What's the latest with AMEX

[longtimelurker]

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@MontegoMack wrote:

Regardless of mass marketing, history, distant past and all...

What is the trend seen today that would indicate a minimum score range (to be even more general and allow for error) for approval for the Delta Gold and PRG?

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What answer are you expecting that would be meaningful in any way?   There are things like whogavemecredit and credit pulls and creditkarma that might give you some sampling, but any replies here are going to be based on a fairly small sample, with possibly some bias (more likely to report acceptance than rejection maybe).

[Luscher]

OP, why don't you give us your details, like AAOA, Score, Income, baddies. etc and then we can better help you

[MontegoMack]

Thank you for all your replies. I understand that there's no definitive answer. I'll keep reading and enjoying the vast knowledge that everyone is willing to share. Thanks for continuing to clarify matters that are often a bit fuzzy: credit, credit worthiness, acceptance and rejection.

[sjt]

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@MontegoMack wrote:

AMEX has seemingly changed their requirements for their cards and I'm wondering what score minimums that they are allowing for approval for their Delta Gold and PRG.

Anyone have an idea?

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I havent noticed any significant change, but Amex has their own internal scoring and its not just based on FICO score. They are going to look at income, assets, credit, and credit "blemishes" and how you have handled credit since those blemishes.

[navigatethis12]

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@espnjunkie wrote:

I haven't really seen any significant change. Rule of thumb is near excellent to excellent credit for amex approval. YMMV but they are not offering subprime products

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I'd say a Zync with a 200 or 500 limit isn't exactly stellar. From reports, they don't require excellent credit to be approved for their products. People with lates or other derogatory information have reported getting approved. All you need is a pulse.

[MontegoMack]

What's this? A dissenting voice?

Hmmmm.... Seems to big a broad score range between needing excellent credit to just needing a pulse. 

[Revelate]

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@MontegoMack wrote:

What's this? A dissenting voice?

Hmmmm.... Seems to big a broad score range between needing excellent credit to just needing a pulse. 

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You need more than a pulse, but what I define as excellent credit, well Amex doesn't require that.

I think Duncan's close with his 650ish floor; that applies to virtually all charge cards and I might've said 660ish floor for Delta but as everyone's profile is different and we don't have access to even the FICO score version Amex is likely using, let alone their internal score model which we are confident exists, so it's hard to say with any substantial degree of certainty, but there is a large volume of anecdotal evidence which supports this.

I haven't being paying much attention lately and I don't have time to go datamine some of the approval sites, but I don't think it's materially changed in either case in near 18 months, and at least for the charge cards, likely from much longer before that.  Roughly 6/12 is when we saw BCP/SPG trend much lower (roughly 720 -> 680 in my estimation) for their minimum underwriting requirements.

[espnjunkie]

Amex no longers offers the Zync card, so I don't think it really applies right now 

[longtimelurker]

Rev: the guess was that BCP went lower because of the cap introduction, reducing Amex's exposure to risk.   What happened with the SPG to make it drop?

[espnjunkie]

Amex likely had to put the BCP 6% cap at $6,000.00 because of the arbitrage situation with purchasing gift cards. There is not sales tax on those so it's a free 6 bucks a pop for a 100 dollar card