topic Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs? in Credit Cards

Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 01:32:44 GMT

I have an Amex Gold Premier card where I charge anywhere between 6-8k a month. I also have a blue cash preffered card which is at my initial limit of $1k. I have attempted soft pull CLIs several times only to be declined. The blue cash is about 14 months and gold is 9 months. Has anyone else had this experience in general? I know there are details I have left out but just curious. It's just frustrating to use my blue cash card throughout the months having to pay it off several times a month. I don't get it. :/

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

UpperNwGuy — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 01:59:36 GMT

Without knowing your income, your credit score, the length of your credit history, and whether or not you have any baddies in your credit file, it would be hard to answer.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 02:14:33 GMT

@UpperNwGuy - You're right! Income is 100k++, credit scores are 652 TU, 707 EF, 668 EX. Collections: $299 from ERC from 2012.

I think I have cap1 card report >30 from 9 years (still open) and also a credit one card account reporting >90 from 5 years ago (closed --- HMM experian says status 'negative' but it's been paid for a while). My "average age" is 1 year and 8 months according to CreditKarma. I opened a few cards and refianced in last few months, but still, well, hmmm... I think I'm about 8% utilization.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Peteyglad — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 02:38:13 GMT

From what I have seen a 1k limit can be hard to get rid of. It has taken a couple years for some people to get cli's .

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

SOGGIE — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 02:42:36 GMT

CLIs are not guaranteed. While your income may very well support an increase, the adverse items in your credit profile may be indicative of risk.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

CreditCuriosity — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 02:46:14 GMT

its most likely your experian score as kinda borderline and no mention of DTI, etc.. The baddies most likely arent doing it to you as i have way worse and multiple 20-30k CL's with Amex..

edit: see the DTI ratio.. Something they don't like about your profile.. Why is your Experian so low with only those few late payments? That shouldn't be hurting your Experian near that much? Any BK or anything else? You should be well into the 700's with the AAoA and your DTI even with a few late payments.. Mine are all 6.5 years old now but I have 120+ lates on a few things and paid CO's as well. Scores are all in the 700+ granted my oldest account is > 25 years and AAoA is a bit longer than yours and have some other big CL's as well that could play a role shrug.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Shadowfactor — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 02:45:05 GMT

Your EX score is the one that matters to Amex. Is that a FICO score ? If it is, it’s on the lower end for Amex.

680 seems to be the magic number for getting CLI at Amex. Very hard to get them under 680. But once you cross 680, it’s easier. (Based on data points I’ve seen)

What were the reasons for denial ?

Charge cards normally give you a better internal spending limit since they must be paid in full it’s considered less risk.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

SOGGIE — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 02:52:38 GMT

Is the collection $299 from ERC from 2012 a paid or unpaid collection?

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Viva-LV — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 02:56:41 GMT

You can only request a cli every six months on your BCP. You could find out when you're eligible again, and go for it then. Am EX is building a history from you in the meantime, as your scores are a little low. I've seen charge card approvals in the 660 range on the forum often, but AE wants higher scores (700+ range for decent sl's and cli's). I started with a 3k limit with AE, but has grown since then. If you are denied next time, you might app for a different revolver. Many members have more than one revolver, and often they are approved with higher sl's. Good luck!

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 02:56:55 GMT

unpaid.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 03:02:16 GMT

Yeah, scores are a little low. I've got other cards (Citi & Cap1) with way higher CLs. What's funny is that I've spent considerable amounts with the charge card and have this low CL. Let say for the purposed of this forum that I spent ~100k on the charge card within the last year. Do they expect me to default on the low CL blue cash? That's my gripe.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 03:06:52 GMT

I'm going to respond to myself. I think I know what's going on. Cards that require payment in ~month are lower risk than cards that age. I get it. Amex has tight requirements. Still though, I have accounts that will laugh at Amex credit cards with better rates.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 03:44:13 GMT

If you strengthen your credit profile, better scores will follow, as will favorable CLI results.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Shadowfactor — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 03:47:17 GMT

I understand your frustration with the situation. If you have higher limits with other cards then use those cards or use the charge card. It’s Amex’s right to give you whatever CL they feel is correct and it’s your right to use other cards if you don’t care for that companies policies.

I noticed you mentioned citi as a card you have with higher lines. I also believe I saw your EQ score being quite a bit higher then your other scores. Citi is a known EQ puller and they may also use a different FICO version. That could be the reason that citi gives you higher lines vs Amex. Without knowing a whole lot more details on your credit profile it’s hard to say exactly and even with those details. Very few people on this forum and I can only think of one that others have stated worked at Amex. No one knows the internal algorithms used by lenders.

Give Amex time to warm up to you and improve your scores or go with the lenders that give you higher CL’s.

Amex is only concerned with Experian. They use that for all their credit decisions plus their internal scoring system. Your Experian score is low in Amex’s eyes.
I’ve been there, I couldn’t get a 3X 61 day CLI. My scores were in the 670’s. Soon as I got my last collection removed and my scores jumped to 755. Instant CLI, much higher internal limit on PRG and a new revolver with my highest SL to date. As I said before 680 seems to be a magic number with them.

FYI
You can try for a CLI every 90 days if denied and 180 days if approved. Auto CLI and new apps do not affect those clocks.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 03:53:55 GMT

@CreditCuriosity wrote:
its most likely your experian score as kinda borderline and no mention of DTI, etc.. The baddies most likely arent doing it to you as i have way worse and multiple 20-30k CL's with Amex..

edit: see the DTI ratio.. Something they don't like about your profile.. Why is your Experian so low with only those few late payments? That shouldn't be hurting your Experian near that much? Any BK or anything else? You should be well into the 700's with the AAoA and your DTI even with a few late payments.. Mine are all 6.5 years old now but I have 120+ lates on a few things and paid CO's as well. Scores are all in the 700+ granted my oldest account is > 25 years and AAoA is a bit longer than yours and have some other big CL's as well that could play a role shrug.

WOW! You have more than 120 lates?

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 14:39:18 GMT

@Shadowfactor wrote:
Your EX score is the one that matters to Amex. Is that a FICO score ? If it is, it’s on the lower end for Amex.

680 seems to be the magic number for getting CLI at Amex. Very hard to get them under 680. But once you cross 680, it’s easier. (Based on data points I’ve seen)

What were the reasons for denial ?

Charge cards normally give you a better internal spending limit since they must be paid in full it’s considered less risk.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 14:41:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you strengthen your credit profile, better scores will follow, as will favorable CLI results.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 15:11:14 GMT

@Viva-LV wrote:
You can only request a cli every six months on your BCP. You could find out when you're eligible again, and go for it then. Am EX is building a history from you in the meantime, as your scores are a little low. I've seen charge card approvals in the 660 range on the forum often, but AE wants higher scores (700+ range for decent sl's and cli's). I started with a 3k limit with AE, but has grown since then. If you are denied next time, you might app for a different revolver. Many members have more than one revolver, and often they are approved with higher sl's. Good luck!

That’s not correct. If you’re denied when requesting a CLI, as was the OP, you can try again in 91 days, not 180. It’s when you’re approved for an Amex CLI, that you must wait the 181 days To try again.

Re: Ok, what's up with Amex's credit cards and CLs?

wasCB14 — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 17:02:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm going to respond to myself. I think I know what's going on. Cards that require payment in ~month are lower risk than cards that age. I get it. Amex has tight requirements. Still though, I have accounts that will laugh at Amex credit cards with better rates.

Some people (generally with a long and clean history) have very low interest rates with Amex, and some people pay Amex interest at even very high rates.

But Amex generally focuses on consumers that pay the bill in full (so don't particularly care about interest rates).