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Truth About AMEX Hardship Program

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madmann26
Valued Contributor

Re: Truth About AMEX Hardship Program

Time for something else other than the green card IMHO.

Current FICO 9 Scores



Message 11 of 16
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Truth About AMEX Hardship Program

I beleive I find myself in the same situation as you brother. I entered the hardship program for my green card (1,600) and my fico scores are dropping because of the late payments. Is there any hope at the end of the tunnel for me? Any suggestions? Is this permanent? What should I do? Smiley Sad

Message 12 of 16
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Truth About AMEX Hardship Program

This is exactly what my mortgage client needed. Is there a way for you to pass on the phone number or contact person you spoke with in the Credit reporting Dept?

Or the address you used to mail your GW letter? Thank you!


@Seansoulo wrote:

Just wanted to update all on my experience with AMEX OASIS (hardship) program. I pooled together resources to pay them off only 4 months into the 12-month Oasis program. Whew...over $3000 off my back! Anyway, I called to explain that I had made the payment and they stopped the monthly auto debit and said my card would be reinstated within 4 days and it was.

 

I already had a GW letter prepared to send AMEX because my FICO had dropped about 100 points and I was very concerned about getting it back to about 700 where it was before the OASIS program. Well, I mailed the GW letter and waited and waited for a response or confirmation from AMEX about my request. It never came, so I said "what the hell," I'll mail another one and I did, but the first one went to their east coast address. I mailed the second one to El Paso and still got no response. I started to worry and searched the myFico boards again for some info on what to do.

 

I stumbled across a department in AMEX I had never heard of called the Credit Reporting Unit, but I was discouraged because some people had stated they were flat out turned down by the dept. after contacting them. Still, I wanted my good credit score back so I called them to ask about the letters I mailed. The representative never confirmed receipt of my GW letter, but I suspect they received them because she told me they had just reported my new zero ($0) acct. balance and that it was back in "good standing." She said they reported it a day earlier, which was my billing cut-off date and that it may take 3-4 business days for the bureaus to reflect the change.

 

Two days later I received an alert from myFico scorewatch indicating my EQ score had shot back up from 593 to 650. WOO HOO! I then pulled a copy of my TU report which showed that it had gone up to 707 from the low 600's. AMEX had removed the "lates" reported during the OASIS program and my account was back to "pays as agreed." YES!!!!

 

This all happened within two weeks from the time I paid AMEX off to my credit reports being adjusted to a positive state. My suggestion to all in similar situations is to first write a goodwill letter sincerely explaining your situation and the reason for your request to restore your credit to a good place. A hardship is just that...usually temparaty and not always a true indicator of your true creditworthiness. A letter will always be more professional than you on the phone begging them to adjust how they report your account to the bureaus. Smiley Happy


 

Message 13 of 16
sjt
Senior Contributor

Re: Truth About AMEX Hardship Program


@Anonymous wrote:

This is exactly what my mortgage client needed. Is there a way for you to pass on the phone number or contact person you spoke with in the Credit reporting Dept?

Or the address you used to mail your GW letter? Thank you!


@Seansoulo wrote:

Just wanted to update all on my experience with AMEX OASIS (hardship) program. I pooled together resources to pay them off only 4 months into the 12-month Oasis program. Whew...over $3000 off my back! Anyway, I called to explain that I had made the payment and they stopped the monthly auto debit and said my card would be reinstated within 4 days and it was.

 

I already had a GW letter prepared to send AMEX because my FICO had dropped about 100 points and I was very concerned about getting it back to about 700 where it was before the OASIS program. Well, I mailed the GW letter and waited and waited for a response or confirmation from AMEX about my request. It never came, so I said "what the hell," I'll mail another one and I did, but the first one went to their east coast address. I mailed the second one to El Paso and still got no response. I started to worry and searched the myFico boards again for some info on what to do.

 

I stumbled across a department in AMEX I had never heard of called the Credit Reporting Unit, but I was discouraged because some people had stated they were flat out turned down by the dept. after contacting them. Still, I wanted my good credit score back so I called them to ask about the letters I mailed. The representative never confirmed receipt of my GW letter, but I suspect they received them because she told me they had just reported my new zero ($0) acct. balance and that it was back in "good standing." She said they reported it a day earlier, which was my billing cut-off date and that it may take 3-4 business days for the bureaus to reflect the change.

 

Two days later I received an alert from myFico scorewatch indicating my EQ score had shot back up from 593 to 650. WOO HOO! I then pulled a copy of my TU report which showed that it had gone up to 707 from the low 600's. AMEX had removed the "lates" reported during the OASIS program and my account was back to "pays as agreed." YES!!!!

 

This all happened within two weeks from the time I paid AMEX off to my credit reports being adjusted to a positive state. My suggestion to all in similar situations is to first write a goodwill letter sincerely explaining your situation and the reason for your request to restore your credit to a good place. A hardship is just that...usually temparaty and not always a true indicator of your true creditworthiness. A letter will always be more professional than you on the phone begging them to adjust how they report your account to the bureaus. Smiley Happy


 


Here are two phone numbers your client can call (both are for collections/charge off accounts 800-700-7619 and 800-921-6490.

 

Depending on the status of the account, they can get on the Oasis Program where they pay off the balance and they will be issued a Optima Card.

American Express: Platinum Charge, Optima, Business Gold, Delta Business Reserve, Business Cash, Business Plus
Barclays: Arrival+ WEMC
Capital One: Savor WEMC, Venture X Visa Infinite
Chase: Freedom U Visa Signature, CSR Visa Infinite
Citibank: AAdvantage Platinum WEMC
Elan/US Bank: Fidelity Visa Signature
Credit Union: Cash Back Visa Signature
FICO 08: Score decrease between 26-41 points after auto payoff (11.01.21) FICO as of 5.23, EX: 812 / EQ: 825 / TU: 815
Message 14 of 16
sjt
Senior Contributor

Re: Truth About AMEX Hardship Program


@Seansoulo wrote:

I understand it is my fault that I defaulted, but I've been doing some research on the boards and it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Others have gone thru the same situation and been offered a new AMEX (Optima, Blue and Green) after paying off the defaulted card. I've even read that AMEX even agreed to remove lates from the bueaus with GW letters following the hardship program! That's awesome news for me! 


Amex will never agree to remove negative tradlines, however its been reported that the negative tradelines will get removed/deleted after paying them off in full.

 

 

American Express: Platinum Charge, Optima, Business Gold, Delta Business Reserve, Business Cash, Business Plus
Barclays: Arrival+ WEMC
Capital One: Savor WEMC, Venture X Visa Infinite
Chase: Freedom U Visa Signature, CSR Visa Infinite
Citibank: AAdvantage Platinum WEMC
Elan/US Bank: Fidelity Visa Signature
Credit Union: Cash Back Visa Signature
FICO 08: Score decrease between 26-41 points after auto payoff (11.01.21) FICO as of 5.23, EX: 812 / EQ: 825 / TU: 815
Message 15 of 16
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Truth About AMEX Hardship Program

This is very helpful. I just went through hell with Amex. Had a Charge card & a rep called me to enroll in a program which she explicitly said would NOT affect my credit reporting, but she "couldn't" enroll me at that exact time & asked me to call back within 24 hours to enroll. I called back, & after getting a run around from one supervisor to the next they never enrolled me. Well, they reported me late & now my scores are in the dumps because of it. I'm trying to get them to re-age the account, but I'm hitting a brick wall.

I'm going to subpoena the phone record that I was told it wouldn't affect me & im hoping that it'll get them to remove the past dues from my CRs.

The account is PIF.

Any suggestions from other guys that may have gone through this ordeal? Please post.

Thanks,
Abe
Message 16 of 16
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