American Express - Regain Cardmembership Offer (Oasis Program) - Yes or No!?!?!

[creditreformer]

btw, idk if this will work for anyone else, but a few mos. back, just for kicks (or my own humiliation), i went to amex site and did a 'soft pull'/looked for 'preapproved offers'.  not surprisingly, there were none for me LOL  however, that also resulted in another oasis offer...and NO hard inq.  just a thought in case the backdoor # doesn't result in an oasis offer for you

Message Edited by creditreformer on 06-10-2008 08:30 PM

[BBYGRL]

Good idea. Thanks!

[fogg30]

"Thank you everyone for your advice and feedback!!!"

I myself would love to get back in the good graces with AMEX........my mom has had a card with them (along with several others after) since the early 80's and attributes her credit score (low 800's) to having it along with keeping her report clean and in good standing of course over the years!  She can basically get a card for almost any limit now and  with a very low if any interest rate and I want that to!!! 

I have worked hard over the past "5" years to improve my credit scores (was in the low 500's and am now in the low 600's - 650's, was close to 700's at one point but my car was stolen and I had to finance another car so my score dropped a bit when I did that with all the inquires and new loan).  My goal is ultimatelly to get a credit card with a $5K+ limit one day and a home loan within the next 5 years!

I would love to hear from anyone that has had "personal" experience with the OASIS Program in the past or recently!!! 

Thank you,

fogg26

[johnpalley]

i didnt know amex had a program like that. i have 3 unpaid charge offs with amex from 2004. account 1. opened 2001 and i owe $995 account 2, opened 2001 $4145 owed account 3, opened 2001 $1400 owed if i decided to do the Oasis program what specificly would happen with these 3 accounts? would i get 3 optima cards and it would be like the charge offs never existed because the same account numbers would be reopen? would i get only 1 optima card and if so what would it say on my credit report with the 3 old accounts? i think i would only be interested in doing this program if after it was finished there would be no record of previous charge offs.

[Anonymous]

I think this whole Oasis program is genius (for them).  Just say you owe them $5000 currently. In most cases it's past the SOL and they can't even come after ya for it, even if it's not past SOL, it costs them money to file suit....but offering the Oasis program is FREE.

They make you this fabulous offer and by this time in your life, you've learned what it's like to be without credit or having to rebuild your credit, so most people will leap at the chance to get back "in" with Amex. Though, they only give you a CL that is half of your previous balance not your previous credit limit?  So that means, you pay them $5,000, they give you a card with a $2,500 limit. If you turn out to be a deadbeat and don't pay, Amex still walks with $2500 from you that they probably never otherwise would have received.

Pre-t-t-y smart, if ya ask me. With the way Amex has been behaving lately, I wouldn't take the bait. Maybe in years past, but not the way they are CLD, Chasing balances down and Closing accounts. It seems many have reported that their credit reports are BETTER then when they were issued the Amex card in the first place, yet, that has been the reason Amex has given for doing these things...

Message Edited by UpUpUp on 09-10-2008 08:50 AM

[fogg30]

AMEX calls me about 3+ times a week about the OASIS Program!  I haven't received any mailed correspondence from them in months but they still call.  I had a $1350 Gold AMEX Card with then over "7" years ago that was charged off but the negative items were removed from my credit reports and only postive is still on their from them.  I opened the card in 1997 originally so if I do the OASIS Program my new card will be dated back "11" years so I feel that history will do me good credit score wise, however I am nervous about doing the program as I have heard some negatives.........like people getting the cards and them being closed and such. 

I have been working hard to repair my credit scores for several years now and I don't want to mess them up again..........what are your thoughts on this program and is it really worth it???

Also, I hear AMEX is starting to lose many locations that it is accepted these days as well, is that true???

Thank you!  =)

[Anonymous]

They are calling you because they want your money!  That was my point above. The way Amex is behaving right now, it's a risky choice to make. What are you spending habits? What are your scores? Do you have any baddies on your reports? Do you carry a balance on any of your other cards? If any of these things are going to be an obvious red flag for Amex, I wouldn't do it. To me, it's not worth shelling out the cash to them and then 6 months later getting CLD or having the account closed.

Now if you PIF every month and only see everything improving from here on out, it's a decision you'll have to make based on how bad you want to be in with Amex and how bad you want the history back.

[score_building]

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UpUpUp wrote:

I think this whole Oasis program is genius (for them).  Just say you owe them $5000 currently. In most cases it's past the SOL and they can't even come after ya for it, even if it's not past SOL, it costs them money to file suit....but offering the Oasis program is FREE.

They make you this fabulous offer and by this time in your life, you've learned what it's like to be without credit or having to rebuild your credit, so most people will leap at the chance to get back "in" with Amex. Though, they only give you a CL that is half of your previous balance not your previous credit limit?  So that means, you pay them $5,000, they give you a card with a $2,500 limit. If you turn out to be a deadbeat and don't pay, Amex still walks with $2500 from you that they probably never otherwise would have received.

Pre-t-t-y smart, if ya ask me. With the way Amex has been behaving lately, I wouldn't take the bait. Maybe in years past, but not the way they are CLD, Chasing balances down and Closing accounts. It seems many have reported that their credit reports are BETTER then when they were issued the Amex card in the first place, yet, that has been the reason Amex has given for doing these things...

Message Edited by UpUpUp on 09-10-2008 08:50 AM

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gotta love that swarm of mba's they hire each year for the express purpose of dreaming up these inventive revenue streams.  at least in this case there is a notable benefit for the customer too.

wow i hadn't thought it through as carefully as you did, good point, this program really has mini cash cow potential for them, they must luv it as much as some customers here seem to -or more even!  i had a greenie from college that was a co and i never got an oasis offer from them and hadn't even heard of oasis until i joined here.  there was only like a 200 balance so maybe they don't bother with oasis offers under a certain amt.?  

still, i was approved for their One card and a Clear card w/ 10k cl even though i had defaulted on the greenie in 1990. and i know they were aware of the greenie because a cs representative mentioned it out of the blue (much to my mortification) once when i called-so they didn't forget and yet they didn't blacklist me. kinda odd but i'm not complaining.

if i hadn't received my highest limit by far and my oldest tradeline by far from amex i think i too could maintain my self respect and stop groveling the way i have been with them in an attempt to somehow to stay in their good graces.

[score_building]

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UpUpUp wrote:

They are calling you because they want your money!  That was my point above. The way Amex is behaving right now, it's a risky choice to make. What are you spending habits? What are your scores? Do you have any baddies on your reports? Do you carry a balance on any of your other cards? If any of these things are going to be an obvious red flag for Amex, I wouldn't do it. To me, it's not worth shelling out the cash to them and then 6 months later getting CLD or having the account closed.

Now if you PIF every month and only see everything improving from here on out, it's a decision you'll have to make based on how bad you want to be in with Amex and how bad you want the history back.

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yes, all v. good points and should be taken into consideration v. closely.  when you are dealing w/ amex these days, be aware:  "it got weird'

[johnpalley]

i understand what would happen with 1 old co but what if you had 3 co accounts like me? what specificly would happen with these accounts on my credit report? what would they read on the reports