Amex Special Offers

[CreditScholar]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@OptimasPrime wrote:

Given your scores, I think you would be approved for the zync and maybe a higher level charge card as well- eventually. Not sure that they would approve you for a credit card unfortunately.They like to pull ex for their charge cards.

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@snowkitty wrote:
I'm not in the amex family.....never even tried. I've opened all my cc's in the past month and got denied by chase yesterday so I feel pretty sure they would deny me

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Also, since all your accounts are very recent I wouldn't app anywhere else for awhile. You could try amex in december to establish a memeber since date, but the longer you wait the better your chances for approval

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Oh hrm.  If snowkitty has a real FICO score and you've opened up a bunch of CC's in this past month, I'd take the shot now I think for that 2012 member date before a bunch of things report as opened.  Unless on the west coast, there's a fair chance those inquiries didn't all land on EX anyway.

Decent score and some other tradelines over the six month mark (QED as kitty has a FICO) and no revolvers reporting is probably better than a few revolvers reporting 3-4 months in mid-December I'm guessing.  I'm not certain that it's 6 months revolver history, I believe some studentish folks got approved with nothing but student loans on their report?

Chase and Amex don't share underwriting criteria, and I think the Zync is still easier to qualify for than a Chase Freedom anyway.  Just from a pure FICO possible maximization standpoint 2-3 years out, I'd make an app now, and even if denied, app again around Dec 15th.  Won't matter if you're not chasing approvals in 2013 as the inquiries will fade, but getting that member date is a non-trivial tool for building one's credit file.

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+1. The Zync is easier to qualify for, no question about it.

Some people have reported getting a Zync with FICOs in the lower 600s (610-630). The very bottom end for the Freedom would be 650, and even then I wouldn't fancy your chances. As a charge card, and especially with a low hard-limit, there's simply less risk involved on Amex's part.

[cmthomas06]

Thanks for the help, guys! I found it now =) it wasnt coming up (Im guessing) since I was still logged into my account. 

[Revelate]

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@snowkitty wrote:
Just saw ur post revelate.....I backed away from any more appa because I got afraid that my existing cc's would see all the inquiries and it would affect my card or cli in the future. Everything is alreadyshowing up on eq and tu. What is the deal about the dates on amex everyone talks about?

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Ah, if they're already reporting on EQ and TU, it's a good bet they're on EX as well.

Good call on waiting .  

Backdating is a popular topic on this forum, if you search for that term I suspect you'll learn more than you want to know about it hah... but the short of it is this: Amex is unique in their practice of establshing a Member Since date, which stays with you ad infinitum assuming you / Amex can find the record of the that account.

Any future charge or revolving product you open up with Amex in the future will be "backdated" to the year which you opened the original account... and that new tradeline is reported to the bureaus as having been opened in the year that the original account was. 

It's a little more complicated than this, and it really only helps with AAoA (one of the FICO calculations), it'll help nothing at all with underwriting as it's easy to spot in manual review, but when so many things are decided by computer these days, and FICO is almost always one of the underwriting hurdles you have to clear, it's a decent bonus especially when you're in the mid-game of credit building (3ish year range give or take).