I like to throw extra info into the pot when I can.
I am doing ok with AMEX right now after being blacklisted for about a decade. I now have 3 personal accounts (1 gold charge and 2 revolvers). About a month or so ago I picked up a personal BCP with a nice limit.
I was doing a side gig I wanted to make official so last week I set up an LLC. Today I applied for my EIN, got a virtual office at a local office building, got a google voice # and added it to the white pages using "Listyourself". It won't be listed for about a week as I know from previous experience.
However, since many posts mention that Amex primarily uses personal credit and soft pulls for business card decisions I decided I would try and apply for one. The first top part of the app is personal info and then it asks about the business info, yes it was PG. I wasn't sure if it would pick up on the virtual office address and deny me so I was concerned there.
Next it wanted to log into my bank account to retreive 90 days worth of info using Yodlee. Hmm, I didn't set up a business checking under this company yet.
I thought I may be able to use my Cap 1 business checking for the sole proprietorship that I have. I figure that if it verifies the info and doesn't like the DBA that I have on there (Completely different company name) the app would decline, kick it out and I would try back in 90 days. Well it took the information and approved me for a card. I don't know if it was my current relationship with Amex, or the bank account or both. But it was good enough for a $3500 credit line. Not bad for a 1 week old company.
So I would say that if you are doing an LLC (not C Corp) that you will have a good chance of using a business account with your name on it to help get approved. Even if it has another DBA on it as well. The funny thing is...it didn't bring up Capital One "Spark" website in the list of banks for the business account, just the normal Cap1 site.
Now I just need to find a way to see if Yodlee is still connected to my bank account at Capital Once. The screen where you give your initial approval basically worded it like you would turn over control of your account to Amex and Yodlee. But I didn't care too much because I will be closing that account soon when I get one open for the LLC.
I hear that Amex just started business checking accounts with no monthly fee. I may try that.
Good Luck!
