topic How much weight does Amex put on Income in Credit Cards

How much weight does Amex put on Income

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:25:03 GMT

I was recently approved for an Amex Delta Gold with an $8,000 limit. Prior to applying I had one line of credit (I am 31), a $300 capital one card opened this past October. I applied because I read that it was an easier card to get and because I fly delta. I was shocked when I got the 7-10 day message. They asked that I send in either tax returns or Pay Stubs. I sent in pay stubs and was shocked when they approved the card. I was certain with my limited history I would get a $1K or $2K limit. My jaw hit the floor when they came back with an $8K limit and the rep told me to be sure to apply for an increase in 61 days.

Feeling lucky, I applied for a Discover card and was approved for $1,250, I then applied for a Citi Forward card and was approved for $2,000.

I make pretty good money, $165,000 last year.

Do Amex and these other providers put THAT much weight on income that they are willing to "take a chance" on someone with verified high income? My wife believes it was the combination of that and the fact that I am 31 and have accumulated $0 debt in my life...But even still, from everything I have read, this just doesn't make sense.

Thoughts?

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

nicholasyud — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:33:23 GMT

Amex stand out to be pretty smart to start u with a flat $8k credit line.

No debt no baddie 31 years old. (FR) Income Submit.

$165.000 Income

Amex sure know damn well what they doing......

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:39:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was recently approved for an Amex Delta Gold with an $8,000 limit. Prior to applying I had one line of credit (I am 31), a $300 capital one card opened this past October. I applied because I read that it was an easier card to get and because I fly delta. I was shocked when I got the 7-10 day message. They asked that I send in either tax returns or Pay Stubs. I sent in pay stubs and was shocked when they approved the card. I was certain with my limited history I would get a $1K or $2K limit. My jaw hit the floor when they came back with an $8K limit and the rep told me to be sure to apply for an increase in 61 days.

Feeling lucky, I applied for a Discover card and was approved for $1,250, I then applied for a Citi Forward card and was approved for $2,000.

I make pretty good money, $165,000 last year.

Do Amex and these other providers put THAT much weight on income that they are willing to "take a chance" on someone with verified high income? My wife believes it was the combination of that and the fact that I am 31 and have accumulated $0 debt in my life...But even still, from everything I have read, this just doesn't make sense.

Thoughts?

They didn't really take a chance. Sounds like you had a fairly (or very thin file) but that's sort of information in itself, you hadn't gone wild with debt in the past. Presumably your application stated your income approximately correctly. In those circumstances (good income, but short credit history) they wanted to verify your income. Once that was done, the 8K limit (rising in 61 days) is certainly reasonable.

If you had a longer credit history, they would have skipped income verification.

So the answer I guess is: a lot of weight if the credit history isn't there!

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

Revelate — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:41:42 GMT

I suspect Amex is a little more generous (or perhaps a lot more generous) with whatever they feel is above average income. Also income factors heavily into any lender's CL offering as well.

I'm almost absolutely certain by my own personal experience that there is a sliding scale as far as Amex underwriting goes, and income factors somewhat to heavily in that equation. Waiting to see what my own offered limit is on what I listed as my annual income (125K, I always understate) on one of their blue cash revolvers which realistically I thought I had absolutely zero shot at given my own credit history.

On the other hand since I figured there's no sense making one application without making a second on a different report, I also picked up a USAA mastercard, 2K limit. USAA is traditionally a little more generous with full members anecdotally (and I've had a secured loan with them for a year now) but in this case they matched the middle tradeline I have currently in terms of limit, so if Amex comes back and beats that, I think it's a non-trivial suggestion as to Amex's factoring income albeit I do have nearly four months history on my Zync that they could look at as well.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 04:34:31 GMT

Man, you people are loaded, $100k+.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

nyancat — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 04:41:35 GMT

I don't think Amex cares that much about income. About $25k here, self-employed (business is growing though). $15,600 limit on Amex... vs $1500 on Discover.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

navigatethis12 — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 04:53:36 GMT

@nyancat wrote:
I don't think Amex cares that much about income. About $25k here, self-employed (business is growing though). $15,600 limit on Amex... vs $1500 on Discover.

I put down 35000 and received a 10000 limit.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

Walt_K — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:11:36 GMT

As stated above, it appears to be sliding scale. Based on threads I've seen, people with solid credit profiles, modest/reasonable income, still get good initial limits, often matching or near their other high limits. Those reporting higher incomes can get high initial limits even if they have a few more issues in their credit past.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:11:55 GMT

@navigatethis12 wrote:
@nyancat wrote:
I don't think Amex cares that much about income. About $25k here, self-employed (business is growing though). $15,600 limit on Amex... vs $1500 on Discover.
I put down 35000 and received a 10000 limit.

I am guessing you have a great history.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

nyancat — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:13:20 GMT

For me I suspect AmEx just decided to match the $15,600 limit of my parents Wells Fargo card that I'm still an AU on.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:19:53 GMT

Reading these posts, sometimes I wish I had $100,000+ to burn xD

Nice approval, Amex is generous and that 8k will rise to the sky in 1 year. Grats!!

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

ramblin_wreck08 — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:52:43 GMT

I feel like Amex looks at a person's entire profile instead of just at a credit score/history. If you don't have much history, big banks look at it as a risk. Amex looks at it as being responsible and not needing much debt, particularly if it's paired with a high income. To them, you aren't a risk when you have a high income and little to no debt. Plus this is an ideal combination for putting a high $ amount through the card. They sure know what they're doing.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

ibmrad7 — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:16:26 GMT

I think income and prior history with AMEX matters a lot. I was approved to Platinum last week with 91% utilization on reports... I have been running 80-90% utilization from last 8-9 months.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

Open123 — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:35:12 GMT

Without a history with them, not so much. With a history, the "income" portion becomes increasingly important when levels of spending increase.

I speculate that once spending hits north of $15K per month, income and type of spending takes on more and more importance. For CLs and montly spends more than $25K, I'd imagine financial documents will be requested in the form of a 4056T, which then would make "income and assets" the MOST important.

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

CreditSnob — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:55:23 GMT

@Open123 wrote:
Without a history with them, not so much. With a history, the "income" portion becomes increasingly important when levels of spending increase.

I speculate that once spending hits north of $15K per month, income and type of spending takes on more and more importance. For CLs and montly spends more than $25K, I'd imagine financial documents will be requested in the form of a 4056T, which then would make "income and assets" the MOST important.

Does being an AU on an AMEX card count as personal history with them?

Re: How much weight does Amex put on Income

Open123 — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 03:44:32 GMT

@CreditSnob wrote:
@Open123 wrote:
Without a history with them, not so much. With a history, the "income" portion becomes increasingly important when levels of spending increase.

I speculate that once spending hits north of $15K per month, income and type of spending takes on more and more importance. For CLs and montly spends more than $25K, I'd imagine financial documents will be requested in the form of a 4056T, which then would make "income and assets" the MOST important.
Does being an AU on an AMEX card count as personal history with them?

Yes, but I'm sure to what extent. I'd imagine it'd be on a case by case basis, but Amex certainly tracks AUs.