topic Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points in Credit Card Applications

Amex Blacklist Data Points

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 12:14:22 GMT

I wanted to make this thread a bit ago, but have been too busy(and lazy). I was blacklisted and tried to research when, or if, I would ever be able to get back in with them. The data was all over the place and people were claiming the larger the amount owed, the longer you had to wait to get off the list. But, there was no easy way to chart that data as you would have to go through multiple threads to compile it. I recently found out I am no longer blacklisted, and the recent rash of blacklist questions 2-3 weeks ago got me thinking that we should have a thread for people to refer to for data points. Basically, just fill out the data point section with your info. If you have any facts to add, or if I put any that need to be corrected, let me know.

THINGS TO KNOW

1. Amex has a very looooooong memory in regards to your history with them.

2. Having an account charged off or included in a bankruptcy will result in being "blacklisted".

3. You usually have to pay the amount owed to get off the list or wait an unspecified amount of time.

4. Amex does not sell your debt to a collection company.

5. The company that collects for Amex is Global Collections, may go by American Express Global Collections. They have full authorization to make decisions on Amex's behalf such as offering or accepting settlement offers.

6. Settling on a debt may not remove you from the list.

7. Amex has a card that is available If you pay off your balance called the Optima Oasis. You have to either be invited, or negotiate for it when you call in to pay your debt. You can not get it after repayment has started as it is a bargaining chip. There aren't enough data points to say whether this will help you get back in to the mainstream cards sooner rather than later.

8. If you're able to get back in with Amex, you can request your original "Member Since" date on your card, but they will not backdate your account using your previous history. So, even if you had 15 years of flawless history prior to defaulting, you will not get that history back.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I'M BLACKLISTED

There are two ways to know.

1. Applying to be an authorized user. If blacklisted, you will not be allowed on a card. People have reported being able to become an AU, but still being blacklisted. In those cases, it seems that they were in a gray area. Not enough data points to say if becoming an AU led to being taken off the blacklist. You can have a corporate Amex card despite being on the list.

2. Apply for a card. If you're immediately denied and do not receive a hard pull, you're on the list. You will receive a denial letter citing past history. If you receive a decline WITH a hard pull from Experian, you are no longer on the list, but don't meet their requirements for membership. You will be able to see your denial letter online if you opt in for it, otherwise, you'll receive a standard letter in the mail. If you're approved, CONGRATS! Don't screw it up this time.

DATA POINTS (please answer these questions)

CHARGE OFF OR BK: charge off

LENGTH OF TIME SINCE DEFAULT: 19 years

AMOUNT OWED: $11,000

PAID OFF DEBT: no

SETTLED DEBT AMOUNT: no

AUTHORIZED USER: no

APP APPROVED: YES

REASON FOR DENIAL: n/a

RECEIVED OPTIMA OASIS: no

TIME FROM OPTIMA CARD TO MAINSTREAM CARD: n/a

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Jnbmom — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 03:05:56 GMT

Great post

We need a data point stat thread for all the major lenders

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

bourgogne — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 05:04:44 GMT

to add, generally easy to be an au on a business card, even inside of 10 years on a bk7. amex retains all debt, they do not sell it off, dealing with an agent is just like dealing with the mothership. whenever you get back in you will get your old member since date but it will register a new account on reports.

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 05:23:25 GMT

@Jnbmom wrote:
Great post

We need a data point stat thread for all the major lenders

A sticky that links to them would be nice.

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 05:28:02 GMT

@bourgogne wrote:
to add, generally easy to be an au on a business card, even inside of 10 years on a bk7. amex retains all debt, they do not sell it off, dealing with an agent is just like dealing with the mothership. whenever you get back in you will get your old member since date but it will register a new account on reports.

Good points. You can definitely have a corporate card even though you're blacklisted, so being an AU on a business card wouldn't be out of the question. Are you sure about the member since date? My understanding is they no longer backdate, you'll get the new year, but occasionally people will get a replacement card showing original member date.

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

bourgogne — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 05:31:10 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
@bourgogne wrote:
to add, generally easy to be an au on a business card, even inside of 10 years on a bk7. amex retains all debt, they do not sell it off, dealing with an agent is just like dealing with the mothership. whenever you get back in you will get your old member since date but it will register a new account on reports.
Good points. You can definitely have a corporate card even though you're blacklisted, so being an AU on a business card wouldn't be out of the question. Are you sure about the member since date? My understanding is they no longer backdate, you'll get the new year, but occasionally people will get a replacement card showing original member date.

member since and backdate have different meanings. backdate implies old history which they will no longer do but anyone can get their old member since date, just need to ask

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 05:38:05 GMT

@bourgogne wrote:
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
@bourgogne wrote:
to add, generally easy to be an au on a business card, even inside of 10 years on a bk7. amex retains all debt, they do not sell it off, dealing with an agent is just like dealing with the mothership. whenever you get back in you will get your old member since date but it will register a new account on reports.
Good points. You can definitely have a corporate card even though you're blacklisted, so being an AU on a business card wouldn't be out of the question. Are you sure about the member since date? My understanding is they no longer backdate, you'll get the new year, but occasionally people will get a replacement card showing original member date.
member since and backdate have different meanings. backdate implies old history which they will no longer do but anyone can get their old member since date, just need to ask

got it. Will edit

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

bourgogne — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 05:45:49 GMT

the other thing is that on the corp level they are decent, if one gets in touch with the exec office and pays off or settles an account they can work to get a card approved on the back end. all they want is for accounts to be brought current even if they have to take a slight loss. the csrs are nice but near worthless, ditto for the outsourced support but the exec team can work magic. paying off debt can really turn things around with amex, more so than other lenders I have had contact with. i have helped a number of friends out of a mess last year and I got excellent results with amex. also credit one and sync, even pra.

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 05:55:37 GMT

@bourgogne wrote:
the other thing is that on the corp level they are decent, if one gets in touch with the exec office and pays off or settles an account they can work to get a card approved on the back end. all they want is for accounts to be brought current even if they have to take a slight loss. the csrs are nice but near worthless, ditto for the outsourced support but the exec team can work magic. paying off debt can really turn things around with amex, more so than other lenders I have had contact with. i have helped a number of friends out of a mess last year and I got excellent results with amex. also credit one and sync, even pra.

I think this is a key word right here. You can't have a 10k debt and expect to get off the list by settling for 1-2k (not that they would accept that). It would have to be something they find satisfactory to them.

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

bourgogne — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 06:01:57 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
@bourgogne wrote:
the other thing is that on the corp level they are decent, if one gets in touch with the exec office and pays off or settles an account they can work to get a card approved on the back end. all they want is for accounts to be brought current even if they have to take a slight loss. the csrs are nice but near worthless, ditto for the outsourced support but the exec team can work magic. paying off debt can really turn things around with amex, more so than other lenders I have had contact with. i have helped a number of friends out of a mess last year and I got excellent results with amex. also credit one and sync, even pra.
I think this is a key word right here. You can't have a 10k debt and expect to get off the list by settling for 1-2k (not that they would accept that). It would have to be something they find satisfactory to them.

woman i know..amex's right arm got a writ from a judgement and did a garnishment on a ~$16K debt, they took $10K to settle and she now has several high limit cards from them, $30K+ is high to me. same deal with chase. she also earns $500K a year which might help lol

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 11:23:30 GMT

I do want to add that, even if you never had an account with Amex, they'll blacklist you if you have a BK active on your report. However, from what I've been told, the blacklist period is much shorter in that case than if you IIB'ed them. My information is that, if you didn't have an account with Amex at the time of your BK, you'll become eligible to apply to them, including the possibility of prequalified offers, 5 years plus 1 month after your bankruptcy was discharged.

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 02:51:58 GMT

I settled 3 Amex accounts worth $56,000 for around $15,000 about 8 years ago. I was shocked to get back in last year after applying and getting instant approval for the BCP card with a SL of $12,000 (now 35K). The card even says "member since 1995."

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

sjt — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 18:42:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I do want to add that, even if you never had an account with Amex, they'll blacklist you if you have a BK active on your report. However, from what I've been told, the blacklist period is much shorter in that case than if you IIB'ed them. My information is that, if you didn't have an account with Amex at the time of your BK, you'll become eligible to apply to them, including the possibility of prequalified offers, 5 years plus 1 month after your bankruptcy was discharged.

Thats not a blacklist. Your description is considered a denial based on their credit criteria.

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

sjt — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 18:57:30 GMT

My SO's Data Points:

Charge Off or BK:

Charge Off

Length of Time before Default:

10 + Years

Amount Owed:

$30K accross several cards.

Paid Off or Settled Debt:

Paid Off via payment plan

Authorized User:

App Approved:

N/A

Reason for Denial:

N/A

Received Optima:

Yes; $3,200 CL (30% of the highest CL of one of the charged off cards)

Time from Optima to Mainstream Card:

Applied and approved (Platinum Charge) 1 year and 2 months from the opening of the Optima Card. FICO score was 638 at the time of approval. All debts (Amex and others) showed paid in full.

Additional Information:

Gets pre-approval offers, automatically approved for Extended Payment Option with $35K CL (never uses though)

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

pizza1 — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 22:10:31 GMT

DATA POINTS (please answer these questions)

CHARGE OFF OR BK: Both (CO in 2008, paid them back. BK 2013 not IIB)

LENGTH OF TIME SINCE DEFAULT: 10 yrs

AMOUNT OWED: $781

PAID OFF DEBT: yes

SETTLED DEBT AMOUNT: no

AUTHORIZED USER: yes, briefly for a few months in 2017

APP APPROVED: yes, finally 5 yrs and 1 mo post BK

REASON FOR DENIAL: previous denial reasons were always "Bankruptcy"

RECEIVED OPTIMA OASIS: NO, but was offered the card via mail a month after I pif the debt in 2008. I denied it.

TIME FROM OPTIMA CARD TO MAINSTREAM CARD: Never had optima, but Im going with now which is my BK. 5 yrs and 1 mo

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 22:30:24 GMT

DATA POINTS (please answer these questions)

CHARGE OFF OR BK: charge off: Charge-off

LENGTH OF TIME SINCE DEFAULT: 10 years

AMOUNT OWED: $8,000

PAID OFF DEBT: No

SETTLED DEBT AMOUNT: No

AUTHORIZED USER: No

APP APPROVED: Yes

REASON FOR DENIAL: N/A

RECEIVED OPTIMA OASIS: No

TIME FROM OPTIMA CARD TO MAINSTREAM CARD: N/A

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

bourgogne — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 22:30:52 GMT

odd ball dp, I gave a friend a bgr in 2/18 - joint bk7 6/2009. burned amex for $50K. always denied for her own cards both personal and businesss but they let her have this au. she started to use the card a week ago, just set up an online account for her yesterday and it shows member since 2003. they know its her but let the au in anyway, very cool. my hope is that a little history will help her next year when she tried again on her own

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 23:58:32 GMT

There also appears a blacklist for Serve/Bluebird. My cards were closed for xxx about three years ago, and I, like many similarly situated, are unable to get new ones. This was before Amex sold the prepaid business. But the "blacklist" must have been sold as well, as we are still unable to get new ones!

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

risingup2day — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 02:59:20 GMT

Here’s my details:

DATA POINTS (please answer these questions)
CHARGE OFF OR BK:
Charge off 2009; BK7 2014
LENGTH OF TIME SINCE DEFAULT:
9 years
AMOUNT OWED:
$4k-5K
PAID OFF DEBT:
No
SETTLED DEBT AMOUNT:
No
AUTHORIZED USER:
No
APP APPROVED:
Instant denial / No HP
REASON FOR DENIAL:
Previous relationship
RECEIVED OPTIMA OASIS:
No
TIME FROM OPTIMA CARD TO MAINSTREAM CARD: N/A

Re: Amex Blacklist Data Points

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 12:15:06 GMT

Updated my original post because of my recent approval.