severine wrote:Today I received the acceptance letter from AMEX for the BCP. The letter states that my 9/3 FICO score from EX is 782, which is way higher than I would have imagined as usually it's in the 750 range. However the letter goes on to state that the "following key factors contributed to your score....too few accounts currently paid as agreed/proportion of revolving accounts to balances is too high". This seems weird to me because 782 seems like too good of a score to have if the two negative aspects listed were true. All my accounts are paid as agreed and I only gave about a 6% util rate. Then only balance I have is a 29% util on a Discover card. How should I interpret this letter?
Ignore the letter, when you have a high credit score they get very picky they have to put something in the reasons. If you had an 850 FICO they would still put a couple reasons why its not good enough. When you are approved the only good thing about that letter is you get the score and a free pull of your credit report.
Wallet: FNBO DISC 7.5k, , Chase Freedom 3.3k & Slate 3.3k, AMEX BCP 7.5k & AMEX Hilton Surpass 5.5k & AMEX Zync NPSL, Walmart 3.3k, CapOne AU 1.5k
Some lenders also sometimes put "Key factors that contribute to your credit score," but they don't necessarily relate to you. They'll just write that a lot of inquiries, high utilizations, and stuff like that are bad for your score, but it doesn't mean that you necessarily fall into any of those categories.
When a credit issuer declines someone or gives less than the best terms, they are now legally obligated to provide reasons. All companies that I'm aware of have gone to an automated system to generate these "reason codes", thus meeting the legal obligation. On the theory that it is better to be safe than sorry, most issuers send one of these disclosure forms even if you get the best terms. The only one I know who doesn't is Amex for their charge products. So the computer HAS TO generate at least 2 reason codes. Thus, "too few accounts paid as agreed" doesn't mean there are ANY accounts that ARENT paid as agreed. It just means you have only a few accounts, period. You should only pay attention to these codes if you are declined and/or get a high interest rate. Even then, it is usually only the first listed reason that had any impact. In the case of Amex, their reasons may not even be related to your fico data.
Starting Score: EQ 681 5/2011, EX 656 6/2011 (PSECU), TU98 642 6/2011
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