Personally (and I only bring this up due to the anonymity) I have approximately $200K in education debt, another $75K in auto loans. I gross approximately $25-35K per month. I was initially turned down for the Platinum card (had a gold card already) when I applied online. I ended up calling AMEX, they did another application and immediately told me I was approved with no questions asked.
My question is what should I do next?
Personally, why don't you pay down your education debt and your auto loan and the reapply. With such high obligations, a creditor might see you as a risk. True, your income counters that. In this day, though, banks know that if someone loses their job, they lose their income but not their debt. Not that this is anything new, it's just that these days many more people lose their jobs and cannot handle their obligations if that happens.
I've had an application turned down recently by Chase. They said that I didn't have enough debt! Sometimes, lenders come up with willy-nilly arguments.Personally, the platinum Amex is overrated anyway. That steep annual fee is a waste of money for most card users (I am not saying that some might enjoy the benefits of that card). I think it's more of a status symbol than anything else ("Hey, look, I can pay for the annual fee"). I think the Costco card is a much, much better deal than Amex Platinum.
