Is There A Definitive Amex Approval Guide?

[daveg38]

I know there's an outstanding Amex CLI Definitive Guide which helps us learn about the 3X process.

Although the general consensus will agree that Amex is a 'YMMV' card, are there any common denominators which could help us get approved, like common scores, AAoA, Utilization, etc.? Anything would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

I was approved with one AU. My AU was reporting all 7 years of payment history on my EX report.

I was added as an AU 4 months ago. None of the cards in my signature were reporting when I applied.

I also had 4 INQs on my report.

[Anonymous]

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@daveg38 wrote:

I know there's an outstanding Amex CLI Definitive Guide which helps us learn about the 3X process.

Although the general consensus will agree that Amex is a 'YMMV' card, are there any common denominators which could help us get approved, like common scores, AAoA, Utilization, etc.? Anything would be helpful.

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Those kind of guides are impossible to do as it really does depend on your individual credit file.  Your best bet is to monitor the forums and utilize the credit pulls database.  This is true for Amex and any other creditor.  That's why you don't see these types of guides and won't.

At some point if you feel your chances of approval are marginal then the only thing you can do is either apply and wait for the results or wait until your file improves.

[Anonymous]

they love to pull EX I would think 680+ score with less than 5 inqs within the past 12 months and ult under 20% will have a good shot. Oh and not too many opened accounts within past 12 months too 

GL

[Anonymous]

There's no real way to make a guide for the approval process. Their decision process is very complex and changes over time. They constantly make adjustments and risk assessments. The best way might be to find the card you want to app for and look through these forums to see the kinds of files other people have that are getting approved for that card. At some point when your file reaches a certain point you will feel your chances for approval greatly outway your denial chances. That's when you should apply. Also your SL and APR are greatly influenced by your credit report so just an approval on it's own doesn't mean a whole lot. If you are going for higher limits and better APR you might want to improve your credit report even though you may be able to get approved now. Unfortunately there's no guarantees when it comes to this and you will always see that guy with low 600s, baddies, etc that somehow got in through the cracks. Or that guy with 800+ scores, prefect history, etc that got a low SL and mediocre APR.