topic Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint in Credit Card Approvals

Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

FigNewton — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 01:10:49 GMT

About a month ago I was travelling and I awoke to an email saying my direct flight was cancelled but not to worry we did you the pleasure of changing your first class direct flight from LGA to CLT to a coach ticket to Cleveland! Lovely! I was able to log-in and had limited choices on how to get back to CLT, I settled on another airport and I won't say which one it was so I don't ruffle any feathers, but let's just say it is a less diserable airport in dire need of some remodeling. I spent about 6 hours in an airport bar with other beleaguered travellers and honestly ended up having some fun. But since I fly American a lot, being located in Charlotte, I finally decided to apply for their premier card to obtain lounge access. I'm a sucker for a good airport lounge. I also hold the Amex Platinum card and their lounges are great, but between the two of them I should have access to one or the other no matter what airport I end up in.

I was approved for 13.5k SL. Anyone know what CLI's are like with Citi or this card in general? Is it a SP or HP, also timing?

AMEX BCP:

I was approved witha SL of 5k back in Oct. I use this card quite a lot. I read the forums here which some stated you must wait 6 months for first CLI. I gave it a shot anyways right at 100 days, not 101, right at 100. I was approved instantly 3x to 15k. I think the main DP here is it seems like you can get a BCP CLI before 6 months if you have another card with them for longer than that? My only other AMEX is the Platinum. I use both quite a bit, probably 70-100 charges monthly and always PIF.

One note on AMEX: I've read that they have an internal measure of people they know use AMEX as their preferred card. They want to be the card you pull out when you buy your $8 sandwhich and when you buy your $2k golf clubs. I am 100% that person for them. I've always loved their CSR's, never denied a charge at a POS. If you treat them well, they treat you well back.

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

CreditAggie — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 05:17:23 GMT

Congratulations on your approval and CLI!

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

Aim_High — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 05:37:57 GMT

Congratulations on your Citi AAdvantage Executive WEMC approval, @FigNewton! It's a great card! I got it in October and Citi allowed a >$5K increase at the 30-day point< for me, albeit with an additional hard pull. My experience with Citi is you can expect steady growth once every six months with their core cards like the Executive and with only a soft pull. The heavier the spend, the faster it will grow. We had one data point where this card grew to $250K recently!

Also congrats on your AMEX success! I concur that they love to see spend and breaking the standard CLIs is possible for the right profile. My Marriott card was approved at $15K and grew to $75K a little over 4 months later without any income verification or financial review! They must like you! 😁 Enjoy!

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

JoeRockhead — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 12:11:37 GMT

Very nice all the way around, congratulations!

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

nytokyobred79 — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 13:54:07 GMT

Congrats on your Citi approval and your successful cli.

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

FigNewton — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 15:29:45 GMT

Wow! I missed that post 250k on one card is astronomical!!

Funny story I didn't include with my initial post is I received the Citi card in the mail and tried to add to my Apple Wallet and there was a glitch in the system and it locked my card until I receive a letter in the mail with a code to unlock it... So once I get that I'll shift most of my spending to the new Citi card to get the SUB.

As far as AMEX goes, I personally want to stop at the 25k limit in 3-6 months to dodge a financial review. I have all the income I report making but from what I understand they request tax returns. I'm a W2 employee, but I'm in my 20's and growing my income yearly. e.g. I now make 135k but my taxes last year showed 105k because I got a promotion. By reading these forums I think Amex would cut my limits because it doesn't match up even though my current pay stubs show the 135k income I report as having currently. I don't want to mislead Amex in any way but when I got promoted I went and updated my income online, not knowing if they audited they care more about your tax returns not your pay stubs. Now I don't want to look sketchy and go change my income to the lower amount. Probably not a big deal, but the risk of a FR isn't worth the higher limit for me. Even on very high spend months where I make a large purchase I spend around 6k and average more like 3-4k.

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

bigseegar — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 16:05:12 GMT

Congrats! But DP to clear up what you thought: for a new AmEx card you've always been able to request a CLI after 61 days. That's for a new account only. Then after that if it is approved then it's the 6 months you referenced before you can request another CLI. There are also sometimes gliches for some folks that change those numbers around every once in a while.

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

Payroll_Dude — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 18:08:00 GMT

Congrats !!

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

Aim_High — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 19:17:00 GMT

@FigNewton wrote:
As far as AMEX goes, I personally want to stop at the 25k limit in 3-6 months to dodge a financial review. I have all the income I report making but from what I understand they request tax returns. I'm a W2 employee, but I'm in my 20's and growing my income yearly. e.g. I now make 135k but my taxes last year showed 105k because I got a promotion. By reading these forums I think Amex would cut my limits because it doesn't match up even though my current pay stubs show the 135k income I report as having currently. I don't want to mislead Amex in any way but when I got promoted I went and updated my income online, not knowing if they audited they care more about your tax returns not your pay stubs. Now I don't want to look sketchy and go change my income to the lower amount. Probably not a big deal, but the risk of a FR isn't worth the higher limit for me. Even on very high spend months where I make a large purchase I spend around 6k and average more like 3-4k.

Gotcha, but I think you're overthinking and over-worrying about AMEX, @FigNewton. If $25K is fine, then no worries but let me clarify a couple of things from my understanding and experience. For one, there is a difference between financial review and income verification. Income verification isn't uncommon and they often will simply ask for temporary electronic access to your banking to see recent deposit activity. There is an option to provide three months of PDF statements as well. And of course, they realize that people get raises and incomes change. Some people have wide variations in income from month-to-month or year-to-year, so $30K is a reasonable difference. I've never had a financial review (FR) from AMEX but my understanding is that is when they ask for tax returns and such, but that is more if they suspect some sort of fraudulent or illegal activity. You're not close to that.

Also, while it's always "Your Mileage May Vary" (YMMV), data points have indicated that in recent years, most of our members don't get asked for documentation unless they request to exceed $35K. But even that depends on profile. As I mentioned, in my case they allowed me up to $75K before requesting. A few years ago, the limit was lower and perhaps that is where you got the $25K number.

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

cashorcharge — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 23:40:44 GMT

WooHoo!! Congratulations on your Citi Approval!!👏🏼🍾🥂

You can request SP CLI's every 6 months...

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

NoMoreDebt — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 00:04:25 GMT

congrats on the new card and cli

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

KingRue8500 — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 01:51:48 GMT

Congrats on your Citi AAdvantage Executive approval & AMEX Blue Cash Preferred CLI

Re: Citi AA Executive World Elite MC Approval + AMEX BCP Datapoint

FigNewton — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 16:20:48 GMT

Thank you for the reply. You're right - that 25k number likely was pulled from a forum back in 2011 or something because I've been reading these forums for years - I just never joined. Good point - there's a difference between a FR and income verification. I'd like to avoid both - as anyone likely would. My point being it's nice to have big limits, but not worth it to deal with sending documents to a bank. I work in banking, I deal with enough paper pushing in my professional life, I hardly want to deal with that in my free time lol. At this point in my life I'll never come close to even the 15k limit I currently have. I'm pretty frugal - most of my spend on cc's is food, gas, bills that don't require a checking/savings account to pay them.