topic Re: Big milestone for me in Rebuilding Your Credit

Big milestone for me

Egaffne2 — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 14:53:14 GMT

A little less than a year ago my score was in the low 500s. In 2017 my score was in the 300s. Now I'm 2 points from a "good" score and now I'm getting pre-qualified by American Express, today I got 4 card offers. I'm not gonna take any but how reliable is their prequal tool? Anyway I've come a long way but I still have a ways to go. People in this forums have helped out a lot so thanks!

Re: Big milestone for me

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 15:11:05 GMT

Nice job! Their prequal is pretty good. People rarely get denied unless they have a BK in the last 5yrs 1mo, or they're blacklisted.

Re: Big milestone for me

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 15:12:10 GMT

You should probably wait on applying until you have at least a 680 EX. Otherwise you'll be stuck in low limit hell for at least a year.

Re: Big milestone for me

Egaffne2 — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 15:41:52 GMT

hmm so what do u think my starting limit would be if I did apply? I'm not, I'm still gardening until May. By then I should be well over 680 and I'm not even sure if I'd end up going with Amex.

Re: Big milestone for me

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 19:02:18 GMT

Great job! Congratulations on your rebuilding success!

Prequal is fairly accurate for AMEX.

@Egaffne2 wrote:
A little less than a year ago my score was in the low 500s. In 2017 my score was in the 300s. Now I'm 2 points from a "good" score and now I'm getting pre-qualified by American Express, today I got 4 card offers. I'm not gonna take any but how reliable is their prequal tool? Anyway I've come a long way but I still have a ways to go. People in this forums have helped out a lot so thanks!

Re: Big milestone for me

gdale6 — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 13:47:49 GMT

Grats to all your hard work

Re: Big milestone for me

AllZero — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 22:01:39 GMT

Congratulations on your success!

Re: Big milestone for me

satio — Sun, 19 Jan 2020 03:57:01 GMT

@Egaffne2 wrote:
hmm so what do u think my starting limit would be if I did apply? I'm not, I'm still gardening until May. By then I should be well over 680 and I'm not even sure if I'd end up going with Amex.

Congratulations on your rebuild!

Everyone's profile is different so nothing can be apples to apples but I can share my experiences.

My oldest account across all three CRAs is 32 years of age but I had my struggles in 2014 which left me with charge offs and collections.

I cleared all collections and charge offs to 0 balance from Nov 2018 till September 2019 with scores finally breaking past 670.

I opened checking/saving accounts with NFCU and then did a 3k SSL paid down to < 9 percent In August-September.

I then app'd for a Cash Rewards. Approved for lowest APR of 11.49 and 25k CL.

When both the SSL and the CC account from NFCU posted that boosted me > 680.

So AMEX was in my wheelhouse of cards wanted and I app'ed for their BCP card and was approved for 5k CL to start with.

Re: Big milestone for me

KJinNC — Sun, 19 Jan 2020 04:46:28 GMT

I do not consider Amex prequals particularly reliable. I have been denied when I had a prequal and I have been approved when I did not have a prequal. But, my profile is pretty weird, so it's hard for me to judge how it would be for other people. I think the OP's profile and 668 score would probably be approved for an Amex cobrand or most likely an Amex charge card. Not sure about a core revolver. As you can see, I like Amex. My reasons may or may not apply to others. I like Amex for: 1) Cards that fit my spend and my goals well. 2) SP applications for other cards once you have one Amex card. 3) The Corporate Advantage Program.

Re: Big milestone for me

FireMedic1 — Sun, 19 Jan 2020 08:51:24 GMT

Nice job keep at it and you'll be rewarded.

Re: Big milestone for me

coreyb80 — Sun, 19 Jan 2020 14:39:04 GMT

Excellent job and keep at it!!

Re: Big milestone for me

recoveringfrombk7 — Sun, 19 Jan 2020 15:23:13 GMT

Congrats on the progress!

Re: Big milestone for me

Egaffne2 — Sun, 19 Jan 2020 20:50:44 GMT

Thanks everyone! For me it's just the fact I got a prequal from Amex and what it symbolizes but I'm not really interested in going beyond that and applying.