topic Re: AMEX Advice... in Credit Cards

AMEX Advice

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:21:30 GMT

My current job requires frequent, reimbursed travel. It would make things a lot easier if I had an AMEX charge card, or at least a credit card with a healthy limit, probably 5K. Given the following profile, any suggestions on whether I could be in line for either? If not, suggestions on next steps and when it might be a possibility? I’d appreciate any help offered.

Current scores: 669 EQ, 683 TU, both pulled here this morning. 663 EX FAKO, FWIW.

AAO: 8 years. Credit History: 21 years.

I currently have 7 open credit card accounts, ranging in limits from $550-$1800. Current Utilization is at 28%, will be down to about 2%. I’ll keep using a couple of the cards during my travels, but will be PIF. Based on things I’ve read here and elsewhere, I’ll be maintaining a small balance on 1 of the cards to maintain the 2% total utilization.

Baddies: An old Sears card that has 30-day lates in 7/10, 9/08 and 9/07 that has been paid and full, and an old Cap1 card that had a mix of 30, 60 and 90 day lates as recently as 10/07, but also has been paid in full. There are 5 other accounts with negative info, but nothing within the last 5 years, also all paid off.

Inquiries: Within the last year, there were a bunch of pulls for the car loan, 2 Cap1 pulls, 1 for an increase on another card, 1 for a BoA app that was denied and 1 for a personal loan from Citi Financial that was denied (wanted to use it for debt consolidation). Not all of them are showing on every report.

Now normally at this point I would just garden for the foreseeable future, as I really don’t need any additional credit right now and would like to purchase a home in about a year; but the charge card makes a lot of sense for the business travel. Based on this info, any suggestions on what I should do to put myself in a good position to be approved for an AMEX? Any other info anyone would like before offering an opinion?

Re: AMEX Advice

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:24:54 GMT

Amex wont approve you beased on the details you provoided... however I have had some super nice luck with chase & BOA.... the backend numbers simply work.. so apply for one and see what it is like.

If you can speak with the other cards you have and give them your situation they might help you !

Re: AMEX Advice...

anderl — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:37:17 GMT

.yes-Amex Zync....maybe even Premier Rewards Gold w/ur utilization.

Re: AMEX Advice...

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:05:03 GMT

@anderl wrote:
.yes-Amex Zync....maybe even Premier Rewards Gold w/ur utilization.

I'd say...none of those cards. OP has a recent late from '10. Fat chance.

Re: AMEX Advice...

Creditaddict — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:26:58 GMT

If you only have 1 inq, I would risk it and apply for the Gold... I say Gold because it has 3x points on travel.

Re: AMEX Advice...

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:54:34 GMT

Thanks for the replies thus far. It's seeming like I'll have to sit on it for a few months at least. Any other opinion on options?

Re: AMEX Advice

smallfry — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:04:52 GMT

Recent baddies forget it.

Re: AMEX Advice

Walt_K — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:31:01 GMT

Who knows how much weight Amex gives to other factors, but I received the PR Gold with lates that were not quite two years old. I had a prior positive relationship with Amex. I had a revolver that I opened in 1998, closed in 2004, never late. I reported a relatively high HHI. My utilization at the time of application was around 17%. My EQ FICO was ~650 (I think it was 648). I did not know my TU FICO (though right now it is higher than my EQ). I did not know my EX FICO.

If you search posts by RHAL, you will see that he also recently received the PR Gold card with recent lates (I think they were more recent than mine).

If you need the card for work and the risk is worth it to burn an inquiry, you could give it a shot.

Re: AMEX Advice

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:25:23 GMT

Thanks again, folks. I think I might wait a couple of weeks, get my utilization all the way down, and give it a shot.

Re: AMEX Advice

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:27:12 GMT

Even if you do getapproved for the charge, I highly doubt they will let a new AMEX accountholder such as yourself go through 5K a month off the bat. I read a post a while back from someone on this forum that dealing with AMEX is like a date, requires some wining and dining before you get to home plate!

Re: AMEX Advice

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:28:30 GMT

Amex has its own fancy way to treat customers... why dont you try BOA or chase?

Re: AMEX Advice

Walt_K — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:34:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Even if you do getapproved for the charge, I highly doubt they will let a new AMEX accountholder such as yourself go through 5K a month off the bat. I read a post a while back from someone on this forum that dealing with AMEX is like a date, requires some wining and dining before you get to home plate!

This is probably highly dependent on your HHI. I received my PR Gold in October. I charged $4000 the first month with no issues. I put $6000 through it next month. In December I had a lot of work travel and put close to $10K on the card. I did have an old Amex card though, and my card was backdated. Not sure what effect my prior history could have had, but since the previous card had a limit of $700, I don't know that it could have had that much effect.

Re: AMEX Advice

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:37:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Amex has its own fancy way to treat customers... why dont you try BOA or chase?

So does BofA

http://www.bankofamericasucks.com/viewforum.php?f=5

Re: AMEX Advice...

MagicShot — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:57:39 GMT

Yeah, with AMEX your gonna have a hard time with recent baddies, I got approved with 1 baddie from 6 years ago but everything else is completely clean. I would say try BofA they are pretty good if you can explain it if you call the back door number. I have 3 accounts with them and they are really friendly and easy to talk to. Nothing like sub-prime lenders that dont care about their customers. You can alway try AMEX, and recon it they might but I really doubt it with any baddies within the past 2 years.

my 2 cents.

Re: AMEX Advice...

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:50:32 GMT

So on a whim I just decided to apply for the Amex Zync card. I know it's the easiest one to get, and since I want to buy a home about this time next year, I wasn't going to apply for anything else between now and then and figured the inquiry wasn't going to kill me either way. To my somewhat surprised excitement, instant approval.

Since it's only one pull, and things have been coming up aces for me lately, I figured I'd roll the dice on a Premier Rewards Gold. Approved!

Then, since I'm already playing with house money, and again only the 1 inquiry, I figured I'd try for Platinum because I have some absurdly long airport layovers. I really didn't think there was any shot in hades of this going through, but once again, approved!

Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped right now. I'll cancel the Zync and Gold cards when they arrive, as well as some of the other sub-primers I was using to help rebuild, leaving the 2 oldest ones open. Now I close up shop, get on my knees in the dirt and garden the everloving @#$% out of my reports knowing that the next pull will be by a mortgage lender next March/April. I'm still in a state of disbelief.

Re: AMEX Advice...

anderl — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:55:48 GMT

BELIEVE IT! CONGRATS!

Re: AMEX Advice...

Creditaddict — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 04:21:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So on a whim I just decided to apply for the Amex Zync card. I know it's the easiest one to get, and since I want to buy a home about this time next year, I wasn't going to apply for anything else between now and then and figured the inquiry wasn't going to kill me either way. To my somewhat surprised excitement, instant approval.

Since it's only one pull, and things have been coming up aces for me lately, I figured I'd roll the dice on a Premier Rewards Gold. Approved!

Then, since I'm already playing with house money, and again only the 1 inquiry, I figured I'd try for Platinum because I have some absurdly long airport layovers. I really didn't think there was any shot in hades of this going through, but once again, approved!

@Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped right now. I'll cancel the Zync and Gold cards when they arrive, as well as some of the other sub-primers I was using to help rebuild, leaving the 2 oldest ones open. Now I close up shop, get on my knees in the dirt and garden the everloving @#$% out of my reports knowing that the next pull will be by a mortgage lender next March/April. I'm still in a state of disbelief.

your a perfect example of what I have been saying all along... if you are going to be approved for a charge card, you can choose which one you want... 1 is not easier to get then the others.