i was an american express customers since 2012. On 2015 i was discharged out of the army due to disibility issues, im guess you know how this story ends. Anyways i lost my american express platinum charge card with a 5.3k debt. i was in no postion to make any type of payments until earlier this year when i began recieving a steady income and can now afford to pay off this debt. I kept getting offers to settle, and offers for the optima card, i never really paid attention to it until now that i have my own business and i have been making good money. I decided to call the phone number on an old optima offer letter from american express (american express 3rd party possibly?), and was given two options, pay the settled amount and get the optima card with a 1.6k credit limit, or pay off the full amount and get my old card back with a 3.7k limit, along with my points and back dated member year of 2012. It caught my attention so i began asking a billion questions ( i mean i dont want to dish out 5.3k and not get the card), and the guy told me this is a guaranteed offer,so of course the good news got the best of me and provided a full payment. He later had a supervisor speak to me to clarify the reinstatement proccess of 4 weeks to process it all, and then recieve the card after everything has been updated in the system. I then asked him if i can expedite the services and he gave me the number to the department to find out. When i called the reinstate department of american express, the lady told me after they recieve the payment and verify the funds, that it would take 4 weeks to send a request for reinstament and then told me that i would have to wait for an approval or denial decision. Of course right after i heard that i began to freak out, and told her the situation that i was told before i spoke with her, and then she replied, " oh yea you are right it is guaranteed if that is what they told you, and yes i am now looking at the notes and it says everything you have mentioned is right". SOOOO NOW, im all stressed out that i got scammed into a payment to only recieve a letter in the mail of my DENIAL FOR AN ACCOUNT WITH AMERICAN EXPRESS, not sure if i am being realistic or just pessimistic, but the reason for this is because, american express was not the only creditor i lost. I went from an 810 credit score down to a 440 in my times of hardships( still have many accounts with balances), after dealing with leington law, i am now at a 541( which is my current score while making this payment to AMEX). THATS WHY I AM FREAKING OUT. i know i know i should have asked for it in writing, but instead i accidently asked for an email (SMFH), and i know many will say, ooh you dont have the credit why you worried about reinstating with AMEX, blah blah. ANYWAYS, back to my question, now that i have went off onto a tangent with the whole back story. Has anybody been reinstated back to AMEX after a full payment, despite the credit? Has anybody gotten back into AMEX with a "guaranteed" offer? Do you guys think i got screwed into a payment?
