I applied for a green a couple of year ago ........ rejected.
Again last year .......... rejected.
Two weeks ago ............ approved.
All apps done online.
My relevant history:
BK7 10/2002. According to the free reports this will come off 2/12.
Amex CO sometime in 2002. $1100? Something like that. Called in several years later to pay it off but it had already been CO'd and they didn't want to mess with it.
creditkarma 655, creditsesame 714 last month. And these I checked AFTER being approved for the Amex, as curiosity got a hold of me lol.
My most recent late payment is 4 years old. Apparently I had not set up autopay and forgot that month. Some little double digit balance haha.
When I signed in again online it said member since 2000, which is accurate. My new card said member 11 (2011). I called in yesterday and requested a card with 00 on it. It'll be here in "9-12 days" 
Haven't heard a peep about the past situation.
My experience with them is that I have not been able to get approved with the bankruptcy showing and a young lady from the president's office that I've spoken with has said I need to wait until the bankruptcy falls off of my report.
I had a chapter 7 discharged in January 2009. I included a $800 balance for AMEX. Well, they are willing to give me a secured card if I pay the $800 I included in bankruptcy and put down $10k as collateral for the secured card. She said the only other option would be to wait until the bankruptcy is no longer on my credit report, repay the restitution and then apply for a normal card. She told me that at this time, a bankruptcy (even without AMEX being included) is an automatic disqualifier and she does not forsee that changing any time soon.
Now of course there have been other experiences where some people with recent bankrupticies showing have gotten in, so this is just my experience, not necessarily the rule.
Current Score: Eq: 823 Tu: 830
@n777ua wrote:
I appreciate everyone's responses so far, but I go back to my original question. Was the woman in credit mistaken when she told me to just apply again, and why couldn't she find my account when a regular CSR could. I'm asking to speak to someone in the "credit department", is there someone else I should be asking to speak with ?
What do you mean was she mistaken when she told you to apply again? Are you still asking about getting your account reinstated? Do you mean will you be automatically denied because of the BK? Both of those questions seem to be addressed above. I'm not sure what additional followup you are asking for.
As to why she couldn't find your account, that seems like a mistake. I had a problem with a CSR locating an old account of mine for backdating purposes, but the account was closed in 1998 and I didn't have the account number. I was told they had done some sort of migration of data from an old system and they couldn't locate it using my SSN. In any event, your acount was closed more recently and one CSR was already able to find it, so it sounds like they shouldn't have an issue. But if you run into the problem again, there is a number that appears on your Experian report that is a psuedo-account number. If you have a copy of your full Experian report from annualcreditreport.com, you should be able to give them that number and they can find the account. You might have to try a few different people because the first few reps I spoke with told me they didn't know what that number was for and assured me it wasn't an Amex number (it's not 15 digits like their account numbers). But eventually they found it.
Still, even if they find it, what is it you want them to do. As stated above, they are not likely to re-open the account. There are very few lenders that will do that, and generally only if there has been some mistake that resulted in account closure and you contact them very soon afterward. You almost always have to reapply. The good thing with Amex is that your new account can have your original member date. But whether you will be approved is hard to say for sure. In that sense, the person in the credit department was correct, you'll just have to apply again.
ETA: You may want to search around or solicit additional advice specifcally with respect to backdating and BK. When I was trying to get my card backdated, they did locate a corporate card that I used to have which wasn't quite as old but would have gotten me back to 2001. However, when I quit that job, I apparently left a small (~$5) balance on the card and I never got the bill as it went to my office address. It was sent to collections and then it found its way to me and I paid it. When looking at the account, they told me that it was ineligible for backdating because it had been sent to collections. I don't know if there is any rule about not backdating for an account that was included in a BK. Maybe worth looking into. Of course, a member just recently reported getting their card backdated when their original account was charged off and they never paid the charge off. So whatever the "rule," YMMV.