Denied AMEX BCE card

[Anonymous]

Hi there, just a question for you all.

My score is high 700's. I have an AMEX green, Discover, Visa,  etc and recently paid off most of my debt. I went to get the BC AMEX and was denied. This didn't make any sense to me, they say my risk score was high and that makes NO sense. I have never used my AMEX green. Their reasoning was somewhat ridiculous.

Just didn't make sense to me. She basically alluded to i I had racked up my AMEX I could have gotten one easier which made me shake my head in wonder. I am trying to establish credit and build it up and it seems impossible nowadays. They claim you need more credit to get credit, but the credit you need is who tells you that.. lol

Anyone else have this experience? You have one card through them.. never used.. have good credit, but your credit risk is high to them?

[Walt_K]

Did you let your reports update after paying off your balances before applying?  Is the score you're reporting a FICO score or some other score?

[Anonymous]

Hi, yes I did let them update. My debt went from $12,000.00 to $1, 700. The score is my average from all 3 CB's, I was also denied a citi card, for the same reasons, so I am stumped.

[Walt_K]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi, yes I did let them update. My debt went from $12,000.00 to $1, 700. The score is my average from all 3 CB's, I was also denied a citi card, for the same reasons, so I am stumped.

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When you say this, do you mean you are using a three credit report monitoring service.  Those services do not provide a FICO score.   You should pull a FICO score, which you can get here.  Make sure you do a google search first for discount codes to save some money.  I think there is also a free trial for Scorewatch which would give you your Equifax FICO score.   

[Anonymous]

My Fico from EQ is 716, which is lower than the others. My payment history is "great" my debt is "good" what is bad is the amount I have applied for trying to establish credit. Also 4.5 years doesn't seem to be long enough and is considered not good.

[addicted_to_credit]

I understand your frustration I am currently 12 days into a manual review for the blue cash preferred, currently I have a PR Gold card and it kind of feels like you are good enough to pay them for the "privilege" of having the charge card but when it comes to the revlover you are just not good enough I would think having a preset limit would be safer than one with out a preset limit but as I have read here too many times to count AMEX marches to their own beat

[andre181]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi there, just a question for you all.

My score is high 700's. I have an AMEX green, Discover, Visa,  etc and recently paid off most of my debt. I went to get the BC AMEX and was denied. This didn't make any sense to me, they say my risk score was high and that makes NO sense. I have never used my AMEX green. Their reasoning was somewhat ridiculous.

Just didn't make sense to me. She basically alluded to i I had racked up my AMEX I could have gotten one easier which made me shake my head in wonder. I am trying to establish credit and build it up and it seems impossible nowadays. They claim you need more credit to get credit, but the credit you need is who tells you that.. lol

Anyone else have this experience? You have one card through them.. never used.. have good credit, but your credit risk is high to them?

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Like NEVER used it? Not even once? That is likely a major factor in your denial IMO. AMEX likes it when its members SPEND SPEND SPEND on their cards!!

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with andre181.  Different banks measure risks different ways.  Charge cards may be less of a risk than credit cards.  American Express has been very successful at risk assessment while other companies (Franklin National, Marine Midland, Washington Mutual, etc.) have crashed and burned over the years.

I waited years to qualify for Amex and in my experience they've treated me right since I've had their TL...

[smc733]

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@andre181 wrote:

Like NEVER used it? Not even once? That is likely a major factor in your denial IMO. AMEX likes it when its members SPEND SPEND SPEND on their cards!!

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Also, I often say this.  How would you feel if you offered someone $1,000 loan if they need it, hypothetically, and they never took it.  Now all of a sudden they come to you asking you for the ability to have an additional $1,000 if they haven't used the first one you gave them.  You'd be scared they're pyramiding the availability to scoop it up and run, right?