BCP/BCE/ED difficulty

[Themanwhocan]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

Thanks again for all the help! The numbers for me work out to assumming $350/mo spend:

BCP: $14.75/mo (taking into account the AF)

Sallie Mae: $13.5/mo (taking into account the $250 cap)

BCE: $10.50

This is where I was getting the $1-2 number from. If we said $400/mo:

BCP: $17.75/mo

Sallie Mae: $14/mo

BCE: $12/mo

So I think BCP is probably best, especially since you can consider the signon bonus for the first year to be +$16.67/mo for the BCP, +$8.3/mo for BCE, and only +$2/mo for Sallie Mae. Of course past the first year clearly BCP and Sallie Mae are pretty comparable if I stay closer to $350. 

I guess my other worry was that the BCP would be harder to get, and I would app for it, get declined, and then AMEX would auto-decline me if I tried for any of the easier ones. Getting the BCE now and picking up the BCP a year down the road would obviously be preferrable to getting nothing now lol. Does anyone know if AMEX auto-declines you for ALL cards for a time period after one declined app? Or do you just get auto-declined if you app for the same card again right away?

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Once you have a American Express card, if you apply for another card they SP your credit to determine of you will get it. IFF you are granted the extra card, then they HP you. So, you could get the BCE, and then try for the BCP in say 6 months. And in that way get both sign up bonuses...

Then once the first card is 13 months old, you could transfer the limit to the second card and close the first.

[Anonymous]

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@Themanwhocan wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

Thanks again for all the help! The numbers for me work out to assumming $350/mo spend:

BCP: $14.75/mo (taking into account the AF)

Sallie Mae: $13.5/mo (taking into account the $250 cap)

BCE: $10.50

This is where I was getting the $1-2 number from. If we said $400/mo:

BCP: $17.75/mo

Sallie Mae: $14/mo

BCE: $12/mo

So I think BCP is probably best, especially since you can consider the signon bonus for the first year to be +$16.67/mo for the BCP, +$8.3/mo for BCE, and only +$2/mo for Sallie Mae. Of course past the first year clearly BCP and Sallie Mae are pretty comparable if I stay closer to $350. 

I guess my other worry was that the BCP would be harder to get, and I would app for it, get declined, and then AMEX would auto-decline me if I tried for any of the easier ones. Getting the BCE now and picking up the BCP a year down the road would obviously be preferrable to getting nothing now lol. Does anyone know if AMEX auto-declines you for ALL cards for a time period after one declined app? Or do you just get auto-declined if you app for the same card again right away?

---

Once you have a American Express card, if you apply for another card they SP your credit to determine of you will get it. IFF you are granted the extra card, then they HP you. So, you could get the BCE, and then try for the BCP in say 6 months. And in that way get both sign up bonuses...

Then once the first card is 13 months old, you could transfer the limit to the second card and close the first.

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This would certainly be the way to max the rewards, but of course depends on if AMEX is willing to give me both the cards. If I get accepted for the BCE that would up me to 9 inqs on EX which is pretty steep, although by the time another 6 months roll around all but 2 I think of those will be over a year old. Anyway even if I have wait a year before they give me the BCP the extra signon bonus would make it worth it I think. I just want avoid PCing BCE to BCP because it's $200 down the drain 

[Themanwhocan]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Themanwhocan wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

Thanks again for all the help! The numbers for me work out to assumming $350/mo spend:

BCP: $14.75/mo (taking into account the AF)

Sallie Mae: $13.5/mo (taking into account the $250 cap)

BCE: $10.50

This is where I was getting the $1-2 number from. If we said $400/mo:

BCP: $17.75/mo

Sallie Mae: $14/mo

BCE: $12/mo

So I think BCP is probably best, especially since you can consider the signon bonus for the first year to be +$16.67/mo for the BCP, +$8.3/mo for BCE, and only +$2/mo for Sallie Mae. Of course past the first year clearly BCP and Sallie Mae are pretty comparable if I stay closer to $350. 

I guess my other worry was that the BCP would be harder to get, and I would app for it, get declined, and then AMEX would auto-decline me if I tried for any of the easier ones. Getting the BCE now and picking up the BCP a year down the road would obviously be preferrable to getting nothing now lol. Does anyone know if AMEX auto-declines you for ALL cards for a time period after one declined app? Or do you just get auto-declined if you app for the same card again right away?

---

Once you have a American Express card, if you apply for another card they SP your credit to determine of you will get it. IFF you are granted the extra card, then they HP you. So, you could get the BCE, and then try for the BCP in say 6 months. And in that way get both sign up bonuses...

Then once the first card is 13 months old, you could transfer the limit to the second card and close the first.

---

This would certainly be the way to max the rewards, but of course depends on if AMEX is willing to give me both the cards. If I get accepted for the BCE that would up me to 9 inqs on EX which is pretty steep, although by the time another 6 months roll around all but 2 I think of those will be over a year old. Anyway even if I have wait a year before they give me the BCP the extra signon bonus would make it worth it I think. I just want avoid PCing BCE to BCP because it's $200 down the drain 

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Yes, I'm glad you realize that.

[Anonymous]

I believe that if you aleady have an AMEX card, you can't get a sign-up bonus on another AMEX card.  Correct me if I'm mistaken.  An AMEX revolver is the last card I want but just closed two cap 1's and have a lousy score, so I'm not eligible at this time.  Hung on to my senior gold to keep backdating to 1991 and connection with AMEX.

[LuckyBird]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I believe that if you aleady have an AMEX card, you can't get a sign-up bonus on another AMEX card.  Correct me if I'm mistaken.  An AMEX revolver is the last card I want but just closed two cap 1's and have a lousy score, so I'm not eligible at this time.  Hung on to my senior gold to keep backdating to 1991 and connection with AMEX.

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I did get the bonus on both the ED and the BCP, which I obtained about 2 months apart.

[Anonymous]

When I apped for a BCP just recently I used creditcards.com and I had "special offers" for every amex card [non-partner] except for centurion.  The signup bonus was higher than on the amex site, so I recommend you try that first to see if you pre-qualify for all of them.  My FICO at the time was around 690, but no lates, one baddie for $90 4 years ago.  Mostly low due to high util at the moment.

Anyway, if you get the pre-qual it should resolve the debate for you.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I guess my other worry was that the BCP would be harder to get, and I would app for it, get declined, and then AMEX would auto-decline me if I tried for any of the easier ones. Getting the BCE now and picking up the BCP a year down the road would obviously be preferrable to getting nothing now lol. Does anyone know if AMEX auto-declines you for ALL cards for a time period after one declined app? Or do you just get auto-declined if you app for the same card again right away?

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Stated earlier in the thread but to some of us it seems like UW is the same for the ones you're considering.  If that's the case then it doesn't make sense to apply for another if denied for one of them.  We really can't confirm what underwriting is specifically like for each of the cards though.

As others have stated, app for whatever best suits you versus second guessing yourself on unknown approval odds.