topic Re: Amex strategy advice? in Credit Cards

Amex strategy advice?

tparks5961 — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 03:37:41 GMT

So during the final stretch of my rebuild, I was a little over zealous with my app spree. I applied for and was approved for 2 Amex revolvers and 1 Amex Charge card. My revolvers were approved for $2000.00 and $1000.00 which im assuming is near the minimum potential SL.

My Business amex charge card had an initial "interal limit" of $2500.00. Becuase of my spending spending over 3 months, the internal limit is now up to $14,500.00. Here are my questions for people experienced in dealing with Amex.

How much work is it going to be to get that $1000.00 limit to something usable? Is it possible that amex will view my business card activity and raise the limit on my personal card beyond the 3x CLI thats standard or is the card just useless at this point? Im assuming any request that I make for a cli should be on my $2000.00 limit card so Im not wasting the 6 month wait in between requests. How generous is Amex with auto CLI?

I've realized at this point that I'll never apply for another personal credit card.. The appeal of the hidden business tradelines is just to great, and at this point I dont see any real benefit at all (IMO) of showing more than the 6 tradelines on my personal credit report.

Re: Amex strategy advice?

KJinNC — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 03:57:33 GMT

@tparks5961 wrote:
How much work is it going to be to get that $1000.00 limit to something usable? Is it possible that amex will view my business card activity and raise the limit on my personal card beyond the 3x CLI thats standard or is the card just useless at this point? Im assuming any request that I make for a cli should be on my $2000.00 limit card so Im not wasting the 6 month wait in between requests. How generous is Amex with auto CLI?

Congrats on your approvals!

I am not an Amex guru, but recently had some related experiences, so I'll give my answers ... others may have better answers.

1 - I would seek 3x CLIs on the card with the higher CL. 3x 2k = 6k, 3x 1k = 3k. You can move limits between cards, so what you will probably want to do is get the CL up on the $2k card and then moving some of it to the $1k card.

2 - As for how likely you are to get a 3x CL ... well, I was rejected. But I see lots of people being approved for it. My theory is that if you're getting preapprovals for Amex cards, you will probably get a CLI, if you aren't, you won't. But just a theory.
3 - Your business card won't matter for this.

4 - You don't need to wait six months between requests, only between successful CLIs. You can request a 3x CLI 61 days after opening the account. If denied, you can try again in 91 days. If denied again, you can try again in 91 days, and so forth. If approved, you can try again in six months, and again every six months. CLI requests are per account (you), not per card.

Hope this helps, and happy New Year!

Re: Amex strategy advice?

tparks5961 — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 06:18:18 GMT

Thank.. this helps a lot.

Having the ability to the balance arou d will be key.

Re: Amex strategy advice?

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 08:52:43 GMT

@tparks5961. I am a similar situation as you. I have opened 3 personal revolvers and 1 business Gold with AMEX since May 2019. I have not successful with any of my two 3X CLI requests. So I will wait, try again and transfer limits, if successful. Thanks for posting.

Re: Amex strategy advice?

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 14:31:57 GMT

The preapprovals are not necessarily a correlation to 3x CLI likelihood. I definitely had preapprovals and was denied a request my first time. I think a big factor is whether you have a minimum line or a normal line. In my experience, they tend to prefer a bit more proving time than the initial 61 days if they gave you the minimum opening line.

Re: Amex strategy advice?

CBartowski — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 15:12:45 GMT

@tparks5961 wrote:
So during the final stretch of my rebuild, I was a little over zealous with my app spree. I applied for and was approved for 2 Amex revolvers and 1 Amex Charge card. My revolvers were approved for $2000.00 and $1000.00 which im assuming is near the minimum potential SL.

My Business amex charge card had an initial "interal limit" of $2500.00. Becuase of my spending spending over 3 months, the internal limit is now up to $14,500.00. Here are my questions for people experienced in dealing with Amex.

How much work is it going to be to get that $1000.00 limit to something usable? Is it possible that amex will view my business card activity and raise the limit on my personal card beyond the 3x CLI thats standard or is the card just useless at this point? Im assuming any request that I make for a cli should be on my $2000.00 limit card so Im not wasting the 6 month wait in between requests. How generous is Amex with auto CLI?

I've realized at this point that I'll never apply for another personal credit card.. The appeal of the hidden business tradelines is just to great, and at this point I dont see any real benefit at all (IMO) of showing more than the 6 tradelines on my personal credit report.

I had a similar question and got a lot of good feed back: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Approvals/AMEX-HH-CLI-Update-Auto-CLI-Received/m-p/5839300#M644379

Amex granted me a 2.5x CLI ish after a few months. I just received an email that it was done. I didn't want to ask for one due to a potential HP. CSR couldn't tell me if it would be a SP or HP so I just waited and it just happened.

Good luck!

Re: Amex strategy advice?

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 16:12:18 GMT

Odd that your revolvers were $2000 and $1000 but charge only $2500. I recently got the base Hilton card with $1000 and Platinum at the same time. When I checked it appeared the internal limit on it was $10,000. I'm not sure what the difference would have been. I did burn Amex for $10kish about 7 years ago and was just now able to get back in their good graces. I would assume that's why the low limit on the Hilton, I was surprised at the higher internal limit on the Plat.

Re: Amex strategy advice?

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 17:04:55 GMT

I would try using the higher limit card a lot and making multiple payments or PIF every mth. I know some ppl will get 3x CLIs with minimal spend but every credit profile is different. I burned Amex a long time ago. I got back in earlier this yr with an Amex Delta Gold with $1K SL. Then I got a BCP and an Everyday card. On each of my 3 revolvers, I would make multiple charges and multiple payments. I let the 1st statements cut with ~35% utilization...then PIF by the 2nd statement. I didn’t try for 3X CLI until my most recent and highest limit card (Everyday) hit 61 days. I just got approved for 3X and now my limit is at $10K. I think in my case, the spending patterns I had established helped with getting me a CLI. It seems like AMEX just wants to feel you out a bit before granting the CLI. Good luck!