@Anonymous wrote:@Anonymous November of 2015 my first AMEX card came with a SL of $1000 (BCE) with no sign up bonus. My file was thin, with only a year old Chase Freedom @2k CL. Taking the time to use the BCE built my external and internal scores, leading to a Platinum, three business charge cards, and a fresh approval for a $25k SL business account. AMEX had no problem when I spent over $100k on my business cards in a single month this year, only asking that I pay the statement balance of one card before charging another $20k.
Long story short, I found AMEX to be the best possible option with a thin file. They respect the ability to charge and pay on time, offer really good rewards once you've proven yourself, and are generally pleasant to work with. Other banks can be great to work with as well (I like Chase quite a bit,) but no one else has shown growth even in the same ballpark. If you're serious about getting rewards over the long term, don't write AMEX off. They might suck if you want to carry a balance, but I've not gone down that road with them.
Good luck with the BCE, and I hope you stick with it and get that first 3x CLI!
I know part of the problem for some people with thin files is inquiries. With my current card portfolio, I've had 11 inquiries on EX, 8 on EQ and only 2 on TU. I've also heard that certain CCC will pull from a different CRA depending on your location. Aside from a car loan that I paid off in '07, all my credit is less than 2 years old. All the data on my CR's is identical aside from the inquiries. My EX is 40 points lower than my TU. In time all the inquiries will fall off, but it makes it a slow grow with Amex.
I've grown great with Discover, BoA, (and somehow, I'm doing something good with Chase' internal scoring.) But they use TU. This is my best explanation.
@Anonymous wrote:
Im in the same boat. Chase and discover along with BOA have been pretty good with limits. At least Im om with what they gave me. I dont need a huge limit. Seems like the inquiries and short credit history effect us bith the same with AMEX. Im going to use more than the limit each month making multiple payments and take a break from my BOA card for a while. See what kind of account I can establish with AMEX. My gather swears by them.
With the toy limit on BCE, I added my 17 year old daughter to the card and let her use it as her own. She and my wife have been doing well with it and put about $700-1000 through it a month and PIF when it gets between $600-700 on the balance. Does Amex like you to go over? I know about the "spending power" button, but does using over your limit change an integer in Amex's internal scoring logic to a positive? Where's Pooka89 when you need him? 