topic Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it? in Credit Card Approvals

First ever amex prequal, should I do it? - Update: Approved

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 14:05:39 GMT

Hello to all you fair myfico denizens out there , I'm in need of a little advice here

Some of you may already have seen some of this back story so feel free to skip ahead to the data points

I've been doing the prequal circuit for a couple months now, didn't get any hits at all till I had 6 months of history under my belt - and thus a fico score (which was only about a month ago), and once i did it was only for capital one platinum and QS1. Then a maybe week or two later i got 3 prequals from us bank for some very appealing cards that I figured were well out of my reach, all with single APRs (the highest available - which did make them seem a little more legitimate to me). I kept my composure and didn't pounce on them, and right around the same time I had a fraudulent transaction on my discover card prompting them to issue a new card and account number - which in turn caused the original account to drop off my CRs thus tanking my scores (my vantage scores, I didn't see my FICOs between then and now and my score remains the same with the same accounts and util - my discover is my AZEO balance reporting card - so I'm thinking everything is sorted out, vantage scores rebounded as well however for some odd reason they're still not showing the discover card, it reports around the 12th or so though so I'll see what happens a few days later, I think there's just some kind of weird lag going on - I highly doubt 1 inq aging past 6 months would cause a 25 point jump lol but I guess you never know with vantage, I know they can be wonky). Once the score drop/discover incident happened us bank no longer had any prequals for me, and they still don't. But something in the garden club thread (of all places lol) made me think a little, and I tried the amex prequals once again, when to my absolute shock I got 3 single APR hits, including one of my ultimate goal cards:

My EX fico is currently 651 according to discover (I haven't refreshed their TU one yet, and I'm waiting to look at my EX from their own free fico site till after discover reports this month). I'm focusing all my data points on EX because that's who I've heard they pull almost exclusively, my TU is about the same though, same info, with EQ slightly lower due to 2 extra medical collections (3 y/o) and also 1 extra inq (I also have yet to see my EQ fico 8, it's the only one I haven't found free anywhere and I haven't yet felt the need to do the CCT 3B trial).

EX data points:

3 accounts (including discover which SHOULD be back on there) -

Cap one secured - CL $500 bal $0 (6 months old, about to be 7)

Overstock - CL $750 bal $0 (6 months old, 7 around the 24th)

Discover secured - CL $200 not sure on the balance that'll report yet but I almost always have it between 1% & 9% (just turned 7 months old)

AAoA 6 months, oldest 7 months

1 inq under a year, zero under 6 months

3 unpaid medical collections, 3 years old

Currently at 1% aggregate revolving util

0 missed payments/ 100% payment history

I mainly want this card for the 3% on groceries, and I'm totally happy with a tiny SL (even one that won't grow much, I can definitely make do with a $500 or $1000 CL) - what do you guys think my odds could be on actually getting this card right now? I've been gardening this long so I can definitely continue, but if this is a fairly solid prequal I'd much prefer to grab the card now so I can use it for that 3% and then immediately hop back into the garden to gain some more history and expand the rest of my wallet later. I'd love anyone's input or data points here, particularly folks who were denied after getting a prequal - I've seen a couple but the ones I saw were for blacklist reasons or for BK, I'd be very interested to hear about any other scenarios like this that were more like my profile if there are any, and really anything anybody has to say about anything at all

Thanks for everything, you're my favorite people on the internet and I appreciate everything this community does for everyone have a great day!

(Haha anyone here play mass effect? 'You're my favorite people on the internet' just made me think of 'I'm commander shepard and this is my favorite store on the citadel' lol)

Mod note: I updated your subject to reflect your approval; feel free to edit/change if you would like. --UB

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 18:22:27 GMT

If the rewards are useful, snag it!

FWIW, you can get a free monthly EX at two sites so sign up for them 2 weeks apart so you have a rolling EX: creditscorecard.com (Discover's EX8) and creditscore.com (EX's monthly free EX8).

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 18:27:07 GMT

I would say go for it. While having collections might be risky, the fact that your accounts are all reporting such low utilization makes me think Amex is willing to throw you a bone. Again, with soft pull CLIs, even with a small SL, it will definitely grow. They don't bin like CAP1 does, where you start in a rut, stay in a rut.

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 18:45:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If the rewards are useful, snag it!

FWIW, you can get a free monthly EX at two sites so sign up for them 2 weeks apart so you have a rolling EX: creditscorecard.com (Discover's EX8) and creditscore.com (EX's monthly free EX8).

Lol I kinda messed up on this one, when I first got my fico score I was being overzealous and checked both of those within a few days of eachother (it was right around when 2 of my cards report but I don't think I waited long enough to see the data update - although I guess maybe it did and the score just didn't change)

If I wait to check the second one for a week or 2 will it pull new data then or will it have already automatically updated on the original planned refresh date? I'm gonna try it out anyway just for kicks but interested to know if it'll work that way

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 18:51:36 GMT

If you like the rewards and you're getting a solid APR, than definitely go for it! Let us know what happens!

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 18:53:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
If the rewards are useful, snag it!

FWIW, you can get a free monthly EX at two sites so sign up for them 2 weeks apart so you have a rolling EX: creditscorecard.com (Discover's EX8) and creditscore.com (EX's monthly free EX8).
Lol I kinda messed up on this one, when I first got my fico score I was being overzealous and checked both of those within a few days of eachother (it was right around when 2 of my cards report but I don't think I waited long enough to see the data update - although I guess maybe it did and the score just didn't change)

If I wait to check the second one for a week or 2 will it pull new data then or will it have already automatically updated on the original planned refresh date? I'm gonna try it out anyway just for kicks but interested to know if it'll work that way

I think you burned your chance to have it pull 2 weeks apart unfortunately. No worries, happens to many of us! I'm not sure how you can reset it, maybe closing the free monitoring and reopening it in a few months? I have no clue!

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

fritscher — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 19:51:03 GMT

I would try for it..They are pretty good i think with screening people they would like to apply

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 20:30:35 GMT

oh my gosh! go for it! id be jumping up and down and telling everyone i got an amex prequal! LOL!!!

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

MrDisco99 — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 21:33:07 GMT

With that single APR I’d say your chances are pretty good at getting approved. However you may want to wait until your qualify for an intro APR and bonus offer.

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Shadowfactor — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 21:44:04 GMT

From my experience and reading this forum. Amex pre qualify is very accurate.
If your prequalified for the BCE card but with no offer or intro APR. go into private browsing. Get the good signup bonus and cold app.
If they are going to approve you for the card. The signup bonus or lack of isn’t going to affect that.

I had a really crappy signup bonus offer through prequalified with both of my Amex cards. The PRG I app’d over the phone to get the best bonus.

My delta gold card only wanted to give me 20k miles with 1K spend. Went to the delta site since I was buying a flight. Saw the offer for 50K mikes 1K spend and $150 statement credit if I app’d now and bought the flight. So I did and got the card and offer. Got delta at 610 EX F8 with 4 collections

My data point though.
I was recently denied for the BCE at 657 EX F8 with 3 collection accounts. For score to low. I had my delta card for a monthish at that point. I wasn’t prequalified on the site though. They told me I was over the phone when I called to pay my bill.

If the website is saying something they normally are very accurate unless something major has changed.

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 22:10:57 GMT

@Shadowfactor wrote:
From my experience and reading this forum. Amex pre qualify is very accurate.
If your prequalified for the BCE card but with no offer or intro APR. go into private browsing. Get the good signup bonus and cold app.
If they are going to approve you for the card. The signup bonus or lack of isn’t going to affect that.

I had a really crappy signup bonus offer through prequalified with both of my Amex cards. The PRG I app’d over the phone to get the best bonus.

My delta gold card only wanted to give me 20k miles with 1K spend. Went to the delta site since I was buying a flight. Saw the offer for 50K mikes 1K spend and $150 statement credit if I app’d now and bought the flight. So I did and got the card and offer. Got delta at 610 EX F8 with 4 collections

My data point though.
I was recently denied for the BCE at 657 EX F8 with 3 collection accounts. For score to low. I had my delta card for a monthish at that point. I wasn’t prequalified on the site though. They told me I was over the phone when I called to pay my bill.

If the website is saying something they normally are very accurate unless something major has changed.

Haha dang I wish I saw this like 10 minutes ago lol

I went ahead and pulled the trigger..

And I've never been so happy to see a $500 credit limit in my life lol

I'm in the amex family! I'm the bad kid they need to watch constantly and keep on one of those kid leashes people use at the mall (is that still a thing? Haha I couldn't believe my eyes the first time I saw one of those) and I am totally stoked about it haha

Thanks for giving me that much needed push guys! I'll gladly relinquish my gold spade and take my seedling now

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 22:17:49 GMT

Congrats!

You've been approved for what we're calling here the "credit steps" Amex rebuilder. Amex doesn't call it that but it is similar to Capital One.

A few things to note:

Some folks have read communications that this account should get an automatic CLI around 6 months if you use it every month. Not sure if that's required, but give it at least SOME usage every month and pay responsibly.
Many folks with $500 SLs have NOT been able to get the 61 day 3X CLI, but YMMV of course.

Either way, you're in with Amex which means future preapprovals for sure and maybe even SP approvals on new cards. Treat it well. Set up autopay immediately when you can. Don't abuse it by sending friends money with Paypal or taking cash advances, of course.

In time, it'll grow, and once you're in with Amex, you're in!

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 00:49:25 GMT

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S...You did it! You're in! Now sit back and have a drink. Relax. You're important in the world now with an AMEX.
I started out with the same program ($500-no offers)as you a little over a year ago.
I played the game and am now at $9k, which I'm happy with.
One thing I can tell you is to pay the bill in full and just grow comfortable with your card. Don't be afraid to use it. I did PIF and in over 61 days I was at 3x the limit. Also, never go over 50% of your limit.

Do not get a pin (if one comes, throw it in the garbage) to take cash off the card. No purchases for friends, etc. Tell them to get their own card. You can do this.
Just play the game... Let the results come your way.

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 01:50:07 GMT

Welcome to the Amex family. 🎉🍾🎈🎊

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

SomewhereIn505 — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 03:21:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S...You did it! You're in! Now sit back and have a drink. Relax. You're important in the world now with an AMEX.
I started out with the same program ($500-no offers)as you a little over a year ago.
I played the game and am now at $9k, which I'm happy with.
One thing I can tell you is to pay the bill in full and just grow comfortable with your card. Don't be afraid to use it. I did PIF and in over 61 days I was at 3x the limit. Also, never go over 50% of your limit.

Do not get a pin (if one comes, throw it in the garbage) to take cash off the card. No purchases for friends, etc. Tell them to get their own card. You can do this.
Just play the game... Let the results come your way.

I’ve got $500 SL and was thinking to not CLI until the 6th statement posts. Seeing your posts gives me faith I can get my card up to the same limit.

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 03:39:10 GMT

Congrats on the BCE that fence is not high enough is it? Lol

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 04:06:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Congrats on the BCE that fence is not high enough is it? Lol

Haha no, no it is not

Or maybe AJC just forgot to turn it back on after everybody was done peeing on it

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 04:13:48 GMT

C O N G R A T S ! ! ! !

Welcome to the Amex Family... It's a relatively small group of people (compared to all the VISA and MC holders out there) who get to flash that little blue box at the checkout.

If you treat AMEX right, they will treat you right.

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it?

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 04:32:08 GMT

If your pre-approved i would go for it, i applied for this same card, although i had better credit with only 1 very old tax lien on it.

None the less i was approved for a 500 limit card with no bonus offers, i have sinced upped the card to 3000 credit limit but my credit has improved quite a bit since then, well at least my profile has, lol, my ability to pay is another matter.

You might get a low limit card with no bonus offers

Its really if you want to risk the hard pull, but being that your credit is not in very good shape right now anyway, i would go for it.

Re: First ever amex prequal, should I do it? - Update: Approved

UncleB — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 14:09:04 GMT

Huge congrats on the approval!!