topic Re: AMEX hates me in Credit Cards

AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 08:52:13 GMT

Hey everyone,

Little confused here. I have had a Amex BCE card for a little less than a year now set at $500 CL. It hasn’t budged nor has went up hitting the luv button but I was approved for a good charge card and also the new Magnet card.

Magnet card SL is $2k while my BCE hasn’t moved. Would it be worth canceling it and applying for a new one in the near future? The -$500 off my reports shouldn’t hurt too much nor the little bit of age on the account.

When I got approved initially for the BCE my scores were around 660ish fico. They’re all hovering 700 +/- a few points. Any opinions?

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 09:23:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hey everyone,

Little confused here. I have had a Amex BCE card for a little less than a year now set at $500 CL. It hasn’t budged nor has went up hitting the luv button but I was approved for a good charge card and also the new Magnet card.

Magnet card SL is $2k while my BCE hasn’t moved. Would it be worth canceling it and applying for a new one in the near future? The -$500 off my reports shouldn’t hurt too much nor the little bit of age on the account.

When I got approved initially for the BCE my scores were around 660ish fico. They’re all hovering 700 +/- a few points. Any opinions?

Hi, OP!

A lot of things could be at play here. When did you open the BCE account? I ask because AMEX usually increases limits on the 61st day of having the account open. Also, could you provide a breakdown of your credit reports?

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 09:30:13 GMT

The account was opened mid September 2017. Ficos across the board are boarderline 700 like I said +/- a few points.

I have about 8 credit cards opened. Currently at 1% UTIL and that is out of them all. 1 car loan opened, $3300 left to pay on it. 1 personal loan as well, $2600 on that. I haven’t had a late in over 3.5 years. 11 total lates but those are back in 2013-2014 between Cap one and Synchrony. (Neither of them are budging with a goodwill) I do now have open accounts with them and are in good standing. Like I said no lates on ANY accounts in 3.5 years roughly.

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 09:38:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The account was opened mid September 2017. Ficos across the board are boarderline 700 like I said +/- a few points.

I have about 8 credit cards opened. Currently at 1% UTIL and that is out of them all. 1 car loan opened, $3300 left to pay on it. 1 personal loan as well, $2600 on that. I haven’t had a late in over 3.5 years. 11 total lates but those are back in 2013-2014 between Cap one and Synchrony. (Neither of them are budging with a goodwill) I do now have open accounts with them and are in good standing. Like I said no lates on ANY accounts in 3.5 years roughly.

The only thing I can think of are the 3.5-year-old lates, but you have been approved for 2 more AMEX cards so that cannot be it. I encourage you to call AMEX and get in touch with an underwriter/credit analyist to manually increase limit if they deem you worthy. If that fails, call AMEX's executive office to state your case—my DH did that, and his credit limit was increased.

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 09:42:07 GMT

I could give that a try. Do you know if doing it manually is a HP? Just wondering that is all. My freedom and venture cards are my two go to cards and also highest limits so it’s not the end of the world.

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 09:47:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I could give that a try. Do you know if doing it manually is a HP? Just wondering that is all. My freedom and venture cards are my two go to cards and also highest limits so it’s not the end of the world.

Not likely—at least that was the not case for my DH. I would ask the analyst, regardless.

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 09:50:26 GMT

Thanks for the input. I’ll give it a shot and also see what other posters have to say as well!

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 09:52:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the input. I’ll give it a shot and also see what other posters have to say as well!

Someone more knowledgeable than I will chime in soon.

Re: AMEX hates me

coldfusion — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 10:37:11 GMT

A $500 SL means that at the time of application you marginally qualified and were accepted under AMEX' de-facto credit steps program. If you search the site you'll find a number of examples of members that started out with a $500 SL on their first card, their experiences with CLI attempts, and the actions they took.

Re: AMEX hates me

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 11:55:28 GMT

Agree, your first card was borderline approved. You now got the Magnet at 2k so that is a positive sign. I would wait til you are eligble for a 3x and try on the magnet card. If they approve it you may consider seeing if you can move over the $500 and close it. If not you could always keep trying to 3x it. Seems time is what is needed with Amex. Eventually theyll open up

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 12:21:38 GMT

I agree with AJC here, I’d give it some time and then go for the increase on the Magnet when it’s eligible and move some of the limit over to the BCE. Unfortunately, because it’s only $500, Amex won’t let you move the BCE limit over to the Magnet.

The normal minimum limit for the BCE is apparently $1K. They make an exception for the folks that are approved at $500. I know this because I’ve called and chatted about it before My BCE started out at $500 too in 04/17.

If you wait until October, you may get an offer to upgrade to the BCP w/annual fee waived and a potential sign-up bonus. That doesn’t help you with CL but it may get you a nice SUB. It may also reset whatever bucket your BCE was in (or maybe enough time will have transpired that Amex loosens the reigns). Then after a year you can downgrade to the BCE card again.

How’s your useage on the card? Are you actually utilizing it for category spending? Also, what are your long-term goals with Amex? Any other cards you’re interested in?

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 12:42:41 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Agree, your first card was borderline approved. You now got the Magnet at 2k so that is a positive sign. I would wait til you are eligble for a 3x and try on the magnet card. If they approve it you may consider seeing if you can move over the $500 and close it. If not you could always keep trying to 3x it. Seems time is what is needed with Amex. Eventually theyll open up

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 12:42:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I agree with AJC here, I’d give it some time and then go for the increase on the Magnet when it’s eligible and move some of the limit over to the BCE. Unfortunately, because it’s only $500, Amex won’t let you move the BCE limit over to the Magnet.

The normal minimum limit for the BCE is apparently $1K. They make an exception for the folks that are approved at $500. I know this because I’ve called and chatted about it before My BCE started out at $500 too in 04/17.

If you wait until October, you may get an offer to upgrade to the BCP w/annual fee waived and a potential sign-up bonus. That doesn’t help you with CL but it may get you a nice SUB. It may also reset whatever bucket your BCE was in (or maybe enough time will have transpired that Amex loosens the reigns). Then after a year you can downgrade to the BCE card again.

How’s your useage on the card? Are you actually utilizing it for category spending? Also, what are your long-term goals with Amex? Any other cards you’re interested in?

Re: AMEX hates me

xaximus — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 12:50:59 GMT

+1
Also to add to this - Amex likes to see responsible spending and PIF's, they like to see usage, they like to see certain criteria I've noticed. The positive signs is that you were able to get another card with a 2k limit. I'd wait 61 days and see if you can get a 3x CLI on that one, then possibly transfer some CL onto the other card or use it for minor purchases and pay them off. It's better to hold onto it and overtime, it'll grow.

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 16:03:12 GMT

Thanks guys for all the info! I will just hold onto it and keep using it as it has been in my wallet since getting it. I was just kinda shocked a card a year old hasn’t went up but a small tweak in my credit file going up I had gotten2 other cards

Re: AMEX hates me

RadioRob — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 16:25:10 GMT

Just as an extra data point... I got my first AMEX (EDP) in August of last year. It started with a 2K limit. I've gotten 2 3x CLIs (2K -> 6K -> 18K) since I've gotten the card. Give it love, and don't carry a balance long term. I generally pay off my AMEX a couple of days before the statement cuts.

Re: AMEX hates me

HeavenOhio — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 16:40:57 GMT

I'd try for two 3X CLIs on the Magnet before moving limits to the BCE. If you're successful, that would give you 18k to play with. If you move the limit after your first CLI, the next CLI won't be as valuable.

Re: AMEX hates me

Imperfectfuture — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 20:39:49 GMT

@coldfusion wrote:

A $500 SL means that at the time of application you marginally qualified and were accepted under AMEX' de-facto credit steps program. If you search the site you'll find a number of examples of members that started out with a $500 SL on their first card, their experiences with CLI attempts, and the actions they took.

This is accurate. Has been this way since 2014 and beyond. Those starter cards are hard to convert.

Re: AMEX hates me

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 21:01:28 GMT

Thanks everyone for the replies. A few different ways I can try to go around this. You guys rock!

Re: AMEX hates me

shoegal — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 02:46:19 GMT

Mine was a year old when I got my first CLI. And they auto CLI the BCE the next day. Before that all CLI attempts where a big nope.