long, Twisted History of Your Credit Score

SunriseEarth · ‎12-03-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
My fiancée didn't have much credit before I was with her. I helped her pay off with her old collections and a repo where she was laid off from her job 4 years ago.

Fast forward, I helped her open Capital One card (It was recently upgraded to QuickSilver One this week) then few months ago She opened Barclay Rewards MC.

She needs a third card for maximum FICO scoring purpose before we could purchase a home in 2017. (I personally filed for bankruptcy chapter 7 eariler this year due to bad divorce) I have already started to rebuild with my 3 credit cards (Merrick, Barclay and Discover).

My fiancee PREFERS AmEx since her dad has one and I think AmEx is a good one for her but my concern would be be able to get one? which card? She is not employed but she is on SS disability income. AmEx said she can include my income of about 65k since we are living together and she has access to my money anytime for living expenses and vice versa. her income is about 12k.

So far, I think Blue Cash Everyday is a good AmEx for her, agree? your thoughts? Her last FICO on 11/17/15 is EX 658, TU 657 and EQ 677

Thanks!

I was able to get a BCE when I had a 672 EX FICO. I was approved for $1500 CL at 18.99%. I think your fiancee should continue to work on her profile to ensure getting in with AMEX. You may want to look on the "Rebuilding" forum, especially at getting GW removal on the collections and repo. Optimizing UTIL would help a lot, too, especially since AMEX seems to look favorably at low UTIL.

Anonymous · ‎12-03-2015

To be clear on this.

All of her collections has been paid including repo. she does not have any active collections on any of her CRs.

She was never an AU on her father's AmEx either.

SunriseEarth · ‎12-03-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
To be clear on this.

All of her collections has been paid including repo. she does not have any active collections on any of her CRs.

She was never an AU on her father's AmEx either.

Paid or unpaid, it's the fact that the collections are on the CRs that affect scoring. However, having paid them makes CAs more willing to do GW removals. I'd definitely encourage you to look into GW removals in the "Rebuilding" Forum, if you haven't done so already.