topic Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience in Credit Card Approvals

AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

ICCC0892 — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 05:59:05 GMT

Hi everyone and let me first say thanks to everyone on this forum for sharing their experiences! Here is mine and I hope it helps someone:

I moved to the US from Europe in the middle of last year for a job. My SSN is less than 8 months old. I was preapproved for Discover basically as soon as I got my SSN and got a card with a $1000 limit. Shortly afterwards I was preapproved for CapitalOne Platinum and QS but never applied for either. I have been banking with Chase. They initially rejected me for Slate saying my account with them was too new (dumb idea even applying for that but it is what it is). At least I never had to get a secured card.

I kept paying off my balance every few days to keep my utilization below 10% before each statement was due. My credit score was in low 700s when it showed up in my "Credit Journey" in the Chase app. Also, I used Experian Boost and added my regular bills to it.

In December (5.5 months from when my SSN was issued) I got my first FICO score - 720ish. I got Chase Freedom Unlimited with $3000 limit. Apple would also give me Apple card with $6000 limit but I didn't apply. Amex pre-qualified me for almost all the cards - Delta, Charge cards, Amex revolving cards (except Hilton for some reason). In those 6 or so months I asked Discover to raise my limit twice but got the infamous "not enough experience with this limit" letter both times.

Chase hasn't prequalified me for anything else yet (also tested Citi and no prequalifications from them either) and my Chase banker told me it was likely too early to apply for CSP. I have a trip coming up so I hoped to get a travel card. (ulatimately hope to have Chase Freedom + CSP and Amex Gold + Platinum) Today I simultaneously got a 150k MR offer from AmEx and "only 1 seat at this price left" for my trip so I figured I would just apply for it. I was approved instantly and a pretty significant charge (a plane ticket to Europe) went through within minutes.

At the time of the application on the Experian site my score was showing as 724 but Amex showed me 712 as score they approved me with (in January my score dropped as I accidentally paid off my entire balances before statement was due and that was the score they pulled)

Therefore, it does seem like if you are responsble with your credit, have no bad remarks on your credit report and earn a decent income, AmEx prequalifications are very reliable - and I started getting them with less than 6 months of credit history and actually got the Platinum card with under 8 months of credit history in the US.

They also do pull credit reports that are roughly a month old.

Hope my experience helps! Best of luck everyone!

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 05:06:30 GMT

Congratulations on your approval and thank you very much for sharing your DPs with us. Have a safe trip. I'll be going to Europe next month as well.

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

CreditAggie — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 05:13:13 GMT

Congratulations on your Amex Platinum approval!

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

Borealis — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 05:42:59 GMT

Congrats on your AmEx Platinum approval! And more importantly, congratulations on your successful credit journey, thanks for sharing!

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

HeavyResist — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 13:26:53 GMT

You are right @ICCC0892 , income is everything for many cards and credit products. Many of us didint learn until later that being careful in the beginning is easier than trying to rebuild in the middle. I know thta was true for me.

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

Marmot — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 14:14:44 GMT

Congratulations on your approval !!!

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

Reviewers — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 14:43:02 GMT

Congrats on your AMEX Platinum approval!

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

MartyWrite75 — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:02:47 GMT

Congratulations on your approval!

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

coreyb80 — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:33:13 GMT

Congrats on the approval!

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

gdale6 — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 16:48:45 GMT

Grats on getting your Amex platinum

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

SouthernCredit — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 16:52:39 GMT

Congrats on the approval. I'm waiting for my travel to pick up again before I grab the Platinum and upgrade my CSP to the CSR.

Re: AmEx Platinum Approval / Short Credit History Experience

ICCC0892 — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 05:55:34 GMT

Thank you, everyone. Just something interesting I noticed that I figured I would share. While my AmEx approval letter stated they had pulled my Experian credit report, according to all of my banking apps it turns out they pulled TransUnion as well as Experian. Not that big of a deal but just thought some people might find it interesting and useful to know that AmEx does that too at times.