AMEX Business Platinum DENIAL - Recon? Should I even call?

[FICO_CrownPrince]

I am a longtime MyFICO member but, somewhat new to the forums; I am excited for my first post!

I have been building up my credit profile for a while and am looking to establish a few strong business credit lines. I decided to start with the AMEX Blue Business Plus to see where I stood and was approved instantly November 22nd.

I own another business and I decided to go for the Business Platinum Card since Amex could just reuse the personal report pulled from the Blue Business Plus application. I submitted the application for the other business and was denied by email. I disagree with the reasons they denied. Amex said below: 

"We evaluated your application using a credit scoring system that considers various pieces of information, including your credit report. The following key factors contributed to our evaluation:
 
The number of creditors who have reviewed your credit report.
Recent decrease in your FICO Score
 
Information About Your FICO® Score
We obtained your FICO score from Experian and used it in making our credit decision. Your FICO score is a number that reflects the information in your credit report. Your FICO score can change, depending on how the information in your credit report changes. On November 22, 2023, your FICO score was 753. The FICO score ranges from 300 to 850. The following are the key factors that contributed to your FICO score:
 
Number of accounts delinquent
Length of time accounts have been established.
Proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high.
Too many inquiries in the last 12 months."

The thing is, AMEX is the only creditor who has checked my credit since and they used the report from the Business Plus app in November. There could not have been any additional inquiries/pulls.

There has been no decrease in my FICO, in fact, it has gone up since the Business Plus approval. Which should not even be considered since they reused the same report from November. How would they know about a FICO decrease (even though there was not one) if they just reuse report.

MY EXPERIAN: 

753

Inquiries: EX: 5 (6 including AMEX) 2 Past 12 Months (3 including AmEx)

AAOA: 5-6 Years

I want to call for reconsideration but, do not know if it's futile

[SouthJamaica]

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@FICO_CrownPrince wrote:

I am a longtime MyFICO member but, somewhat new to the forums; I am excited for my first post!

I have been building up my credit profile for a while and am looking to establish a few strong business credit lines. I decided to start with the AMEX Blue Business Plus to see where I stood and was approved instantly November 22nd.

I own another business and I decided to go for the Business Platinum Card since Amex could just reuse the personal report pulled from the Blue Business Plus application. I submitted the application for the other business and was denied by email. I disagree with the reasons they denied. Amex said below: 

"We evaluated your application using a credit scoring system that considers various pieces of information, including your credit report. The following key factors contributed to our evaluation:
 
The number of creditors who have reviewed your credit report.
Recent decrease in your FICO Score
 
Information About Your FICO® Score
We obtained your FICO score from Experian and used it in making our credit decision. Your FICO score is a number that reflects the information in your credit report. Your FICO score can change, depending on how the information in your credit report changes. On November 22, 2023, your FICO score was 753. The FICO score ranges from 300 to 850. The following are the key factors that contributed to your FICO score:
 
Number of accounts delinquent
Length of time accounts have been established.
Proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high.
Too many inquiries in the last 12 months."

The thing is, AMEX is the only creditor who has checked my credit since and they used the report from the Business Plus app in November. There could not have been any additional inquiries/pulls.

There has been no decrease in my FICO, in fact, it has gone up since the Business Plus approval. Which should not even be considered since they reused the same report from November. How would they know about a FICO decrease (even though there was not one) if they just reuse report.

MY EXPERIAN: 

753

Inquiries: EX: 5 (6 including AMEX) 2 Past 12 Months (3 including AmEx)

AAOA: 5-6 Years

I want to call for reconsideration but, do not know if it's futile

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I have no idea if it would succeed or not, but since the denial was based on 2 things that do not actually exist -- inquiries and FICO score decrease -- I would give it a shot.

[pizzadude]

No harm in trying for a recon, it should cost you anything other than some of your time.

Was the BBP your first AMEX card ?  If so it's possible that you need to build up a bit of good history with them first before they'll approve you for another card. 

[CreditCuriosity]

Also does Amex check business credit have you applied for anything else for business purposes that haven't shown on your personal profiles, but your business credit?  Just another possible though not sure if Amex uses any of the business CRA's.

[FICO_CrownPrince]

@pizzadude Thanks for your prompt reply. I went for the recon today. I explained the situation to the rep and he pushed it for manual review. I think he said 2-3 business day IIRC.

I will follow up here on the outcome. 

[FICO_CrownPrince]

@CreditCuriosity I hope the following provides some insight to the current situation. Long answer: Amex was the 1st business CC I applied for Business A and pulled Experian on Nov. 22. I applied for another business CC for Business A and was approved; Transunion was pulled 12/1. I then applied for this Amex Platinum card for Business B. Business B has no inquires on file. 

Experian shows the same amount of inquiries as it did when I first applied and Amex reused the credit report from Nov 22 anyway. I don't see how inquiries would be a denial reason UNLESS Amex keeps track of my credit scores some other way. 

Does Amex keep track of my credit score somehow since I have an account with them now that would affect this application? I know they have MyCredit Guide that keeps track of your FICO for you