topic Re: Help understanding AmEx BCE APR in Credit Cards

Help understanding AmEx BCE APR

girbabe — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 02:03:44 GMT

I was just approved for the Blue Cash Everday with a $5,500 limit which is great but I about had a heart attack when I saw the 18.99 APR. Their letter states - and I quote - "We used your FICO score in setting the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for Purchases for this American Express Card account." The Experian score they pulled on 8/9/2014 was 800. I can't imagine what APR they would have assigned if my score had been a mere 760. Furthermore, this came after BECU just lowered my Visa APR from 10.9% to 8.9% after reviewing my account. At the time AmEx pulled my report,the only balances reporting was $100 on my Visa and $459 on my Discover card. Everything else is zero. Does anyone here have some insight on this?

Re: Help understanding AmEx BCE APR

jamesdwi — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 02:10:38 GMT

that is the second lowest tier for starting APR, over time you can request that it is lowered, since the BCE is a rewards card with a zero AF, you aren't going to get a super low APR automaticly.

Re: Help understanding AmEx BCE APR

trumpet-205 — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 02:11:32 GMT

You should compare APR to your non-CU card. CU typically has lower APR because their goal isn't profit in the first place. For them APR is used to mitigate risk/loss, not generating profits.

Also, FICO score is not everything. For AMEX they use FICO score as a variable plus other things on your credit report to calculate AMEX internal score which is not disclose to you.

Bottom line this, credit score is merely a number. Having a high score does not mean you'll get favorable rate. My FICO score back when got my AMEX BCP is around 700 and they assigned me a 17.24% APR. Since then they reduced it to 14.24% at first and currently 11.24%.

Re: Help understanding AmEx BCE APR

plastic_man — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 02:18:22 GMT

I got mine with a 21.99%. Score was in the lows 700 , I managed to get it lowered to 18.99 in about 1 year of use and hopefully get lowered to around 15% or less by next year.
Having said that, I always pay in full , but you never know when you re going to need it.

Re: Help understanding AmEx BCE APR

girbabe — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 03:17:12 GMT

I totally understand the rewards/credit union low interest trade off but 19% felt like a slap in the face. My other rewards cards ranged between 13%-15% when they were issued and I've never ever, ever in my life had a credit card with a 19% APR. EVER. Not even in my younger day when I missed payments and didn't care. I got the BCE for the grocery rewards and won't be carrying a balance anyway but I at least wanted to know if this was normal policy for AmEx or if it was something on my end that I needed to investigate. I do appreciate all your help with the explanations.

2nd question. After reading about the 3xCLI after 3 months, etc., does AmEx typically approve an increase even if the income hasn't changed? Mine is fixed (retired) and I'm not going to bother applying if higher income is required for each CLI request.

Thanks for all your help. This is a great forum! Long time lurker...

Re: Help understanding AmEx BCE APR

Closingracer99 — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 03:27:40 GMT

@girbabe wrote:
I totally understand the rewards/credit union low interest trade off but 19% felt like a slap in the face. My other rewards cards ranged between 13%-15% when they were issued and I've never ever, ever in my life had a credit card with a 19% APR. EVER. Not even in my younger day when I missed payments and didn't care. I got the BCE for the grocery rewards and won't be carrying a balance anyway but I at least wanted to know if this was normal policy for AmEx or if it was something on my end that I needed to investigate. I do appreciate all your help with the explanations.

2nd question. After reading about the 3xCLI after 3 months, etc., does AmEx typically approve an increase even if the income hasn't changed? Mine is fixed (retired) and I'm not going to bother applying if higher income is required for each CLI request.

Thanks for all your help. This is a great forum! Long time lurker...

Mines was the same and i got my CLI from $1,000 to $3,000 on my BCE*

*Just because I didn doesn't mean you will ... It only takes a SP so no risk in trying

Re: Help understanding AmEx BCE APR

girbabe — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 03:31:38 GMT

I was thinking that going from 5,500 to 16,500 was a pretty big jump without the income to justify it - at least in their eyes.

Re: Help understanding AmEx BCE APR

Closingracer99 — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 03:34:25 GMT

@girbabe wrote:
I was thinking that going from 5,500 to 16,500 was a pretty big jump without the income to justify it.

They can always counter a CLI request. So if you ask for 6,000 for Example they have 4options really and some might have some variances. A) Decline, B) Pending, C) Counter offer, or D) Approved

Re: Help understanding AmEx BCE APR

Transmogrifying_Bee — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 04:14:58 GMT

I received my Amex BCE in April, 2013.. My Amex FICO score at that time was 802, and yet I received only the "middle APR tier" which was16.99% at that time! I think the best rate was 12.99% and the highest rate was around 21 or 22%. Go figure . . . ?