Best strategy for end goal of Amex business. Personal first?

[KnowledgeSeekr]

Have an 8 year old LLC with only a Wells Biz Platinum reporting to SBFE. No current reporting to DUNS or EXP biz. Made the mistake of applying for the biz card while utilization was high. Ideally, I'd prefer not to drop my avg age of accounts by opening a personal Amex but I've watched several YouTube videos stating that it's easier to get into the Amex soft pull system going with a personal first. 
Any suggestions on the best strategy for getting an Amex business? I will have a small window to apply in about a week before some new accounts pop up and I don't want to waste another hard inquiry with Amex.
Appreciate any help.  

[pizzadude]

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@KnowledgeSeekr wrote:

Have an 8 year old LLC with only a Wells Biz Platinum reporting to SBFE. No current reporting to DUNS or EXP biz. Made the mistake of applying for the biz card while utilization was high. Ideally, I'd prefer not to drop my avg age of accounts by opening a personal Amex but I've watched several YouTube videos stating that it's easier to get into the Amex soft pull system going with a personal first. 
Any suggestions on the best strategy for getting an Amex business? I will have a small window to apply in about a week before some new accounts pop up and I don't want to waste another hard inquiry with Amex.
Appreciate any help.  

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Since you don't have an AMEX currently, they will be doing a HP on your personal report for either a biz or personal card, so I'm not sure it makes a difference which you apply for first.   Without knowing more specifics about your credit profile it's hard to gauge your odds of success for either.   It's certainly possible that you could apply for a biz card w/o having a personal account, you'll take the hit for the HP but if successful your AAoA wouldn't be impacted since the biz card won't show on your personal reports. 

[jaxstraw]

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@KnowledgeSeekr wrote:

Have an 8 year old LLC with only a Wells Biz Platinum reporting to SBFE. No current reporting to DUNS or EXP biz. Made the mistake of applying for the biz card while utilization was high. Ideally, I'd prefer not to drop my avg age of accounts by opening a personal Amex but I've watched several YouTube videos stating that it's easier to get into the Amex soft pull system going with a personal first. 
Any suggestions on the best strategy for getting an Amex business? I will have a small window to apply in about a week before some new accounts pop up and I don't want to waste another hard inquiry with Amex.
Appreciate any help.  

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Depending on the business it is possible AMEX will ask for access to recent bank statements to verify what you put in on application for a business CC. It isn't automatic but does happen.

If your business is seasonal...or has some yearly fluctuations that might be something that could be an issue.

As far as a personal AMEX they pretty much only go by personal CR.

I have always been under the impression to go personal first and establish a relationship is the easier route.

And AMEX does not care about Duns or SBFE....they almost exclusively pull personal EX.

[SouthJamaica]

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@KnowledgeSeekr wrote:

Have an 8 year old LLC with only a Wells Biz Platinum reporting to SBFE. No current reporting to DUNS or EXP biz. Made the mistake of applying for the biz card while utilization was high. Ideally, I'd prefer not to drop my avg age of accounts by opening a personal Amex but I've watched several YouTube videos stating that it's easier to get into the Amex soft pull system going with a personal first. 
Any suggestions on the best strategy for getting an Amex business? I will have a small window to apply in about a week before some new accounts pop up and I don't want to waste another hard inquiry with Amex.
Appreciate any help.  

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The charge cards are easier to get than the credit cards, so maybe the best bet to get your foot in the door would be to go for the Amex Business Green card, if you don't mind a $95 annual fee and don't mind getting your rewards in Amex MR's. It's not the greatest, in my book, but it is a business card rather than a personal card.

[bizcredit11]

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@KnowledgeSeekr wrote:

Have an 8 year old LLC with only a Wells Biz Platinum reporting to SBFE. No current reporting to DUNS or EXP biz. Made the mistake of applying for the biz card while utilization was high. Ideally, I'd prefer not to drop my avg age of accounts by opening a personal Amex but I've watched several YouTube videos stating that it's easier to get into the Amex soft pull system going with a personal first. 
Any suggestions on the best strategy for getting an Amex business? I will have a small window to apply in about a week before some new accounts pop up and I don't want to waste another hard inquiry with Amex.
Appreciate any help.  

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I would have a very good Experian credit history. A high score and low utilization. You can definitely get business first, but you need to go in strong with your Experian profile. It will be a hard inquiry either way, so business cards shine over personal. Just get in their system.

bizcredit11

[KnowledgeSeekr]

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@bizcredit11 wrote:

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@KnowledgeSeekr wrote:

Have an 8 year old LLC with only a Wells Biz Platinum reporting to SBFE. No current reporting to DUNS or EXP biz. Made the mistake of applying for the biz card while utilization was high. Ideally, I'd prefer not to drop my avg age of accounts by opening a personal Amex but I've watched several YouTube videos stating that it's easier to get into the Amex soft pull system going with a personal first. 
Any suggestions on the best strategy for getting an Amex business? I will have a small window to apply in about a week before some new accounts pop up and I don't want to waste another hard inquiry with Amex.
Appreciate any help.  

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I would have a very good Experian credit history. A high score and low utilization. You can definitely get business first, but you need to go in strong with your Experian profile. It will be a hard inquiry either way, so business cards shine over personal. Just get in their system.

bizcredit11

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Experian will be solid. I was denied last month for Amex Biz Plat high utilization (2 cards maxed) but will be showing under 20% once one more card reports. 
Ideally, I'd prefer not personal and not a charge card but a business revolving. Seeing all kinds of different advice:
1. Generally their cobranded cards (Delta, Hilton, etc) are easier to get approved for than their core revolving cards (Blue Cash Everyday, Blue Cash Preferred) or charge cards (Platinum, Gold, Green).
2. Some say their charge cards are easy to get than their core revolving. 
3. Personal is easier to get the foot in the door. 
I'd hate to get hit with another HP and not get approved so just trying to figure out which card would be the best one to apply for next given my ultimate end goal. 

[bizcredit11]

@KnowledgeSeekr Does AMX have any info/data on you in their house? 

It takes time to establish a history/relationship with any lender. AMX is not that unique, but they definitely have their way/process.

[SouthJamaica]

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@KnowledgeSeekr wrote:

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@bizcredit11 wrote:

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@KnowledgeSeekr wrote:

Have an 8 year old LLC with only a Wells Biz Platinum reporting to SBFE. No current reporting to DUNS or EXP biz. Made the mistake of applying for the biz card while utilization was high. Ideally, I'd prefer not to drop my avg age of accounts by opening a personal Amex but I've watched several YouTube videos stating that it's easier to get into the Amex soft pull system going with a personal first. 
Any suggestions on the best strategy for getting an Amex business? I will have a small window to apply in about a week before some new accounts pop up and I don't want to waste another hard inquiry with Amex.
Appreciate any help.  

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I would have a very good Experian credit history. A high score and low utilization. You can definitely get business first, but you need to go in strong with your Experian profile. It will be a hard inquiry either way, so business cards shine over personal. Just get in their system.

bizcredit11

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Experian will be solid. I was denied last month for Amex Biz Plat high utilization (2 cards maxed) but will be showing under 20% once one more card reports. 
Ideally, I'd prefer not personal and not a charge card but a business revolving. Seeing all kinds of different advice:
1. Generally their cobranded cards (Delta, Hilton, etc) are easier to get approved for than their core revolving cards (Blue Cash Everyday, Blue Cash Preferred) or charge cards (Platinum, Gold, Green).
2. Some say their charge cards are easy to get than their core revolving. 
3. Personal is easier to get the foot in the door. 
I'd hate to get hit with another HP and not get approved so just trying to figure out which card would be the best one to apply for next given my ultimate end goal. 

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I agree that the cobranded revolvers are easier to get approved for than the core revolvers. I like the Hilton business card, but I have no idea if it's hard or easy to get. The Delta lineup might be the easiest to get, but I wouldn't get one if I didn't have use for Delta miles.  For me, the most useful Amex business card has been the Blue Business Cash.

[Alephbet]

I only had a couple of old credit cards with moderate utilization when I applied for my first AMEX business card. I think I had a 720-730 score but I'm not positive now. I had a corporation that was about three years old at the time but had no actual business credit at that point. I went with the Delta Reserve for Business first (I think it was 01/02/2020) and was approved for $4K and then applied for the Marriott Bonvoy Business about a week later and was approved for $3K. I did a CLI from $4K to $12K on the Delta card in three months after a decent amount of spend to get the signup bonuses and then applied for an AMEX Business Gold and AMEX Business Platinum within one day of each other around the end of March of that same year. Both were approved. After that, I tried the Amazon Business Prime several times that year with a denial each time. I was finally able to get the Blue Business Plus with a $3.6K starting limit in September of 2021 and they wanted to check my business banking activity which I allowed. About 45 days later I applied for the Amazon Business Prime and was approved for $10K. In the four months after that stretching into 2022, I was offered after login two more AMEX Business Platinum cards and two more AMEX Business Gold cards which I accepted and received the bonus on all four. In April of this year, I was approved for three personal charge cards from AMEX. I write all of this to give my timeline of how I was approved. Once I had two revolvers and two charge cards, AMEX would not allow me to get another for about 18 months or so. I would probably try a cobranded if they denied on the Business Platinum already. I don't know what would have happened if I had tried a business charge card first. I had no personal relationship with them until April of this year and they did hard pull twice each on EX and TU for the three personal charge cards. I have had no hard pulls since the first two revolvers (both on EX) on business cards from AMEX.

[KnowledgeSeekr]

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@Alephbet wrote:

I only had a couple of old credit cards with moderate utilization when I applied for my first AMEX business card. I think I had a 720-730 score but I'm not positive now. I had a corporation that was about three years old at the time but had no actual business credit at that point. I went with the Delta Reserve for Business first (I think it was 01/02/2020) and was approved for $4K and then applied for the Marriott Bonvoy Business about a week later and was approved for $3K. I did a CLI from $4K to $12K on the Delta card in three months after a decent amount of spend to get the signup bonuses and then applied for an AMEX Business Gold and AMEX Business Platinum within one day of each other around the end of March of that same year. Both were approved. After that, I tried the Amazon Business Prime several times that year with a denial each time. I was finally able to get the Blue Business Plus with a $3.6K starting limit in September of 2021 and they wanted to check my business banking activity which I allowed. About 45 days later I applied for the Amazon Business Prime and was approved for $10K. In the four months after that stretching into 2022, I was offered after login two more AMEX Business Platinum cards and two more AMEX Business Gold cards which I accepted and received the bonus on all four. In April of this year, I was approved for three personal charge cards from AMEX. I write all of this to give my timeline of how I was approved. Once I had two revolvers and two charge cards, AMEX would not allow me to get another for about 18 months or so. I would probably try a cobranded if they denied on the Business Platinum already. I don't know what would have happened if I had tried a business charge card first. I had no personal relationship with them until April of this year and they did hard pull twice each on EX and TU for the three personal charge cards. I have had no hard pulls since the first two revolvers (both on EX) on business cards from AMEX.

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Really appreciate you taking the time to write all this, super helpful and much apprecaited.