topic Re: Amex pre-qual offers in Credit Card Applications

Amex pre-qual offers

MauiMan85297 — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 14:53:11 GMT

Went to the site and inputted info and got this back (it does say pre-qualified) and was wondering if they are any good. Haven't received anything on this pre-qual site except unfortunately no offers. BK7 d/c 2014

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 15:53:11 GMT

My experience has been that they are solid pre-quals. May get a low SL.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 17:25:52 GMT

If your bk is older than 5 years 1 month and you didnt burn Amex id say good chances

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 18:52:54 GMT

Did you get a preapproval for the everyday and the gold? I see the other tabs in the screengrab with it. Curious about the Everyday offer. Amex prequals are usually pretty solid except for Hilton and Delta Gold a lot of ppl report getting a $500 or $1K SL. If you decide to app for Hilton and get approved, you can pick up the Amex Gold charge card too with the same HP...do it same day.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

coldfusion — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 19:13:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My experience has been that they are solid pre-quals. May get a low SL.

Did you click through the Apply Now link and get a "macedwar, you are pre-approved!" message in the upper left?

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

coldfusion — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 19:25:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Did you get a preapproval for the everyday and the gold? I see the other tabs in the screengrab with it. Curious about the Everyday offer. Amex prequals are usually pretty solid except for Hilton and Delta Gold a lot of ppl report getting a $500 or $1K SL. If you decide to app for Hilton and get approved, you can pick up the Amex Gold charge card too with the same HP...do it same day.

You really only want to be applying for multiple AMEX cards on the same day if:

a) you can comfortably meet the SUB requirements for both cards

b) both cards have an enhanced promotion ongoing for their SUBs

35,000 MR for $2K spend is the standard promo for the AMEX Gold card.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 19:27:09 GMT

pre-approvals for those that get them to work are usually in favor of an approval when submitted. When you get a mix of Charge / Revolvers you can usually be safe to just pick the ones you WANT and not the ones that are OFFERED on the results screen. If you're looking for the best BONUS then pull this up in INCOGNITO to view all of them. https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/?category=all Close out and try again a couple of times to see the highest offer that can be used. Sometimes there's a big difference and other times it's only 10-15K points for a large spend. Depends on the card but, in general you'll get something higher offered than just a normal browser window.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 19:29:08 GMT

@coldfusion wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Did you get a preapproval for the everyday and the gold? I see the other tabs in the screengrab with it. Curious about the Everyday offer. Amex prequals are usually pretty solid except for Hilton and Delta Gold a lot of ppl report getting a $500 or $1K SL. If you decide to app for Hilton and get approved, you can pick up the Amex Gold charge card too with the same HP...do it same day.
You really only want to be applying for multiple AMEX cards on the same day if:

a) you can comfortably meet the SUB requirements for both cards
b) both cards have an enhanced promotion ongoing for their SUBs

35,000 MR for $2K spend is the standard promo for the AMEX Gold card.

Just performed what I just posted and that's an easy boost of 15K MR's

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 20:22:27 GMT

@Obscure-Expert is that 20k MR sub for $1k spend? I have been searching for the $1K spend version but keep getting the 20K MR offer for $2k spend. I have a referral link for 15K sub for $1K but if I can get 20K for $1K spend I would rather that offer.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:21:29 GMT

Looks like 20K/2K

Usuaully the higher offer comes with a higher spend. If you can do 15K/1K it's a better ratio spend/points value. Depends more on what you're thinking about redeeming them for. I personally don't like MR's but, they do have some value if you're geared more towards travel redemptions over cash or GC's. I took my 50K from gold and converted it to HD GC for 100% cash value and then sold the cards online minus 8% fee vs cash redemption which is ~30% off the point conversion amount.

Sometimes you can get different offers to pop when you open/close the incognito window a few times. What Amex in my experience is notorious for is offering upgrade bonuses and you can repeatedly up/downgrade the card and collect the cash on them... err points. I've done it a few times on BCE/P over the past few years for probably $500 all together vs just sticking with the initial bonus. If you can't get the points now you can later when they ask for an upgrade to an AF version with a bonus attached to it. I got $250 from them on the last upgrade 1/2019 and a prorated AF of $55 for the remainder of my 12 month cycle. I just switch my grocery spend to it and put more focus on it and have been earning ~$30/mo in it at 6% spend.

The biggest thing is on new accounts to snag the highest value you can because you can only do it once. Then downgrade, upgrade, rinse and repeat to keep collecting in the long term.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:33:24 GMT

That’s good to know because I almost was going to pull the trigger on the EDP version because it meant getting the 20K MR + grocery spend would have been 4.5x MR if I did 30+ transactions a mth which would be easy but I don’t need another AF card right now. Just want to get into the MR system with Amex. I already have BCP sub with $300 statement credit for $1K spend.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 22:46:35 GMT

Personally I would hold out for the 50K MR for $3K spend, considering the $250 AF. The ED tends to get 25K, but not that often. Not sure of the EDP, as I have no interest in it.

Just keep checking in util you get the right offer, these cards aren't going anywhere so missing one offer here and there is no big deal.

I don't think that Hilton is a solid offer due to the APR verbage.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

MauiMan85297 — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 15:11:28 GMT

This was done incognito and these pre-qualifieds came up, all 3 had the same pre-qualified jargon so I assumed they were offering all 3. I really don't have a travel card anymore (after combining Venture into my QS).

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 16:02:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just want to get into the MR system with Amex.

Why? MR's are kind of dismal vs Chase UR's where even if you don't redeem for travel they're worth at least 1cpp vs MR's that cash value drops 30% to 0.7cpp unless you jump through hoops of GC's and then either use or resell them for cash.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 17:24:13 GMT

Well, because the possiblity for MR SUBs are a little easier than UR. Chase has the 5/24 rule which diminishes one's chances to nab more than 1-2 SUBs within a 48 month time frame. Not to mention a HP everytime.

With MR you could nab considerably more in a shorter amount of time on several products. Of course YMMV with getting every SUB due to recent rules, but you can always cancel and try again later with no HPs.

So while MRs may be worth less, they add up faster than URs. At least in my experience, as I am one of those that cannot get under 5/24 very often. But I do understand not everyone practices this type of behavior.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 18:11:57 GMT

I get the appeal of MR churning w/ SP approvals... I like the model but, I don't like the ecosystem value. I also like the ability to continue to snag bonuses through upgrade/downgrade churning on existing accounts. I've made at least $500 in bonuses over the years just by alternating BCE/BCP and adding a CM just for giggles for another $150.

We all know there are ways around 5/24 which shoudn't exclude the option of picking up a couple of them. A HP isn't the end of the world when it comes to scores either.

Specifically I was looking for why the person I quoted was wanting MR's to see if they fit their long term goals.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 18:29:06 GMT

@Obscure-Expert i have the CF from Chase but my spend doesn’t fit with CSP (I’m not traveling for pleasure anytime soon and I don’t dine out) and I’m about to be over 5/24 so no new chase cards til 2021. Also I like Amex a lot and like that I can get a new card And CLIs with an SP. I’ve taken advantage of some of their offers on the revolvers but the MR earning cards have better offers with places like Amazon and on entertainment that I want to be able to get. And I have a corporate card where I can start earning MRs. So I will get the ED to rack up MRs while doing my regular spending. Eventually I might get the Amex Gold or CSP if I do start traveling and going out to restaurants.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 18:40:47 GMT

What are your long term goals with MRs? Just rack them up and then use them later down the road for travel?

CSP works better than Gold based on the AF alone but, you do get a AF credit through the Corporate Advantage Program....

Amazon.... best offer is 5%.. sure there's some bonus points here and there to lure you in but, they can be sporadic and not there when you actually want to buy something.

Entertainment.. Citi comes to mind w/ special access features... though Amex delves into it as well somewhat...

I'm just making sure you don't bite the apple that bites back. It all depends on the purposes for which a card is being looked at. If a perk is something you'll only use once a year then it's probably not the right direction to go in. Just a thought.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 19:11:30 GMT

Good points def. thank u. This forum is so helpful. I am newly back in to using credit cards. So as of now, I am covering my short term spending needs with:
Amex Delta Gold - got the 60K sub and when I do fly, it’s on Delta so I get the priority boarding and free checked bag. Will downgrade to Blue when the AF hits.
BCP - I do a lot of supermarket shopping, use streaming services like Netflix and public transport so this card is perfect. Got the $300 sub bonus already.
CF - using for category spend to get 5% back in UR points. Last quarter was useless to me because I don’t spend anything on gas.
Apple - I use Apple Pay all the time everywhere so that’s my 2% CB card for everything else.
BoA - using for a BT. And trying to PC to the cash rewards to get 3%
Target debit card - 5% off. If I’m not in the supermarket using BCP, I’m at target.

The one thing missing is a way to accumulate points for my future travel. While I like Delta, I can’t afford their fares all the time and I tend to go with the cheap travel deals. For a big trip like to Tokyo or Greece, I would look to redeem MR rewards for some of the costs. But that’s a few yrs from now.

Re: Amex pre-qual offers

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 19:42:35 GMT

Well, that's a pretty well rounded list already.

There are plenty of options and time before your big trip to figure out points/miles/cash options. MR/UR are somewhat comparable depending on which airline you'll be focused on at the time of redemption. A little issue with Amex though is you have to pick an airline and can't change it for a year vs UR you just transfer the points to that airline w/o having to pre-select one.

Delta is pricey for sure... usually 2-3X more than other carriers. Domestic routes are easier to manage to get a decent redemption w/o paying a whole lot of AF's for a CC if you work it right. International takes some focus and dedication to find the right fit.

Another option may be Propel as it's a decent earner and you can just charge the airfare to your card and then if you have enough points to cover the charge you can just wipe it out through a redemption vs having to deal w/ portals and procedures to book travel to max the return value.