@Anonymous wrote:Amex is legendary for having the memory of an elephant. In the 1960's my father took out an Amex card using my name (I was 14 or 15 at the time and knew nothing about it). He defaulted on it. Fast forward to the 1980's and I apply for an Amex card. I was declined. It took me almost a year to convince them that I had no knowledge of the account my father opened in my name. I got the card with a very low line and Amex closed it within months for no reason (I used the card once or twice and paid the bill in full, so I have no idea why). I suspect the history of my father was still lurking in the bacground.
On the other extreme, Cap1 is legendary for not holding a grudge and re-opening
Who else has a long memory besides Amex?
They all have memory's of elephants the only catch is if they are willing to forgive you and how much of a nightmare they want to make your life. American Express is notorious for being unforgiving. Chase will bring skeletons out of the purchased closet to smack you with a wall by going after you for old accounts that they took over. Then you have Bank of America that will require you to recon for pretty much the rest of your life after a dozen years of waiting. Citi will usually wait for the BK to fall off(10yr) before they talk with you. Discover likes 4-7yr before they let you in but will happily flood you with preapprovals before then. Capitol One will hold you off for a year but the chance to let you rebuild will usually tempt them to give you a card with horrible terms. The Alzheimer's patient of the bunch is Synchrony Bank, or more like completely lobotomized. They will sometimes keep cards open after the collection and when they don't will approve some applications right after closing the BK process.
PenFed.
i bought a Plymouth in 1984. It was financed at a dealer in Germany.
I was so young that I paid zero attention to who financed it.
i was divorced and the car went bye bye about the same time as the marriage.
31 years later I joined PenFed and they asked me about a Plymouth. Confused the heck out of me.
I apped for a card and the reason for denial was;
"previously caused PenFed to suffer a loss" or something along those lines.
Ex let it go with less than a $1000 left owing.
PenFed lasted longer than the Plymouth brand!
