topic Re: AMEX soft pulls in Credit Cards

AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Sep 2019 18:31:04 GMT

Trying to figure out when AMEX does a soft pull for me. I want to make sure when applying for the Platinum card my newest Fico 8 score is used. My score just increased a couple of days ago so I know I must wait.

So this is what I found. The first time I applied I was declined. My letter of decline back on August 8, 2019 states:

“We obtained your Fico score from Experian and used it in making our.....On July 27, 2019, your Fico score was 754......”

I applied on August 8 and was declined. The date in the letter was August 8, 2019. Safe to say AMEX does a soft pull for me every 27th of the month.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

AverageJoesCredit — Sat, 07 Sep 2019 19:16:22 GMT

I dont know , but if you got declined with a 754 they see some other issue with your profile. I dont see how a month or two will help much. Work on whatever other reason they gave for denial because score has nothing to do with your denial, imo.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Sep 2019 19:27:29 GMT

I had 4 creditors check my credit in the last 12 months.

Length of time with American Express. It was only 28 days.

The amounts of payments in relation to overall balance on my AMEX accounts.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Sep 2019 20:06:32 GMT

The 4 checks should be no issue. Reasons 2 and 3 are the ones I think are relevant.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Sep 2019 20:23:48 GMT

Completely agree that reasons 2 and 3 are the big reasons. Pay down whatever balance you may be carrying and let your current accounts age a bit more. I think six months is probably a good bet. Your credit score at 754 should have been fine, so it's definitely the other factors.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

CreditInspired — Sat, 07 Sep 2019 21:07:14 GMT

Also, OP, those other 3 creditors that checked your reports—how is your spend and UT with them? I’m just wondering, like ajc, if there is anything in your reports that you should be concerned about. Just my 2cents.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Felony_Phil — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 04:46:43 GMT

#3 would be the big deal for me. If you're paying the minimum payment or not much above, I'd expect to get denied knowing the bonus is based on 5k spend in 90 days and it's a charge card to boot.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 11:25:25 GMT

2 of them are unsecured loans. Paid on time. 2 months and 4 months old.

One is the Chase Sapphire paid in full each month. 4 months old.

One is my mortgage broker from my current mortgage of 4 years with perfect payment history.

I currently have 0 balance on all my credit cards.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 17:20:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
2 of them are unsecured loans. Paid on time. 2 months and 4 months old.

One is the Chase Sapphire paid in full each month. 4 months old.

One is my mortgage broker from my current mortgage of 4 years with perfect payment history.

I currently have 0 balance on all my credit cards.

So, looking at the above statements it looks like you're credit is still a new born being that you listed 1 CC less than a year old. There's not much history to review with a 4 month old CC. Loans factor in and resulted in the score you have but, revolving credit tends to be more stringent than collatoralized loans or installment loans with fixed terms.

If you have other cards you're not mentioning that might help in assessing whether that's the issue or not.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 18:08:42 GMT

I have 5 credit cards in total. One card is 8 years old. Mortgage is 5 years old. Some other cards at 2 years old.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 18:24:10 GMT

Does anyone know what it means when it says “the amounts of your payments in relation to the overall balance on your American Express account” means on my decline letter?

When I applied I owed 0 on my current statement on AMEX. I did though have a balance for the next month due when I applied and got declined.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 18:31:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Does anyone know what it means when it says “the amounts of your payments in relation to the overall balance on your American Express account” means on my decline letter?

When I applied I owed 0 on my current statement on AMEX. I did though have a balance for the next month due when I applied and got declined.

It means they don't have enough payment history to evaluate another card being added. If you're not using it monthly and generating activity then it's hard to make a decision.

When in doubt find a small monthly bill to put on new cards and setup autopay for the balance. Don't play the 1% UTIL game if you don't need the extra points for a large purchase like a car/house if you want things to grow in a timely manner.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 18:35:36 GMT

Understood. Each month these past 3 months I’ve put about $4k on the card and then pay it off when due.

When I first applied I only had the gold for 28 days. I’m at 3 months now with heavy spending and paying in full.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 19:07:22 GMT

You mentioned you have 5 cards and the oldest being 8 yo at this point.

Putting $4K/mo through the Gold should be enough to get a Platinum unless some internal policy is disabling the option due to the age of the account due to the AF change that would occur within the first year even though it sounds like you're ADDING it and not upgrading it.

There are some behind the scenes factors playing into the denial depending on which product you currently have. If it's a CC then it might be one thing and if it's a Charge card it might be another.

Things change with Amex every once in awhile and what works one month doesn't the next. There might be a policy shift where like CC's / Charge cards won't allow multiples in a certain time frame. I have/had 3 of them the BCx (E or P depending on the bonus), Gold, and Magnet. I picked up the CM / Gold within a year of each other w/o issue but, then got the pop-up for the bonus on a new ED app I was thinking about which would be a timing issue.

Re: AMEX soft pulls

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 20:10:27 GMT

Thanks for all this info. Yes, I’m adding not replacing the Gold card AMEX.