topic Re: Is this normal? in Credit Cards

Is this normal?

shoo — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 05:45:41 GMT

Hi Friends!

I've been helping my mom to rebuild credit this past year and for kicks I tried her info in the AMEX prequal. Surprisingly, it came back with 2 offers! The weird thing is that there are no welcome bonuses attached to the offers (see image). Is this normal? If she went ahead and apped through the prequal link, does this mean she wouldn't even get the current public bonus? I tried talking to a rep through chat and he didn't even understand what I was asking.... Thanks in advanced!

We aren't completely sure of her scores since we are waiting to buy them from myfico next month before apping for anything new, but estimating low-mid 600s. She has 5 collections across the board. She was approved last year for a Cap1 secured card. Then approved beginning of January for a Cap1 Platinum no AF card. It was upgraded this past weekend to a no AF Quicksilver upon request (yay!).

Re: Is this normal?

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 05:48:12 GMT

There's no welcome bonus? C'MON AMEX.

The cash should at least be $150 and ED 10k. C'MON AMEX.

I'd ask for my bonus and try to find a big one. credit cards dot com

It's once a lifetime, so...

Re: Is this normal?

shoo — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 05:58:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
There's no welcome bonus? C'MON AMEX.

The cash should at least be $150 and ED 10k. C'MON AMEX.

I'd ask for my bonus and try to find a big one. credit cards dot com

It's once a lifetime, so...

I thought it was kinda weird. Maybe her credit profile is like borderline so they're like "hmmmm...well I guess you can have one, but no soup for you". lol

I did try cardmatch and only 3 first premier cards come up for her...yuck. However, even when I received prequals for AMEX, they never came up for me on cardmatch either.

Re: Is this normal?

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 06:40:41 GMT

Congrats to you and your Mom on the 2 offers! Are the collections paid? When will they be removed from her credit profile? It may be worth it for her to wait. IMO, I think it's better to get an awesome approval than to barely be approved. Best of luck to you and your Mom!

Re: Is this normal?

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 06:45:41 GMT

I'm surprised that no one here has asked the obvious question (especially since I only even learned about this from these same posters), has your mum ever had an AMEX card before? Perhaps she has already gotten the bonus at another time, and that is why nothing's coming up now. If not, I would personally wait to see if a better offer comes along.

Re: Is this normal?

shoo — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 06:49:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm surprised that no one here has asked the obvious question (especially since I only even learned about this from these same posters), has your mum ever had an AMEX card before? Perhaps she has already gotten the bonus at another time, and that is why nothing's coming up now. If not, I would personally wait to see if a better offer comes along.

No, she hasn't. She IS an AU on MY amex (BCP). I didn't think that would keep her from getting a bonus though?

Re: Is this normal?

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 07:15:34 GMT

annualcreditreport[.]com <--- might be helpful since you mentioned you don't know her score. it STILL wont have fico score but at least you'll see her credit reports NOW for free.

Re: Is this normal?

Cookie2120987 — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 07:22:05 GMT

I will tell you what the chat specialist told me earlier before I applied with the same two offers, approved for the BCE and the Everyday is pending due to fraud alert, they chat rep said to NOT apply within the prequalify, go to the regular site and take it as business as usual! Amex prequalify is usually solid so you SHOULD be okay but YMMV! good luck! Just make sure you see the bonus when you hit apply!

Re: Is this normal?

shoo — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 07:25:22 GMT

@beautifulblaquepearl wrote:
Congrats to you and your Mom on the 2 offers! Are the collections paid? When will they be removed from her credit profile? It may be worth it for her to wait. IMO, I think it's better to get an awesome approval than to barely be approved. Best of luck to you and your Mom!

Thank you! The collections are from 2014 and 2015 unpaid. 3 are medical and 2 are tmobile. She will be retiring next summer and we need to start looking at permanent living arrangements as she currently rents an apartment. I was hoping we could get her the BCE so she'd have 2 solid cashback cards and then she can pursue the path of a mortgage on a condo later this year.

Re: Is this normal?

shoo — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 07:26:43 GMT

@Cookie2120987 wrote:
I will tell you what the chat specialist told me earlier before I applied with the same two offers, approved for the BCE and the Everyday is pending due to fraud alert, they chat rep said to NOT apply within the prequalify, go to the regular site and take it as business as usual! Amex prequalify is usually solid so you SHOULD be okay but YMMV! good luck! Just make sure you see the bonus when you hit apply!

Congratulations! That's good to hear! So your prequals didn't have a welcome bonus either?

Re: Is this normal?

Cookie2120987 — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 07:45:37 GMT

My Prequalify did NOT, and when my dad did the prequalify (he had a few of the AF cards come up) neither did they. Now remember the decision could still be a no but that's the nature of credit! As long as you see the offer when applying you SHOULD get it, if you think it may not than you should contact amex immediately. They're customer service from both phones calla has been the BEST so far, the only one to match it ia Cap One's World card center (I may be wrong on this but entering my world card info always transfered me to a special center in Florida where the service was amazing!!! Entering the other always sent me to a basic line) first day and I'm already loving it! Lol. Good luck! If you doubt it, you can always wait to! Credit will always be there!

Re: Is this normal?

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 11:23:33 GMT

@shoo wrote:
Hi Friends!

I've been helping my mom to rebuild credit this past year and for kicks I tried her info in the AMEX prequal. Surprisingly, it came back with 2 offers! The weird thing is that there are no welcome bonuses attached to the offers (see image). Is this normal? If she went ahead and apped through the prequal link, does this mean she wouldn't even get the current public bonus? I tried talking to a rep through chat and he didn't even understand what I was asking.... Thanks in advanced!

We aren't completely sure of her scores since we are waiting to buy them from myfico next month before apping for anything new, but estimating low-mid 600s. She has 5 collections across the board. She was approved last year for a Cap1 secured card. Then approved beginning of January for a Cap1 Platinum no AF card. It was upgraded this past weekend to a no AF Quicksilver upon request (yay!).

At the bottom of the pre qual form under all the info you put in it says "These offers may not include sign up bonuses and APR may be different from what you have seen"

edited to put the actual statement: Note: These offers may not have a Welcome Bonus or an Introductory APR and the Purchase APR may be different than what you have previously seen.

Re: Is this normal?

Rebuilding69 — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 13:24:00 GMT

I thought AMEX didn't preq people with collections(especially unpaid)?

Re: Is this normal?

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 14:55:19 GMT

@Rebuilding69 wrote:
I thought AMEX didn't preq people with collections(especially unpaid)?

Ive gotten prequal with collections. Albeit paid.

Re: Is this normal?

shoo — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 15:42:12 GMT

@Rebuilding69 wrote:
I thought AMEX didn't preq people with collections(especially unpaid)?

I'd never heard this before, but I'm guessing it's not true considering my mom's credit profile. She just had 3 collections from previous years fall off,but she definitely still has 5 unpaid ones still reporting to each of the 3 bureaus.

Re: Is this normal?

shoo — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 15:43:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@shoo wrote:
Hi Friends!

I've been helping my mom to rebuild credit this past year and for kicks I tried her info in the AMEX prequal. Surprisingly, it came back with 2 offers! The weird thing is that there are no welcome bonuses attached to the offers (see image). Is this normal? If she went ahead and apped through the prequal link, does this mean she wouldn't even get the current public bonus? I tried talking to a rep through chat and he didn't even understand what I was asking.... Thanks in advanced!

We aren't completely sure of her scores since we are waiting to buy them from myfico next month before apping for anything new, but estimating low-mid 600s. She has 5 collections across the board. She was approved last year for a Cap1 secured card. Then approved beginning of January for a Cap1 Platinum no AF card. It was upgraded this past weekend to a no AF Quicksilver upon request (yay!).

At the bottom of the pre qual form under all the info you put in it says "These offers may not include sign up bonuses and APR may be different from what you have seen"

edited to put the actual statement: Note: These offers may not have a Welcome Bonus or an Introductory APR and the Purchase APR may be different than what you have previously seen.

Oh wow I never noticed that part! Thanks for pointing this out. I just always thought if you were prequalified, you'd at least get the current public bonus. I may just take Cookie's advice and have her cold app in a couple months.

Re: Is this normal?

CreditDunce — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 15:54:05 GMT

Have you tried CK's pre-qual? We don't have enough data to know if CK's pre-qual's are legit. However, it is a feature they recently added. If I understand correctly, they have Amex and Chase pre-quals. Note: this is the pre-qual link, not their marketing offers. We also do not have enough data points to know if the pre-qual is legit.

On a different note, I am not sure I would apply for another CC if she is going to apply for a mortgage in 6 months or so. Two cards is not ideal, but it should be enough. I am assuming she has run the numbers and found the BCE to be a good card for her. There are not that many situations where the BCE beats the BCP.