topic Re: First AMEX Questions in Credit Cards

First AMEX Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:14:32 GMT

Hi guys,

I've been building my credit for a few months now and I'm finally getting offers from Amex's preapproval site. I've been waiting to app for my first AMEX until I receive a great bonus offer. I just checked and received the PRG offer for 50k points after $1k spend in 3 months! Annual fee is waived for the first year.

Three questions:

1) How does this offer compare to their others? I was thinking of being patient until the platinum 100k offer pops up.

2) If I take the offer, how long do I have to wait until I can get another AMEX bonus on one of their cards?

3) What's the window for apping for another AMEX without incurring another HP? I've heard 30 days but want to confirm. I'm looking to get another AMEX in January that I can backdate to this year's AMEX.

Thanks!

Re: First AMEX Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:15:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi guys,

I've been rebuilding and I'm finally getting offers from Amex's preapproval site. I've been waiting to app for my first AMEX until I receive a great bonus offer. I just checked and received the PRG offer for 50k points after $1k spend in 3 months! Annual fee is waived for the first year.

Three questions:

1) How does this offer compare to their others? I was thinking of being patient until the platinum 100k offer pops up.
2) If I take the offer, how long do I have to wait until I can get another AMEX bonus on one of their cards?
3) What's the window for apping for another AMEX without incurring another HP? I've heard 30 days but want to confirm. I'm looking to get another AMEX in January that I can backdate to this year's AMEX.

Thanks!

1) I'd take that offer, It's awesome.

2) I got both offers on both cards I apped same day, same hour.

3) 30 days I believe, but I'd do back to back. There is NEVER a guarantee that it won't HP twice or that it won't pull two CRA's off the bat though.

Re: First AMEX Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:42:25 GMT

Congrats. I did read on another post that if it went past 24 hours another HP happened so YMMV

Re: First AMEX Questions

taxi818 — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:58:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi guys,

I've been building my credit for a few months now and I'm finally getting offers from Amex's preapproval site. I've been waiting to app for my first AMEX until I receive a great bonus offer. I just checked and received the PRG offer for 50k points after $1k spend in 3 months! Annual fee is waived for the first year.

Three questions:

1) How does this offer compare to their others? I was thinking of being patient until the platinum 100k offer pops up.
2) If I take the offer, how long do I have to wait until I can get another AMEX bonus on one of their cards?
3) What's the window for apping for another AMEX without incurring another HP? I've heard 30 days but want to confirm. I'm looking to get another AMEX in January that I can backdate to this year's AMEX.

Thanks!

No way 30 days. Maybe in old days. If you do it same day. 1 hp. I did in 2 days. 2 hp's. Backdating will gve you 10 months to AA of A Orvwait a year and get 2 years added.

Re: First AMEX Questions

MyDataMyChoice — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 17:03:18 GMT

1) How does this offer compare to their others? I was thinking of being patient until the platinum 100k offer pops up.
You are not eligable for a platinum usually unless you have had the gold for at least a year....
2) If I take the offer, how long do I have to wait until I can get another AMEX bonus on one of their cards?
Bonuses are by CARD Type not Amex Relationship (so if another bonus pops up for another card... its fair game)

3) What's the window for apping for another AMEX without incurring another HP? I've heard 30 days but want to confirm. I'm looking to get another AMEX in January that I can backdate to this year's AMEX.
Every Application with AMEX will be a HP if approved (unless its the SAME DAY)
SP if Denied if you already have a relationship (usually)

Re: First AMEX Questions

taxi818 — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 17:20:37 GMT

@JTC403 wrote:
1) How does this offer compare to their others? I was thinking of being patient until the platinum 100k offer pops up.
You are not eligable for a platinum usually unless you have had the gold for at least a year....
2) If I take the offer, how long do I have to wait until I can get another AMEX bonus on one of their cards?
Bonuses are by CARD Type not Amex Relationship (so if another bonus pops up for another card... its fair game)

3) What's the window for apping for another AMEX without incurring another HP? I've heard 30 days but want to confirm. I'm looking to get another AMEX in January that I can backdate to this year's AMEX.
Every Application with AMEX will be a HP if approved (unless its the SAME DAY)
SP if Denied if you already have a relationship (usually)

+1 great response jtc403. Exactly.

Re: First AMEX Questions

AvadaKedavra — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 19:18:16 GMT

@JTC403 wrote:
1) How does this offer compare to their others? I was thinking of being patient until the platinum 100k offer pops up.
You are not eligable for a platinum usually unless you have had the gold for at least a year....
2) If I take the offer, how long do I have to wait until I can get another AMEX bonus on one of their cards?
Bonuses are by CARD Type not Amex Relationship (so if another bonus pops up for another card... its fair game)

3) What's the window for apping for another AMEX without incurring another HP? I've heard 30 days but want to confirm. I'm looking to get another AMEX in January that I can backdate to this year's AMEX.
Every Application with AMEX will be a HP if approved (unless its the SAME DAY)
SP if Denied if you already have a relationship (usually)

3) For more clarification, if it's your first time, a lot of times people do back to back (Charge card then revolver) and which case it's usually 1 HP as long as the first one was approved. For me it was anyway. After that once you've joined the AMΕΧ family once you apply for another card if it's an approval it's a HP and if it's a denial it's a SP. Typically you have to wait at least 5 days inbetween apps as an automatically security precaution. Though you can still submit an app, it'll stay pending until the 5 day mark.

Re: First AMEX Questions

Pigeyex — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 19:55:08 GMT

@AvadaKedavra wrote:
@JTC403 wrote:
1) How does this offer compare to their others? I was thinking of being patient until the platinum 100k offer pops up.
You are not eligable for a platinum usually unless you have had the gold for at least a year....
2) If I take the offer, how long do I have to wait until I can get another AMEX bonus on one of their cards?
Bonuses are by CARD Type not Amex Relationship (so if another bonus pops up for another card... its fair game)

3) What's the window for apping for another AMEX without incurring another HP? I've heard 30 days but want to confirm. I'm looking to get another AMEX in January that I can backdate to this year's AMEX.
Every Application with AMEX will be a HP if approved (unless its the SAME DAY)
SP if Denied if you already have a relationship (usually)

+1

3) For more clarification, if it's your first time, a lot of times people do back to back (Charge card then revolver). . .

What is the thought process behind one charge card and one revolving card? I ended up like this (with a Green and a BCE), but is there some strategy to this mix?

Also, other than the higher annual fees and the supposed prestige of a Gold card or a Platinum card, what is the benefit? I already have a $8900 CL on my new BCE that I can 3x CLI (and then again), and I've got a hefty limit behind my "Pay Over Time" feature within my Green card. What would a Gold or Platinum do for me?

Pigeye

Re: First AMEX Questions

AvadaKedavra — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 19:59:24 GMT

@Pigeyex wrote:
@AvadaKedavra wrote:
@JTC403 wrote:
1) How does this offer compare to their others? I was thinking of being patient until the platinum 100k offer pops up.
You are not eligable for a platinum usually unless you have had the gold for at least a year....
2) If I take the offer, how long do I have to wait until I can get another AMEX bonus on one of their cards?
Bonuses are by CARD Type not Amex Relationship (so if another bonus pops up for another card... its fair game)

3) What's the window for apping for another AMEX without incurring another HP? I've heard 30 days but want to confirm. I'm looking to get another AMEX in January that I can backdate to this year's AMEX.
Every Application with AMEX will be a HP if approved (unless its the SAME DAY)
SP if Denied if you already have a relationship (usually)

+1

3) For more clarification, if it's your first time, a lot of times people do back to back (Charge card then revolver). . .
What is the thought process behind one charge card and one revolving card? I ended up like this (with a Green and a BCE), but is there some strategy to this mix?

Also, other than the higher annual fees and the supposed prestige of a Gold card or a Platinum card, what is the benefit? I already have a $8900 CL on my new BCE that I can 3x CLI (and then again), and I've got a hefty limit behind my "Pay Over Time" feature within my Green card. What would a Gold or Platinum do for me?

Pigeye

Other than sign up bonus there's no real advantage to having both unless that particular card's benefits are worth it (PRG and Plat). Green is useless. Some people test the waters by applying for a charge card first since they are said to have easier approval requirements.

Re: First AMEX Questions

Pigeyex — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 20:01:21 GMT

Which card is "PRG?" Gold?

Why is the Green worthless, if I can either PIF, pay-over-time, and have no AF?

I only did the Green to get back-dating (to 1980!).

Re: First AMEX Questions

AvadaKedavra — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 20:42:22 GMT

@Pigeyex wrote:
Which card is "PRG?" Gold?

Why is the Green worthless, if I can either PIF, pay-over-time, and have no AF?

I only did the Green to get back-dating (to 1980!).

Well, worthless may be a bit of a strong word to use. Bascially compared to any of the other charge cards the benefits of the Green are inferior. The only "advantage" is it has the lowest annual fee in the charge card family. All charge cards must be PIF but they all have different rewards/benefits structures. Some are a slight difference...Example Green and Gold are essentially the same but with the Gold you have "Early Access to Entertainment" and a higher AF. You earn 1 MR point per dollar on both. The PRG (Premier Rewards Gold) however has all the benefits of the Gold with the addition of opportunity to earn more MR points (3x on booked travel through airlines, 2x for gas and supermarkets as well as 1x on everything else). The AF on the PRG is $175. The Platnum has many more benefits for a hefty AF.

The PRG offers the best sign up bonus which is why it's most preferred. The Green and Gold typically only have a targetted sign up bonus. Plat I'm not too sure of. All charge cards offer a 1 year waived AF with the exception of the plat unless you get it through Ameriprise. This makes signing up for them for the sign up bonus worth it and either downgrading or closing them after the year.

The pay over time feature isn't usually available immediately and still requires you to may a minimum amount which can still be quite a bit depending on the size of the purchase.

All charge cards have the same UW requirements so basically if you can get approved for the green, you'll get approved for the PRG or even Plat. If there's a sign up bonus and no AF you may as well take advantage.

If you got a Green solely for backdating, it's probably not worth it for the AF. Should have gone for a non-AF revolver. Unless you're going to close it after the year which I suppose you could do since it won't effect your AAoA.

Anyways...hope that helps.

Re: First AMEX Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 21:34:44 GMT

@AvadaKedavra wrote:
@Pigeyex wrote:
Which card is "PRG?" Gold?

Why is the Green worthless, if I can either PIF, pay-over-time, and have no AF?

I only did the Green to get back-dating (to 1980!).
Well, worthless may be a bit of a strong word to use. Bascially compared to any of the other charge cards the benefits of the Green are inferior. The only "advantage" is it has the lowest annual fee in the charge card family. All charge cards must be PIF but they all have different rewards/benefits structures. Some are a slight difference...Example Green and Gold are essentially the same but with the Gold you have "Early Access to Entertainment" and a higher AF. You earn 1 MR point per dollar on both. The PRG (Premier Rewards Gold) however has all the benefits of the Gold with the addition of opportunity to earn more MR points (3x on booked travel through airlines, 2x for gas and supermarkets as well as 1x on everything else). The AF on the PRG is $175. The Platnum has many more benefits for a hefty AF.

The PRG offers the best sign up bonus which is why it's most preferred. The Green and Gold typically only have a targetted sign up bonus. Plat I'm not too sure of. All charge cards offer a 1 year waived AF with the exception of the plat unless you get it through Ameriprise. This makes signing up for them for the sign up bonus worth it and either downgrading or closing them after the year.

The pay over time feature isn't usually available immediately and still requires you to may a minimum amount which can still be quite a bit depending on the size of the purchase.

All charge cards have the same UW requirements so basically if you can get approved for the green, you'll get approved for the PRG or even Plat. If there's a sign up bonus and no AF you may as well take advantage.

If you got a Green solely for backdating, it's probably not worth it for the AF. Should have gone for a non-AF revolver. Unless you're going to close it after the year which I suppose you could do since it won't effect your AAoA.

Anyways...hope that helps.

POT requires that purchases under $100 be paid in full.

Re: First AMEX Questions

Pigeyex — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 22:05:25 GMT

@AvadaKedavra wrote:
Anyways...hope that helps.

It does -- a LOT. Thank you for that detail!

Unfortunately, I already applied (and was approved for) both the Green (charge) and the BCE cards (no AF revolver). I've had the Green about 6-7 months now, and just got the Blue Cash card last week. Knowing now that I probably could have gotten the same back-dating with the PRG that I got with the Green, I should have gone for that, but oh well.

And yes, I've only been putting $200+ purchases on the Pay-Over-Time feature, and PIF on everything else.

thanks,

Pigeye

Re: First AMEX Questions

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 01:41:03 GMT

I posted this in the hopes of receiving a couple replies that might partially answer my questions, I'm pleasantly shocked at this response! Thank you very much for the information and though I haven't pulled the trigger yet I'm excited to join the AMEX family.

Thanks again guys and I hope I can help contribute in the future when I know more about what I'm doing.