topic Amex BLOC SP Approval in Business Credit

Amex BLOC SP Approval

JoeRockhead — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 18:35:46 GMT

For the past several weeks, seems like every few days Amex has been sending me offers. Elevated SUBs for the Business Platinum, another on the Business Gold, $250 cash for opening a checking account, Pre-approvals for Blue Business cards (already have one) and finally a pre-approved BLOC.

I'm really good with the cards and limits I have for the most part so I've been refraining from adding any more cards. I've been just milling around in the garden waiting out the drop of some inquiries and my 5/24 count (at 7/24 but should be at 4/24 in February) But, since I'm not as concerned with inquiries I decided.... for science, to test the pre-approval on the BLOC. Instant confirmed approval for the pre-approved amount of $18,500. No hard pulls but current scores all in the upper 770s

I linked two business accounts (although only the primary can receive funds) more on this in a minute. As I was making this post I got a phone call from a Amex Business Line of Credit Specialist. He congratulated me on the approval and just wanted to go over a few things. He went over the SL and said I got the best rates they currently offer: 3% for 6 months, 6% for 12 months and 9% for 18 months. No pre-payment penalty or fees so it works out that you're paying .5% a month on whatever your balance is.

Can you request a limit incease? No... that's where the linked bank accounts come in. He explained that the cash flow alone from your linked accounts is computer analyzed regularly and determines whether an increase is warranted or not. Your usage and payment history also factor in to those decisions, so... also for science, the second account I linked has a high monthly cash flow. I guess we'll see what happens. All in all, I think it was a nice approval. The Specialist giving me his direct line to call if I had any questions or need help with anything was a nice touch.

EDIT: sorry forgot to mention the minimums are $500 for the 6 month term, and $10k for the 12 and 18 month terms.

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

SouthJamaica — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 21:04:56 GMT

@JoeRockhead wrote:
For the past several weeks, seems like every few days Amex has been sending me offers. Elevated SUBs for the Business Platinum, another on the Business Gold, $250 cash for opening a checking account, Pre-approvals for Blue Business cards (already have one) and finally a pre-approved BLOC.

I'm really good with the cards and limits I have for the most part so I've been refraining from adding any more cards. I've been just milling around in the garden waiting out the drop of some inquiries and my 5/24 count (at 7/24 but should be at 4/24 in February) But, since I'm not as concerned with inquiries I decided.... for science, to test the pre-approval on the BLOC. Instant confirmed approval for the pre-approved amount of $18,500. No hard pulls but current scores all in the upper 770s

I linked two business accounts (although only the primary can receive funds) more on this in a minute. As I was making this post I got a phone call from a Amex Business Line of Credit Specialist. He congratulated me on the approval and just wanted to go over a few things. He went over the SL and said I got the best rates they currently offer: 3% for 6 months, 6% for 12 months and 9% for 18 months. No pre-payment penalty or fees so it works out that you're paying .5% a month on whatever your balance is.

Can you request a limit incease? No... that's where the linked bank accounts come in. He explained that the cash flow alone from your linked accounts is computer analyzed regularly and determines whether an increase is warranted or not. Your usage and payment history also factor in to those decisions, so... also for science, the second account I linked has a high monthly cash flow. I guess we'll see what happens. All in all, I think it was a nice approval. The Specialist giving me his direct line to call if I had any questions or need help with anything was a nice touch.

EDIT: sorry forgot to mention the minimums are $500 for the 6 month term, and $10k for the 12 and 18 month terms.

IMHO this is not a real business line of credit at all. It's not a revolving line of credit, with an interest charge. It's a series of installment loans with a fixed fee.

Repayment starts immediately, so that if you take out a $2k loan for a year, the average balance is only $1k. And to make matters worse, the fee payments are front loaded. So if they say it's 6%, you're really paying more than 12% APR. If you don't believe it, try a tiny loan as a test and you'll see what I mean.

After I was approved for it, and saw what it really was, I closed it immediately.

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

JoeRockhead — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 22:23:31 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@JoeRockhead wrote:
For the past several weeks, seems like every few days Amex has been sending me offers. Elevated SUBs for the Business Platinum, another on the Business Gold, $250 cash for opening a checking account, Pre-approvals for Blue Business cards (already have one) and finally a pre-approved BLOC.

I'm really good with the cards and limits I have for the most part so I've been refraining from adding any more cards. I've been just milling around in the garden waiting out the drop of some inquiries and my 5/24 count (at 7/24 but should be at 4/24 in February) But, since I'm not as concerned with inquiries I decided.... for science, to test the pre-approval on the BLOC. Instant confirmed approval for the pre-approved amount of $18,500. No hard pulls but current scores all in the upper 770s

I linked two business accounts (although only the primary can receive funds) more on this in a minute. As I was making this post I got a phone call from a Amex Business Line of Credit Specialist. He congratulated me on the approval and just wanted to go over a few things. He went over the SL and said I got the best rates they currently offer: 3% for 6 months, 6% for 12 months and 9% for 18 months. No pre-payment penalty or fees so it works out that you're paying .5% a month on whatever your balance is.

Can you request a limit incease? No... that's where the linked bank accounts come in. He explained that the cash flow alone from your linked accounts is computer analyzed regularly and determines whether an increase is warranted or not. Your usage and payment history also factor in to those decisions, so... also for science, the second account I linked has a high monthly cash flow. I guess we'll see what happens. All in all, I think it was a nice approval. The Specialist giving me his direct line to call if I had any questions or need help with anything was a nice touch.

EDIT: sorry forgot to mention the minimums are $500 for the 6 month term, and $10k for the 12 and 18 month terms.

IMHO this is not a real business line of credit at all. It's not a revolving line of credit, with an interest charge. It's a series of installment loans with a fixed fee.

Repayment starts immediately, so that if you take out a $2k loan for a year, the average balance is only $1k. And to make matters worse, the fee payments are front loaded. So if they say it's 6%, you're really paying more than 12% APR. If you don't believe it, try a tiny loan as a test and you'll see what I mean.

After I was approved for it, and saw what it really was, I closed it immediately.

Appreciate the insight @SouthJamaica... I might do just that but on a small scale since they said you only pay interest on your unpaid balance at a rate of .5% per month So a $500 loan shows total paid at the end of 6 months of $515.00. If I pay it off after 30 days he says it will cost me $2.50.

One big thing I don't like is the $10k minimum for the 12 and 18 month terms.

Well, at least I got to get my approval fix, and it didn't cost me anything... there's always that.

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

SouthJamaica — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 02:45:24 GMT

.....
Appreciate the insight @SouthJamaica... I might do just that but on a small scale since they said you only pay interest on your unpaid balance at a rate of .5% per month So a $500 loan shows total paid at the end of 6 months of $515.00. If I pay it off after 30 days he says it will cost me $2.50.

One big thing I don't like is the $10k minimum for the 12 and 18 month terms.

Well, at least I got to get my approval fix, and it didn't cost me anything... there's always that.

You were clearly given misinformation by the representative. If it's a $500 6 month loan, your average balance would have been $250. So if they're charging you a fee of 3% of $500, or $15.... do the math. That's 6% of $250. And then, since it's only a 6 month loan, to annualize it you have to double it. So you paid a 12% APR on your $250 loan. [Actually it's more than that, because you had to pay almost all of the fee in the first 2 months]

Like I say, ask for a very small "loan" and you'll see what I mean. It will have to be repaid in equal monthly installments starting the first month. And the percentage of the fee they take out is all front loaded towards the first 2 monthly payments.

But in my opinion it's junk. I closed mine almost immediately.

If it were a "line of credit", you could take out $500 and keep it out.

To my mind, it's a scam, and calling it a "line of credit" is fraudulent.

BTW if he said if you paid it off in a month you'd only be paying $2.50... that's not true. Because they take out the fee at a much higher rate from the first 2 payments. At least they did in the loan I almost requested.

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

TMDSCT — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:41:17 GMT

Congratulations! I was approved for the line of credit a few months a go, $25k, but the terms seem too sharky for me.

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

SouthJamaica — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 03:09:52 GMT

@TMDSCT wrote:
Congratulations! I was approved for the line of credit a few months a go, $25k, but the terms seem too sharky for me.

Sharky indeed.

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

reluctantgarden — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 18:23:58 GMT

@JoeRockhead wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@JoeRockhead wrote:
For the past several weeks, seems like every few days Amex has been sending me offers. Elevated SUBs for the Business Platinum, another on the Business Gold, $250 cash for opening a checking account, Pre-approvals for Blue Business cards (already have one) and finally a pre-approved BLOC.

I'm really good with the cards and limits I have for the most part so I've been refraining from adding any more cards. I've been just milling around in the garden waiting out the drop of some inquiries and my 5/24 count (at 7/24 but should be at 4/24 in February) But, since I'm not as concerned with inquiries I decided.... for science, to test the pre-approval on the BLOC. Instant confirmed approval for the pre-approved amount of $18,500. No hard pulls but current scores all in the upper 770s

I linked two business accounts (although only the primary can receive funds) more on this in a minute. As I was making this post I got a phone call from a Amex Business Line of Credit Specialist. He congratulated me on the approval and just wanted to go over a few things. He went over the SL and said I got the best rates they currently offer: 3% for 6 months, 6% for 12 months and 9% for 18 months. No pre-payment penalty or fees so it works out that you're paying .5% a month on whatever your balance is.

Can you request a limit incease? No... that's where the linked bank accounts come in. He explained that the cash flow alone from your linked accounts is computer analyzed regularly and determines whether an increase is warranted or not. Your usage and payment history also factor in to those decisions, so... also for science, the second account I linked has a high monthly cash flow. I guess we'll see what happens. All in all, I think it was a nice approval. The Specialist giving me his direct line to call if I had any questions or need help with anything was a nice touch.

EDIT: sorry forgot to mention the minimums are $500 for the 6 month term, and $10k for the 12 and 18 month terms.

IMHO this is not a real business line of credit at all. It's not a revolving line of credit, with an interest charge. It's a series of installment loans with a fixed fee.

Repayment starts immediately, so that if you take out a $2k loan for a year, the average balance is only $1k. And to make matters worse, the fee payments are front loaded. So if they say it's 6%, you're really paying more than 12% APR. If you don't believe it, try a tiny loan as a test and you'll see what I mean.

After I was approved for it, and saw what it really was, I closed it immediately.

Appreciate the insight @SouthJamaica... I might do just that but on a small scale since they said you only pay interest on your unpaid balance at a rate of .5% per month So a $500 loan shows total paid at the end of 6 months of $515.00. If I pay it off after 30 days he says it will cost me $2.50.

One big thing I don't like is the $10k minimum for the 12 and 18 month terms.

Well, at least I got to get my approval fix, and it didn't cost me anything... there's always that.

It's obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but frankly when you can borrow $10k for 12 months at what's effectively a 12% APR, that's competitive with other LOCs out there, both biz and personal. I didn't get the lowest rate like you did, but I'm using it to keep some biz debt segregated at a decent rate and paid off in a year vs. using a personal tradeline that would increase utilization and drop my scores. And I like having the CL padding it gives on the biz side. So, congrats from me!

PS: You might look into getting a second BBP if interested--no SUB, but CL padding and likely to triple in 61 days. Not sure if they give second BBCs.

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

SouthJamaica — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 21:28:37 GMT

@reluctantgarden wrote:
@JoeRockhead wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@JoeRockhead wrote:
For the past several weeks, seems like every few days Amex has been sending me offers. Elevated SUBs for the Business Platinum, another on the Business Gold, $250 cash for opening a checking account, Pre-approvals for Blue Business cards (already have one) and finally a pre-approved BLOC.

I'm really good with the cards and limits I have for the most part so I've been refraining from adding any more cards. I've been just milling around in the garden waiting out the drop of some inquiries and my 5/24 count (at 7/24 but should be at 4/24 in February) But, since I'm not as concerned with inquiries I decided.... for science, to test the pre-approval on the BLOC. Instant confirmed approval for the pre-approved amount of $18,500. No hard pulls but current scores all in the upper 770s

I linked two business accounts (although only the primary can receive funds) more on this in a minute. As I was making this post I got a phone call from a Amex Business Line of Credit Specialist. He congratulated me on the approval and just wanted to go over a few things. He went over the SL and said I got the best rates they currently offer: 3% for 6 months, 6% for 12 months and 9% for 18 months. No pre-payment penalty or fees so it works out that you're paying .5% a month on whatever your balance is.

Can you request a limit incease? No... that's where the linked bank accounts come in. He explained that the cash flow alone from your linked accounts is computer analyzed regularly and determines whether an increase is warranted or not. Your usage and payment history also factor in to those decisions, so... also for science, the second account I linked has a high monthly cash flow. I guess we'll see what happens. All in all, I think it was a nice approval. The Specialist giving me his direct line to call if I had any questions or need help with anything was a nice touch.

EDIT: sorry forgot to mention the minimums are $500 for the 6 month term, and $10k for the 12 and 18 month terms.

IMHO this is not a real business line of credit at all. It's not a revolving line of credit, with an interest charge. It's a series of installment loans with a fixed fee.

Repayment starts immediately, so that if you take out a $2k loan for a year, the average balance is only $1k. And to make matters worse, the fee payments are front loaded. So if they say it's 6%, you're really paying more than 12% APR. If you don't believe it, try a tiny loan as a test and you'll see what I mean.

After I was approved for it, and saw what it really was, I closed it immediately.

Appreciate the insight @SouthJamaica... I might do just that but on a small scale since they said you only pay interest on your unpaid balance at a rate of .5% per month So a $500 loan shows total paid at the end of 6 months of $515.00. If I pay it off after 30 days he says it will cost me $2.50.

One big thing I don't like is the $10k minimum for the 12 and 18 month terms.

Well, at least I got to get my approval fix, and it didn't cost me anything... there's always that.
It's obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but frankly when you can borrow $10k for 12 months at what's effectively a 12% APR, that's competitive with other LOCs out there, both biz and personal. I didn't get the lowest rate like you did, but I'm using it to keep some biz debt segregated at a decent rate and paid off in a year vs. using a personal tradeline that would increase utilization and drop my scores. And I like having the CL padding it gives on the biz side. So, congrats from me!

PS: You might look into getting a second BBP if interested--no SUB, but CL padding and likely to triple in 61 days. Not sure if they give second BBCs.

You can't pay it off in a year. You have to start paying it back immediately. It's an instalment loan that gets paid back in monthly instalments.

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

reluctantgarden — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:42:02 GMT

I know. I have. And it will be paid off--i.e., down to zero--in a year.

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

cashorcharge — Sun, 29 Oct 2023 19:40:48 GMT

WooHoo!! Congratulations @JoeRockhead on your Approval!!👏🏼🍾🥂

Despite how you use it.....I'm sure it'll come in handy for something

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

rkiss12 — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 21:40:57 GMT

Does anyone know if Amex takes out a UCC lien on borrowers for these lines of credit?

Re: Amex BLOC SP Approval

SouthJamaica — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 22:13:30 GMT

@rkiss12 wrote:
Does anyone know if Amex takes out a UCC lien on borrowers for these lines of credit?

It's not a secured loan, so it would have no right to do that.

It's not really a line of credit, BTW; it's just a series of installment loans, with high fees.