American Expresss Special Card Offer --What exactly is this? And is it a Soft or Hard?

[Imhotrodcrazy]

I went to the site, filled it out, and got cold feet and left. ( what a chicken I am )

[creditwherecreditisdue]

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@Imhotrodcrazy wrote:
I went to the site, filled it out, and got cold feet and left. ( what a chicken I am )

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Why? Just go on back in there and get the job done!

[haulingthescoreup]

Well, I would like to mildly interject that apping out of curiosity's sake isn't really the best reason.

Check your AAoA, figure what would happen to it with a new account and if that's OK, decide if this card really does fit a role in your personal credit management, give your Experian report a long, cold stare (as will they), and make an educated guess as to whether it's worth the app.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't; that's something for each of us to decide for ourselves.

[creditwherecreditisdue]

The site is an easy, painless way to find out if Amex believes you are qualified for one of their cards. It isn't necessary to follow through with the app. App'ing is a commitment - collecting "free" information is not.

[haulingthescoreup]

Oh, that's right, I lost track that this was the pre-app site.

I do remember back in the days of AmEx paranoia (before BofA paranoia, WaMu/ Chase paranoia, Citi paranoia, and all the rest) that there was a lot of speculation on the forums that frequent visiting of the pre-approval site would let AmEx know about some deep dark consumer secret, and they might be wary of extending credit.

In my case, the deep dark secret would have been that I was bored and curious.

[creditwherecreditisdue]

I think too much asking has always raised an eyebrow with every issuer. Better to spread out your tries. Once rebuffed you should probably wait at least six months before attempting/inquiring again.

One thing that might happen is that in completing the form you provide Amex with some additional information that could further their collection efforts if you have a bad account with them...

[Anonymous]

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creditwherecreditisdue wrote:
The site is an easy, painless way to find out if Amex believes you are qualified for one of their cards. It isn't necessary to follow through with the app. App'ing is a commitment - collecting "free" information is not.

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I'm just going to chime in with this-- It really is *just* a generic pre-qualification with the basic info that you provide. I'm opted-out, and before I apped for the Costco Amex card, I used the Amex pre-app tool (along with others) to see if soft pulls ever got through. Nope, never. Amex always returned the same three cards (based on nothing from my credit files), as the generic offer.

[creditwherecreditisdue]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@creditwherecreditisdue wrote:
The site is an easy, painless way to find out if Amex believes you are qualified for one of their cards. It isn't necessary to follow through with the app. App'ing is a commitment - collecting "free" information is not.

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I'm just going to chime in with this-- It really is *just* a generic pre-qualification with the basic info that you provide. I'm opted-out, and before I apped for the Costco Amex card, I used the Amex pre-app tool (along with others) to see if soft pulls ever got through. Nope, never. Amex always returned the same three cards (based on nothing from my credit files), as the generic offer.

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"Belief" is a proper term I think. It may be as simple as you get one of their cards returned as long as you haven't been bad with Amex. I know I got bounced out of the house on my ear when I tried that ste out. And a little while after that I started getting telephone calls from them regarding time barred debt. I don't worry much about that though, I know how to handle those calls. 

[tray]

I say go for it, for the ones who wrote the threads and hesistant to app all I can say amex has their own scoring tool, I would have never thought when I went to the pre-selector site a green and gold card would show up for me, but I bite the bullet and went for the green and was APPROVED and this was on October 2, 2009 and just last week I called amex for an upgrade and was APPROVED for the gold card now with better rewards and this is just all in a month and a half.  So I say try to get your foot in the door and once you are in and pay your bills regulary so will see more opportunities come.

[smallfry]

A BK is immediate decline. I know. On the other hand they will pre approve new thin files. At least that has been my limited experience with the pre app page.