topic Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX in Credit Cards

Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 01:38:33 GMT

Hi all,

So since I'm actually really passionate about my credit score health and credit cards, I decided while I was on another thread that it would be a good idea to get some advice and support from people who may understand where I'm coming from. My credit score used to be relatively healthy (around 705). I then ran into some sudden financial troubles, and it slowly crashed over a couple of years, I think down to roughly 570, but now it seems to be back up to around 600 or so.

So I've really wanted an American Express Card for quite some time, but obviously wouldn't qualify for any kind of card that's more than for those with "weak" credit. I really like the cards where the network is the same as the issuer, I like the rewards programs and perks AMEX offers, and I like their customer service reputation. So as of today, I want to work on building my credit and portfolio up to a very good level so AMEX and others will accept me as a member with one of their best interest rates. I'm also sick of sweating when applying for credit with other creditors or people who check the background of your credit history. I also should not forget my car insurance rates will probably drop if I improve my credit score too.

So, I know Credit Karma isn't 100% accurate, but it's the best I have to go off of right now.

I also should note that I've recently closed by Capital One account ($2,000 limit), and my Chase account ($800 limit).

Equifiax

Score: 601

(1) - 30 day late payment to BarclayCard

(17) Credit Inquiries -- 6 since Feburuary 2016.

$486/$500 reported by Discover (open).

$824/$800 reported by Chase (closed by me).

$1,932/$2000 reported by Capital One (closed by me).

$6,379/$7,800 repoted by BarclayCard (closed by them, but still paying monthly).

$1,380/$1,500 repoted by Ciit.

(0) Collections

(0) Public Records

100% reported payments on time.

Last credit card opened January 24, 2016 (Discover).

Transunion

Score: 618

(8) Credit Inquiries

$486/$500 reported by Discover (open).

$824/$800 reported by Chase (closed by me).

$1,932/$2000 reported by Capital One (closed by me).

$6,379/$7,800 repoted by BarclayCard (closed by them, but still paying monthly).

$1,061/$1,500 reported by Citi.

(0) Collections

(0) Public Records

100% reported payments on time.

Also I would like to add I'm getting about a $5,000 bonus in September so I can pay off every card but the Barclays one.

What should I do, and do you think my chances increase once everything but the Barclaycard gets paid off? I'll post regular updates to this thread.

Thanks guys.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

UncleB — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 02:07:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi all,

So since I'm actually really passionate about my credit score health and credit cards, I decided while I was on another thread that it would be a good idea to get some advice and support from people who may understand where I'm coming from. My credit score used to be relatively healthy (around 705). I then ran into some sudden financial troubles, and it slowly crashed over a couple of years, I think down to roughly 570, but now it seems to be back up to around 600 or so.

So I've really wanted an American Express Card for quite some time, but obviously wouldn't qualify for any kind of card that's more than for those with "weak" credit. I really like the cards where the network is the same as the issuer, I like the rewards programs and perks AMEX offers, and I like their customer service reputation. So as of today, I want to work on building my credit and portfolio up to a very good level so AMEX and others will accept me as a member with one of their best interest rates. I'm also sick of sweating when applying for credit with other creditors or people who check the background of your credit history. I also should not forget my car insurance rates will probably drop if I improve my credit score too.

So, I know Credit Karma isn't 100% accurate, but it's the best I have to go off of right now.

I also should note that I've recently closed by Capital One account ($2,000 limit), and my Chase account ($800 limit).

Equifiax
Score: 601
(1) - 30 day late payment to BarclayCard
(17) Credit Inquiries -- 6 since Feburuary 2016.
$486/$500 reported by Discover (open).
$824/$800 reported by Chase (closed by me).
$1,932/$2000 reported by Capital One (closed by me).
$6,379/$7,800 repoted by BarclayCard (closed by them, but still paying monthly).
$1,380/$1,500 repoted by Ciit.
(0) Collections
(0) Public Records
100% reported payments on time.

Last credit card opened January 24, 2016 (Discover).

Transunion
Score: 618
(8) Credit Inquiries
$486/$500 reported by Discover (open).
$824/$800 reported by Chase (closed by me).
$1,932/$2000 reported by Capital One (closed by me).
$6,379/$7,800 repoted by BarclayCard (closed by them, but still paying monthly).
$1,061/$1,500 reported by Citi.
(0) Collections
(0) Public Records
100% reported payments on time.

Also I would like to add I'm getting about a $5,000 bonus in September so I can pay off every card but the Barclays one.

What should I do, and do you think my chances increase once everything but the Barclaycard gets paid off? I'll post regular updates to this thread.

Thanks guys.

OK, some things are coming into focus for me now.

The inquiries and 30-day late are not helping any, but your primary problem is utilization. Since you're still carrying balances on cards that are closed (if I understand your post correctly) this is making your utilization sky-high. Once a card is closed, it's considered to have zero credit limit (which is accurate, if you think about it).

Once your utilization is below 100% you should start to see some positive movement in your scores. Until then getting decent approvals will be challenging. Work on paying your balances and the scores will rise as your balances fall, then you can see about what you might want to add.

Others here will have additional insight... hang in there, your balances aren't large, and you'll have them knocked down before you know it!

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Samac — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 02:38:00 GMT

Gotta agree with the other poster, you've got to get balances paid down before you'll stand a chance of getting any prime cards. Why did you close with chase and Cap One?

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 02:42:39 GMT

@Samac wrote:
Gotta agree with the other poster, you've got to get balances paid down before you'll stand a chance of getting any prime cards. Why did you close with chase and Cap One?

As I've mentioned before, I'll probably have everything but the Barclaycard paid off in September.

I closed the Capital One card because of the $39 annual fee, and the Chase card because their customer service has always been crappy.

Besides I didn't wantt to just order another card and spend more money on them, so I closed them in order to make sure I couldn't rack up a balance again.

Besides that, I thought a creditor would like to see LESS in terms of potential debt on my credit report.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 02:47:29 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi all,

So since I'm actually really passionate about my credit score health and credit cards, I decided while I was on another thread that it would be a good idea to get some advice and support from people who may understand where I'm coming from. My credit score used to be relatively healthy (around 705). I then ran into some sudden financial troubles, and it slowly crashed over a couple of years, I think down to roughly 570, but now it seems to be back up to around 600 or so.

So I've really wanted an American Express Card for quite some time, but obviously wouldn't qualify for any kind of card that's more than for those with "weak" credit. I really like the cards where the network is the same as the issuer, I like the rewards programs and perks AMEX offers, and I like their customer service reputation. So as of today, I want to work on building my credit and portfolio up to a very good level so AMEX and others will accept me as a member with one of their best interest rates. I'm also sick of sweating when applying for credit with other creditors or people who check the background of your credit history. I also should not forget my car insurance rates will probably drop if I improve my credit score too.

So, I know Credit Karma isn't 100% accurate, but it's the best I have to go off of right now.

I also should note that I've recently closed by Capital One account ($2,000 limit), and my Chase account ($800 limit).

Equifiax
Score: 601
(1) - 30 day late payment to BarclayCard
(17) Credit Inquiries -- 6 since Feburuary 2016.
$486/$500 reported by Discover (open).
$824/$800 reported by Chase (closed by me).
$1,932/$2000 reported by Capital One (closed by me).
$6,379/$7,800 repoted by BarclayCard (closed by them, but still paying monthly).
$1,380/$1,500 repoted by Ciit.
(0) Collections
(0) Public Records
100% reported payments on time.

Last credit card opened January 24, 2016 (Discover).

Transunion
Score: 618
(8) Credit Inquiries
$486/$500 reported by Discover (open).
$824/$800 reported by Chase (closed by me).
$1,932/$2000 reported by Capital One (closed by me).
$6,379/$7,800 repoted by BarclayCard (closed by them, but still paying monthly).
$1,061/$1,500 reported by Citi.
(0) Collections
(0) Public Records
100% reported payments on time.

Also I would like to add I'm getting about a $5,000 bonus in September so I can pay off every card but the Barclays one.

What should I do, and do you think my chances increase once everything but the Barclaycard gets paid off? I'll post regular updates to this thread.

Thanks guys.

OK, some things are coming into focus for me now.

The inquiries and 30-day late are not helping any, but your primary problem is utilization. Since you're still carrying balances on cards that are closed (if I understand your post correctly) this is making your utilization sky-high. Once a card is closed, it's considered to have zero credit limit (which is accurate, if you think about it).

Once your utilization is below 100% you should start to see some positive movement in your scores. Until then getting decent approvals will be challenging. Work on paying your balances and the scores will rise as your balances fall, then you can see about what you might want to add.

Others here will have additional insight... hang in there, your balances aren't large, and you'll have them knocked down before you know it!

I should add that I'm going to be moving to a rewards debit card, with the exception of fraud prone purchases like gas, restaurants, and online.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

UncleB — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 02:52:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Samac wrote:
Gotta agree with the other poster, you've got to get balances paid down before you'll stand a chance of getting any prime cards. Why did you close with chase and Cap One?
As I've mentioned before, I'll probably have everything but the Barclaycard paid off in September.

I closed the Capital One card because of the $39 annual fee, and the Chase card because their customer service has always been crappy.

Besides I didn't wantt to just order another card and spend more money on them, so I closed them in order to make sure I couldn't rack up a balance again.

Besides that, I thought a creditor would like to see LESS in terms of potential debt on my credit report.

Closing a card can be a good plan, but when you close a card that still has a balance it impacts your utilization negatively. In your case, the balance on the closed card has made your utilization go through the roof, which is having a significant impact on your FICO score. Less potential debt is a good thing, but you have to look at the bigger picture. Ideally you would have just cut the card (or otherwise destroyed it) to prevent yourself from being tempted, that way it's credit line would still be factored into your utilization.

What's done is done, though... what you can do now is move forward with your plan to pay off as much as possible in September. You'll still need to get your utilization well below 100% before you can 'safely' apply for the prime cards (i.e. Amex) that you have on your radar. The good news is as long as there's not anything else negative holding you back you should be in good shape once the balances are paid down.

Hang in there, you'll get there.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 02:56:54 GMT

The good news is as long as there's not anything else negative holding you back you should be in good shape once the balances are paid down.

How badly does the 30 day late affect my score? And how would a creditor like AMEX look at it?

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

UncleB — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 03:07:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The good news is as long as there's not anything else negative holding you back you should be in good shape once the balances are paid down.

How badly does the 30 day late affect my score? And how would a creditor like AMEX look at it?

Nobody can ever say for sure... with that disclaimer I can say that I was approved last year for a Green and BCP with two old charge-off's still reporting, but they were old (six years). Basically, you don't have to be 'perfect' to get an approval with them, but as you already know things are magnified when you have multiple 'issues' going on.

In my case, my utilization was around 10%... had I had high utilization along with the two old baddies, I might not have been approved (again, can't say for sure). With a super-high utilization your baddie is magnified right now as well, but once you get that under control it won't matter as much.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 03:28:08 GMT

So you think sticking with a 1% cash back rewards debit card is a better idea right now?

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

UncleB — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 03:38:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So you think sticking with a 1% cash back rewards debit card is a better idea right now?

There may be different opinions on this, but if it were me I would use debit until you're able to get things paid down.

If you're able to use a 1% card that's great (any reward is always good) but I wouldn't get too hung-up on rewards right now... my main focus would be that outstanding debt - I wouldn't allow anything to distract me from that.

Back when I only had one credit card, I used the Paypal debit card; it does an ACH-pull from your existing checking account and you get 1% cash back on all non-PIN purchases. It worked out quite well for me, and I didn't have to change banks to use it.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 03:51:38 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
So you think sticking with a 1% cash back rewards debit card is a better idea right now?
There may be different opinions on this, but if it were me I would use debit until you're able to get things paid down.

If you're able to use a 1% card that's great (any reward is always good) but I wouldn't get too hung-up on rewards right now... my main focus would be that outstanding debt - I wouldn't allow anything to distract me from that.

Back when I only had one credit card, I used the Paypal debit card; it does an ACH-pull from your existing checking account and you get 1% cash back on all non-PIN purchases. It worked out quite well for me, and I didn't have to change banks to use it.

My card has always been declined with no funds in my Paypal account for some reason. The backup in stores is my debit MasterCard... I wonder if I have to do my checking account directly?

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

UncleB — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 04:41:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
So you think sticking with a 1% cash back rewards debit card is a better idea right now?
There may be different opinions on this, but if it were me I would use debit until you're able to get things paid down.

If you're able to use a 1% card that's great (any reward is always good) but I wouldn't get too hung-up on rewards right now... my main focus would be that outstanding debt - I wouldn't allow anything to distract me from that.

Back when I only had one credit card, I used the Paypal debit card; it does an ACH-pull from your existing checking account and you get 1% cash back on all non-PIN purchases. It worked out quite well for me, and I didn't have to change banks to use it.
My card has always been declined with no funds in my Paypal account for some reason. The backup in stores is my debit MasterCard... I wonder if I have to do my checking account directly?

Hmm... I never had that problem. I had (and still have) mine set up with my checking account as the 'backup' source, and I never kept funds in my Paypal account, so each time I used the debit card it caused a ACH debit to checking. Note that the backup for the debit card isn't the same as the backup for the overall Paypal account (I don't think you can set another card to be the backup for the debit card unless it's a Paypal credit product.)

One thing that you do have to be careful about is when you use the card it must be swiped as 'credit' (no PIN entry). The only way the card will work with a PIN (as debit) is if you have funds in your actual Paypal account, otherwise it will decline. I always had issues at Wal-Mart in particular, since the terminals there are set up to 'encourage' folks to use debit/PIN. I would have to hit an extra button (cleverly hard to notice) after swiping to bypass the PIN entry.

At most other stores there was no issue; I would even swipe as 'credit' for transactions close to $1k and it would always be approved, which always amazed me since at that time I certainly didn't qualify for a $1k credit line with them, yet they were trusting that I had that much in my checking account for a few days.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

RonM21 — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 00:15:48 GMT

OP, I think you are not far off from making serious progress. You'll be amazed at how much your score will move when you pay down your utilization, if that's what you decide to do with that money. Once the score rises, other doors start opening up. I have a feeling you'll be in a much better position.sooner than later.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 10:16:25 GMT

@RM21 wrote:
OP, I think you are not far off from making serious progress. You'll be amazed at how much your score will move when you pay down your utilization, if that's what you decide to do with that money. Once the score rises, other doors start opening up. I have a feeling you'll be in a much better position.sooner than later.

Thank You.

In addition to the AMEX, I was also thinking about applying for my local credit union's Visa Signature card (one of the rare ones that actually requires $5,000 limit or more). Although I'll still keep my Double Cash, Discover, and my future American Express to go along with it... It'll be a hard choice to decide which card(s) to use as my main one .

I'm trying to grow my relationship with my local credit union, and really appreciate the closer/more personal customer service and lower fees that are offered with those cards. I figured if I'm going to have a card with a relatively large limit for my lifestyle, it might as well be one with a lower APR than the typical commerical bank card---although that doesn't mean I'm going to purposefully get myself in the hole again---but the 1 point per dollar doesn't exactly match up to any of the rewards my other three cards will be offering.

Right now, APR on Double Cash is 14.49%. The credit union's offering is between 10%-15%, or 8% and 13% for their non-rewards card. My Discover card, while 0% right now will have a 20.24% interest rate when the promotion is done-- perhaps I should sock drawer the Discover card and only use it on the 5% rotating categories and pay it off immediately

Also, not sure which AMEX to add to my portfolio for sure at this point. Could either be the $95 a year BCP or EDP, the no annual fee verison of those cards... Or possibly the Gold PR charge card.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 12:20:01 GMT

You closed Chase, not sure why you would do that as you had your foot in the door. Do you mean poor customer service because you couldn't obtain a CLI?

You closed Cap1, the easiest lender and would never AA you unless you did something really stupid, like not pay them. Their the folks that will be there for you when nobody else is like BARCLAYS!

Pay down what you have, stop closing good cards. And watch for AA as Barclays has already done.

BTW, AMEX Customer Service is nothing to write home about either...

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

UncleB — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 12:19:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@RM21 wrote:
OP, I think you are not far off from making serious progress. You'll be amazed at how much your score will move when you pay down your utilization, if that's what you decide to do with that money. Once the score rises, other doors start opening up. I have a feeling you'll be in a much better position.sooner than later.
Thank You.

In addition to the AMEX, I was also thinking about applying for my local credit union's Visa Signature card (one of the rare ones that actually requires $5,000 limit or more). Although I'll still keep my Double Cash, Discover, and my future American Express to go along with it... It'll be a hard choice to decide which card(s) to use as my main one .

I'm trying to grow my relationship with my local credit union, and really appreciate the closer/more personal customer service and lower fees that are offered with those cards. I figured if I'm going to have a card with a relatively large limit for my lifestyle, it might as well be one with a lower APR than the typical commerical bank card---although that doesn't mean I'm going to purposefully get myself in the hole again---but the 1 point per dollar doesn't exactly match up to any of the rewards my other three cards will be offering.

Right now, APR on Double Cash is 14.49%. The credit union's offering is between 10%-15%, or 8% and 13% for their non-rewards card. My Discover card, while 0% right now will have a 20.24% interest rate when the promotion is done-- perhaps I should sock drawer the Discover card and only use it on the 5% rotating categories and pay it off immediately

Also, not sure which AMEX to add to my portfolio for sure at this point. Could either be the $95 a year BCP or EDP, the no annual fee verison of those cards... Or possibly the Gold PR charge card.

Growing your relationship with your CU is a really good idea, IMO. If I were you, I would try to find out what credit scores they look for on their credit card applications; they might even tell you the cut-off for each APR, which would help you to set a goal for yourself. Getting approved is always great, but if you know for a fact that you're just a few points away from a better APR, it might be worth the wait!

Historically, Amex charge cards are easier to get than the credit (revolver) cards, and people have had various experiences applying for them with lower credit scores. There are people who have reported getting a charge card (Green, PRG, etc) with scores in the 630 range, but not many (score is only part of the approval 'equation' with Amex). A few people on here have reported being approved for a Delta Gold revolver with scores sub-650, but they are very much the 'exception' to what you usually see, not the rule.

If you want to get an Amex revolver (ED, EDP, etc.) you'll probably have better luck the closer to 670-ish you are. Again, this isn't a "rule" - people with lower scores have been approved, and folks with higher scores have been denied - but it's a general guideline. If you check the Approvals sub-forum you can search for Amex approvals, and many times people will tell what their EX FICO is and anything else that might have made a difference.

Once you get your utilization in check, the first thing I would do is see about a CLI on Discover; it will probably be a SP (they will tell you if it's going to be a HP and you can cancel if you want) and they can be very generous, especially if there has been a significant positive change to your FICO or you've made significant payments (I have experienced this personally).

All of this hinges on getting your utilization below 100%, though... ideally below 30%, but I would aim for 100% first (you have to crawl before you can walk). Once that utilization is down, you will be more likely to get CLIs and approvals, which will further help your utilization.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 12:33:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You closed Chase, not sure why you would do that as you had your foot in the door. Do you mean poor customer service because you couldn't obtain a CLI?

You closed Cap1, the easiest lender and would never AA you unless you did something really stupid, like not pay them. Their the folks that will be there for you when nobody else is like BARCLAYS!

Pay down what you have, stop closing good cards. And watch for AA as Barclays has already done.

BTW, AMEX Customer Service is nothing to write home about either...

Closed Chase because in 5 years they were too incompetent to lower my 21.24% APR when Citi has lowered my APR 3 or 4 times in between. Same goes with product changes. Chase? Nope. Citi? "Sure we'd love to do that, which card do you want?" Also, Chase radomly closed my checking account and then refused to give me another one when I applied---It's not like I had any baddies on it, and every other financial instituion is willing to give me a checking account. Poor customer service is #4... I don't think I"ve ever had an experience in five years where I've said, "Wow, I feel like I'm really getting my money's worth out of this place." Not to mention a lousy $800 credit line that they wouldn't increase when my credit score was like 705. Citi on the other hand gave me $1,500. If the credit card isn't going to grow like the other guys why keep it? Plus I'm not exactly thrilled about the whole checking account thing.

I also don't know what AA means. Capital One is a lender I'd rather not do business with. I feel like a loser paying with a Capital One card, and the interest rate was also a joke at 23.99%, because that card has no range for APR, and also included a $39 annual fee, which I don't want to pay anymore. When I asked if I could PC to a different card they said, "no." But then again, the card was only like 9 months old so that's probably why.

Barclays closed my account in agreement with lowering the APR from 23.24% down to 8% for 12 months, which was a big deal at the time because it took the payment from $255 down to $102, which helped me pay down my balance, and was a huge deal at the time because I was broke.

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 12:39:07 GMT

Why do you feel like a loser paying for something with a Cap1 card?

AA: Adverse Action (Example-Closing your accounts down, CLD, Declined when applying for credit).

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 12:41:48 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@RM21 wrote:
OP, I think you are not far off from making serious progress. You'll be amazed at how much your score will move when you pay down your utilization, if that's what you decide to do with that money. Once the score rises, other doors start opening up. I have a feeling you'll be in a much better position.sooner than later.
Thank You.

In addition to the AMEX, I was also thinking about applying for my local credit union's Visa Signature card (one of the rare ones that actually requires $5,000 limit or more). Although I'll still keep my Double Cash, Discover, and my future American Express to go along with it... It'll be a hard choice to decide which card(s) to use as my main one .

I'm trying to grow my relationship with my local credit union, and really appreciate the closer/more personal customer service and lower fees that are offered with those cards. I figured if I'm going to have a card with a relatively large limit for my lifestyle, it might as well be one with a lower APR than the typical commerical bank card---although that doesn't mean I'm going to purposefully get myself in the hole again---but the 1 point per dollar doesn't exactly match up to any of the rewards my other three cards will be offering.

Right now, APR on Double Cash is 14.49%. The credit union's offering is between 10%-15%, or 8% and 13% for their non-rewards card. My Discover card, while 0% right now will have a 20.24% interest rate when the promotion is done-- perhaps I should sock drawer the Discover card and only use it on the 5% rotating categories and pay it off immediately

Also, not sure which AMEX to add to my portfolio for sure at this point. Could either be the $95 a year BCP or EDP, the no annual fee verison of those cards... Or possibly the Gold PR charge card.
Growing your relationship with your CU is a really good idea, IMO. If I were you, I would try to find out what credit scores they look for on their credit card applications; they might even tell you the cut-off for each APR, which would help you to set a goal for yourself. Getting approved is always great, but if you know for a fact that you're just a few points away from a better APR, it might be worth the wait!

Historically, Amex charge cards are easier to get than the credit (revolver) cards, and people have had various experiences applying for them with lower credit scores. There are people who have reported getting a charge card (Green, PRG, etc) with scores in the 630 range, but not many (score is only part of the approval 'equation' with Amex). A few people on here have reported being approved for a Delta Gold revolver with scores sub-650, but they are very much the 'exception' to what you usually see, not the rule.

If you want to get an Amex revolver (ED, EDP, etc.) you'll probably have better luck the closer to 670-ish you are. Again, this isn't a "rule" - people with lower scores have been approved, and folks with higher scores have been denied - but it's a general guideline. If you check the Approvals sub-forum you can search for Amex approvals, and many times people will tell what their EX FICO is and anything else that might have made a difference.

Once you get your utilization in check, the first thing I would do is see about a CLI on Discover; it will probably be a SP (they will tell you if it's going to be a HP and you can cancel if you want) and they can be very generous, especially if there has been a significant positive change to your FICO or you've made significant payments (I have experienced this personally).

All of this hinges on getting your utilization below 100%, though... ideally below 30%, but I would aim for 100% first (you have to crawl before you can walk). Once that utilization is down, you will be more likely to get CLIs and approvals, which will further help your utilization.

Good post, and good idea on asking what the cut offs are for on the APR, but then again, every lender has a slightly different formula when it comes to recieving a credit score, so I'm not sure how much that will help me, other than using a ball park statistic. I've also heard credit unions are more willing to lower APR's and increase credit limits (at the same time even) once you grow with them and improve your credit portfolio.

Regarind the Delta revolver AMEX, as much as I perfer Delta as my airline, I feel like there's cards out there that will give me more value for my everyday spending (like my Citi DC) that will give me more rewards dollars to pay for those flights. I think before I was as educated as I am now about credit cards, Delta was actually one I was looking into... But not anymore.

Also great point about the Discover, I was going to see about a CLI on that card. Hopefully to around $2,000 or so, or even $1,500 to match the max 5% on categories. Right now it's at $500 but I actually like their customer service, so it's not a card I'll be getting rid of unless the APR isn't lowered 5 years from now, or they treat me like garbage (unlikely knowing Discover's CS reputation).

Re: Road to Credit Recovery & AMEX

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 12:47:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Why do you feel like a loser paying for something with a Cap1 card?

AA: Adverse Action (Example-Closing your accounts down, CLD, Declined when applying for credit).

First you have the 23.99% APR, which would make me feel bad about purchasing anything, even if I could afford it and it was only a few bucks.

Second, it's Capital One. If people see you paying with that card, they'll probably think you're bad at managing your money, or your credit is shot. Sorta like how when you plop an AMEX Platinum down on the table, people will think you're great at managing your money, you have money, and/or you have a great credit score.