topic Obsess with Express in Credit Cards

Obsess with Express

hotpoint — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 17:33:31 GMT

Hello,

I have a question and seeing any suggestions. Should I apply for American Express. I think I am interested in the Starwood, and/or the Delta. Here is my situation, EX is clean, no inquires, no BK, no CO completely clean - AAOA about 4.9 years, history close to 9 yrs. Utilizations high 30 to low 40%. I use USAA for monitoring system and my Plus score is 740.

EQ is 687 and TU is 712 (FICO) . . . any suggestions is appreciated. By the way each report is clean of inquiries none for the last two years, and no new credit for the last four years. I have a BK reported on EQ and TU, but will drop by 10.13. I have researched this company and I completely understand the power of superior service, and American Express clearly set the pace . . .

-Thanks,

HotPoint

Current scores above

Re: Obsess with Express

jsickz32 — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 17:38:04 GMT

Did you have any amex accts on your bk?

Re: Obsess with Express

ACsteel — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:04:02 GMT

AMEX is real picky with certain things, I say wait until january since the bk will drop, it's right around the corner.

Re: Obsess with Express

DeadSpider — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:08:43 GMT

I was approved last month with BK still reporting from 2004 and Amex was included in my BK Green card with under $700 CO.

My fico from Amex was 742.

Re: Obsess with Express

hotpoint — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:59:50 GMT

@jsickz32 wrote:
Did you have any amex accts on your bk?

No, I did not have Amex on my BK. I am aware of the negative impact that the BK has. As I mentioned, my EX report is completely clean of any negative accts. i.e. BK, CO lates, etc. I have read that Amex likes to pull EX, which is why I posted the comments.

Thanks,

HotPoint

Re: Obsess with Express

Revelate — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 05:43:56 GMT

Delta traditionally is easier than SPG which is one of their elite revolvers apparently.

If you can reduce your utilization beforehand I'd say you might have a shot at the SPG; however, the Delta Skymiles card is much easier to obtain, and if you're just looking to establish a relationship that's the way to go if you're dead set on a revolver I think. Personally with a BK showing I think I'd go the charge card route now, and then whatever revolver I wanted long term in 1/14.

Either way, I'd make myself look as pretty as possible by paying down the revolving utilization prior to applying.

Re: Obsess with Express

CreditScholar — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 06:48:08 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
Delta traditionally is easier than SPG which is one of their elite revolvers apparently.

If you can reduce your utilization beforehand I'd say you might have a shot at the SPG; however, the Delta Skymiles card is much easier to obtain, and if you're just looking to establish a relationship that's the way to go if you're dead set on a revolver I think. Personally with a BK showing I think I'd go the charge card route now, and then whatever revolver I wanted long term in 1/14.

Either way, I'd make myself look as pretty as possible by paying down the revolving utilization prior to applying.

Speaking of easy vs. elite revolvers, how would you rank their revolvers from easiest to most difficult to be approved for?

Re: Obsess with Express

Creditaddict — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:13:21 GMT

I would apply for Charge Card and if approved go back in and try for the revolver you want... 1 INQ - probably pretty good chance.

Also if you are at 30-40% and can't pay it off why not open new account and BT what you have now... not sure your limits but with no inq or new accounts in over 2 years, you are probably in a pretty good place to get a few new bigger cards and get that util overall down while you work on the individual util.

Re: Obsess with Express

Revelate — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:14:04 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
Delta traditionally is easier than SPG which is one of their elite revolvers apparently.

If you can reduce your utilization beforehand I'd say you might have a shot at the SPG; however, the Delta Skymiles card is much easier to obtain, and if you're just looking to establish a relationship that's the way to go if you're dead set on a revolver I think. Personally with a BK showing I think I'd go the charge card route now, and then whatever revolver I wanted long term in 1/14.

Either way, I'd make myself look as pretty as possible by paying down the revolving utilization prior to applying.

Speaking of easy vs. elite revolvers, how would you rank their revolvers from easiest to most difficult to be approved for?

I don't have near enough information to try to rank all of them myself, I typically just go to the various credit pulls databases and try to datamine some approval ranges. I do know that Amex sent me a pre-approval once upon a time for a Delta Skymiles during the downturn and I've never been FICO pretty regardless. I don't think the underwriting criteria for that card has changed much in the past two years.

However for giggles, a pure swag (with disclaimers, income matters after all):

- Delta

- Costco?

- Hilton?

- Clear?

- SPG/BCE/BCP

Re: Obsess with Express

hotpoint — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:59:04 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
I would apply for Charge Card and if approved go back in and try for the revolver you want... 1 INQ - probably pretty good chance.
Also if you are at 30-40% and can't pay it off why not open new account and BT what you have now... not sure your limits but with no inq or new accounts in over 2 years, you are probably in a pretty good place to get a few new bigger cards and get that util overall down while you work on the individual util.

Thanks for the powerful suggestion - I called Amex on yesterday just to get a feel. Although, I never explained my credit profile to the CSR, she asked if I frequently fly and made a suggestion for the Delta card. I agree about the utilization, but to answer your question - I have USAA CL 5k, and my Freedom is 4200 CL. I had thought about obtaining a CC with a higher limit . . . maybe the NCFU, and Amex later.

Thanks again for the comments - great suggestions . . .

-HotPoint

Re: Obsess with Express

Jlu — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:08:16 GMT

Nobody mentioned yet that AMEX generally pulls EX exclusively, therefore, the OP is in a great position to apply for the SPG AMEX.

OP I'd say go for it.

Re: Obsess with Express

Revelate — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:56:27 GMT

@Jlu wrote:
Nobody mentioned yet that AMEX generally pulls EX exclusively, therefore, the OP is in a great position to apply for the SPG AMEX.

OP I'd say go for it.

You're correct on their charge cards, but Amex revolvers are a different animal. I suspect in this case there will be 2 reports pulled: new customer, not quite easy approval. Could well be wrong, but I wouldn't bet on it's being an EX pull only in this instance.

Re: Obsess with Express

Jlu — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:59:02 GMT

It's possible. I have only applied for their charge cards where they pull EX only.

Re: Obsess with Express

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:53:18 GMT

They only pulled EX for my BCE, but they SP me all the time on EX and EQ to pre-approve the PRG.

Re: Obsess with Express

hotpoint — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 03:32:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
They only pulled EX for my BCE, but they SP me all the time on EX and EQ to pre-approve the PRG.

Hello All and thaks again for your assistance. I really want to know the best route, recently I applied for the NFCU membership (3-5 dy wait) and thought I would go for a high CL and BT, but I am interested in applying for a best AMEX to start the process . . . comments. As I mentioned, my EX is very clean EQ and TU show the BK, which will delete 10.13.

Thanks for your comments,

-HotPoint

8.12.12 EX 761 - USAA

8.12.12 EQ 687 - FICO

8.13.12 TU 702 - FICO

Re: Obsess with Express

jamesdwi — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 04:42:18 GMT

@Creditaddict wrote:
I would apply for Charge Card and if approved go back in and try for the revolver you want... 1 INQ - probably pretty good chance.
Also if you are at 30-40% and can't pay it off why not open new account and BT what you have now... not sure your limits but with no inq or new accounts in over 2 years, you are probably in a pretty good place to get a few new bigger cards and get that util overall down while you work on the individual util.

they usually pull EX for charge cards, Not sure if they do double pulls if you ask for a revolver after you are approved. Best backdating play would be charge card now, then revolver in january, free 8 months of backdating goodness.

Re: Obsess with Express

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:18:55 GMT

I was just approved a week ago for BCE and they pulled EX. I think you'd be ok.

Re: Obsess with Express

aussiesareforever — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 02:11:06 GMT

They pulled all three when I applied for the delta amex. However I had a BK reporting on all three when I applied (I hadn't found these forums yet, didn't realize I was just wasting my inquiries

Anyways, just wanted to throw it out there that AMEX could possibly pull EQ and TU- esp with questionable credit.

Re: Obsess with Express

CreditEd — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 02:26:30 GMT

95% of the time they will pull EX. I believe they have ownership in EX. They also have a significantly large historical db and they use that just as much as they use a CRA Report.

I was denied my SPG with scores of +680 and got it successfully on a complicated recon. I app'd only because I knew I had a CO deletion coming which was about 2 years old and about $500.

I would say that you need 710+ scores at least before making a worthwhile try for the SPG. Also I was a Plat card holder, but still originally got denied. The revolver process is severely more stringent and expect a manual review in all cases that you apply for a SPG.

Re: Obsess with Express

hotpoint — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 05:16:17 GMT

@CreditEd wrote:
95% of the time they will pull EX. I believe they have ownership in EX. They also have a significantly large historical db and they use that just as much as they use a CRA Report.

I was denied my SPG with scores of +680 and got it successfully on a complicated recon. I app'd only because I knew I had a CO deletion coming which was about 2 years old and about $500.

I would say that you need 710+ scores at least before making a worthwhile try for the SPG. Also I was a Plat card holder, but still originally got denied. The revolver process is severely more stringent and expect a manual review in all cases that you apply for a SPG.

Thanks again for the insight - perhaps I should apply for the simply process since my EX is perfect . . .

HotPoint