@distantarray wrote:People seem to be getting in to BCP/BCE a LOT easier after they placed the $6,000 cap on the card, you could try that, also my dad got approved for Amex Delta Skymiles with 2 recent derogs medical collections 1 paid and 1 unpaid. Strange thing is his Fico score was 666 and he was approved according to Amex with recent derogs I wouldn't think he would get in but he did.
That's very interesting. I knew that the Delta had some lowered approval criteria but seems they may have lowered even more. I'd be interested to know more about your dad's credit profile. AAOA- CCs he already has. I know there is talk of new algorithms that let medical collections weigh less on approval standards. I wonder if Amex incorporated this into their internal scoring system. Generally, I'd still say that for most- 666 FICO would net you a denial. 
Starting Score: 642
@improvingmycredit wrote:
@distantarray wrote:People seem to be getting in to BCP/BCE a LOT easier after they placed the $6,000 cap on the card, you could try that, also my dad got approved for Amex Delta Skymiles with 2 recent derogs medical collections 1 paid and 1 unpaid. Strange thing is his Fico score was 666 and he was approved according to Amex with recent derogs I wouldn't think he would get in but he did.
That's very interesting. I knew that the Delta had some lowered approval criteria but seems they may have lowered even more. I'd be interested to know more about your dad's credit profile. AAOA- CCs he already has. I know there is talk of new algorithms that let medical collections weigh less on approval standards. I wonder if Amex incorporated this into their internal scoring system. Generally, I'd still say that for most- 666 FICO would net you a denial.
his credit score was a 800+ otherwise we're working to get it deleted, AAOA 5.8 years with HELOC loans, car loans, business loans etc all paid in full never late.
Thanks! ^^^^. Tell him Congrats from me!!! . OP- sorry for the thread jacking!
@improvingmycredit wrote:
@distantarray wrote:People seem to be getting in to BCP/BCE a LOT easier after they placed the $6,000 cap on the card, you could try that, also my dad got approved for Amex Delta Skymiles with 2 recent derogs medical collections 1 paid and 1 unpaid. Strange thing is his Fico score was 666 and he was approved according to Amex with recent derogs I wouldn't think he would get in but he did.
That's very interesting. I knew that the Delta had some lowered approval criteria but seems they may have lowered even more. I'd be interested to know more about your dad's credit profile. AAOA- CCs he already has. I know there is talk of new algorithms that let medical collections weigh less on approval standards. I wonder if Amex incorporated this into their internal scoring system. Generally, I'd still say that for most- 666 FICO would net you a denial.
It's anecodtally estimated that Amex changed their underwriting roughly at the same time Chase did (since they likely view each other as primary competitors this isn't entirely surprising) circa 06/12.
Delta cards have always been the lowest of the bunch, but it appears that the BCE/BCP and SPG were lowered to around 680 FICO for an entry point with a few approvals below that (think lowest I saw was ~672, that that was probably below the first or second standard deviation I'd wager)... and we had multiple examples of such whereas before that at least appeared to be a blue moon approval for the majority of people who were below the 700-720 mark.
The FICO '08 algorithm doesn't necessarily weight collections less, it just discounts one "nuisance" collection (sub-$100) such as a forgotten parking ticket or library fine. This was from the FICO advertising / marketing campaign on the release of the algorithm and is generally accepted AFAIK. It's just unfortunate for me that the only report I can test this on is TU (which is incredibly difficult for me to get pulled) and TU seems to get the lion's share of the silly collections from the reports I've read from folks.
