AMEX BCE CLI Denial

[FreedomHammer]

I've had my BCE since last July.

My SL was $1k and is $1k.

 I've always paid in full. In fact, I send payments right after making all purchases. I had two CO's with Amex back in '07 and am grateful I am back with them. The CLI denial letter didn't mention the prior negative relationship.  I'm trying to be a good member. The same is true for my Green Card. 

I applied for a CLI, and was subsequently denied. The reason given was, "The income you provided is insufficient relative to your overall debt obligations as reflected in our records or on your credit report."

What does this mean? At the time of the request, my total outstanding debt was $6 on my AZEO C1 card. 

My income is low, but I do not have any other outstanding debt, other than the $6 AZEO -- no installments loans whatsoever. They were all paid off. 

My EX Fico 8 is 783, up from 673 at time of my BCE approval. I have two inquires on EX. My AAoA is 11 years and my AooA is 22 years. 

Does that denial reason mean I'm currently spending too much with my Amex cards?

My current set up is:

Self VISA $1600 

C1 QS $600

Apple Card $15,600

Amex BCE $1000

Amex Green NPSL

To which I wonder: with my lower income, could someone give me an idea of how much I should spend to remain both profitable (for future CLI's/offers) and to not be a risky borrower?

My income is 18k gross a year disability, and I routinely charge between $300-$700 month, on one card, but not both. I will use BCE one month, and Green Card the next. 

I was curious if I am spending too much with them?

[Remedios]

All that means is that at this time they aren't willing to extend additional credit to you. 

While previous CO wasn't mentioned, Amex isn't exactly forgetting/forgiving type. 

Your limit might go up at some point, plenty of members within your income range have higher limit on their card(s), but they either didn't burn them and/or additional time is required. 

Another thing to consider, your total limits exceed your income and you have a "history" with them. 

That in itself isn't unusual, many around here have limits in multiples of their income, but it can become important when there is previous default.  

Since you're doing AZEO and paying before statement while charging about $300- $700.00 it appears that's enough for now. 

[FreedomHammer]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Remedios. 

[SDMarik]

Even though your balance is low, the income might be an issue when it comes to what you can potentially spend with a higher CL.

I doubt that the ammount your spending is too much, if you are PIF every month that goes a long way with Amex.

Even though it's been 15 years, amex tends to hold a grudge, but if you keep using the card and paying it off they might budge eventually. 

I wonder if it would be worth just doing all of your spending on the one card and paying it off quickly. Seeing as you will average $150 - $350/month on the BCE, they might not see any reason for you to have more credit that you don't need. This happened to me with my discover card, I had a decent SL and never really put more than 20% of my CL on it in a given billing cycle. I tried for a CLI every few months for 2 years and never got one, then I had a few months where I did most of my spending on it while always PIF, and when I tried for the CLI I got it instantly.

[FreedomHammer]

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@SDMarik wrote:

Even though your balance is low, the income might be an issue when it comes to what you can potentially spend with a higher CL.

I doubt that the ammount your spending is too much, if you are PIF every month that goes a long way with Amex.

Even though it's been 15 years, amex tends to hold a grudge, but if you keep using the card and paying it off they might budge eventually. 

I wonder if it would be worth just doing all of your spending on the one card and paying it off quickly. Seeing as you will average $150 - $350/month on the BCE, they might not see any reason for you to have more credit that you don't need. This happened to me with my discover card, I had a decent SL and never really put more than 20% of my CL on it in a given billing cycle. I tried for a CLI every few months for 2 years and never got one, then I had a few months where I did most of my spending on it while always PIF, and when I tried for the CLI I got it instantly.

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Last month, I ran $900 though the BCE, paying off the transactions immediately. It is isn't necessary to do that, but for some reason, I think they appreciate the eagerness to reduce exposure. 

My Apple Card has seen usage of $9k YTD, as I pay bills for other family members' bills on that card, and have access to shared income, hence the higher CL. 

 
Sure, I would love to run that much through the green card, but I won't push my luck. My POT limit is 2k and was considering disabling that. 
 

[SDMarik]

What would be the reason for disabling POT? Does Amex view that as potential open line of credit?

[FreedomHammer]

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@SDMarik wrote:

What would be the reason for disabling POT? Does Amex view that as potential open line of credit?

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A few folks on the Reddit amex forum said to disable it to see if that will help the CLI on the BCE revolver. I won't ever use POT; I've read anectodes of someone using it one time and then their charge card has a spending limit imposed. 

[SDMarik]

That's interesting, I never even thought to check that status of mine. I did not realize it was set to "on" by default, it says that I have $14,000 limit for POT. I disabled it moving forward, maybe this will increase my odds of larger limit increases on the BCP in the futre. I also pay my balance 2-3x per month.

I would be interested to see if there were any data points on this.

[FinStar]

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@SDMarik wrote:

That's interesting, I never even thought to check that status of mine. I did not realize it was set to "on" by default, it says that I have $14,000 limit for POT. I disabled it moving forward, maybe this will increase my odds of larger limit increases on the BCP in the futre. I also pay my balance 2-3x per month.

I would be interested to see if there were any data points on this.

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Lowering or disabling POT has no bearing on CLI results on other cards. Plus, there have been no DPs that point cardmembers to lower or eliminate the POT feature altogether in order to receive the maximum CL on a revolving account (business or personal).

Often times, you have to take things with a grain of salt whenever you see things on Reddit, YouTube, FB groups, etc. Plenty of myths have been busted here and other blogs when it comes to misinformation. 

[FinStar]

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@FreedomHammer wrote:

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@SDMarik wrote:

What would be the reason for disabling POT? Does Amex view that as potential open line of credit?

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A few folks on the Reddit amex forum said to disable it to see if that will help the CLI on the BCE revolver. I won't ever use POT; I've read anectodes of someone using it one time and then their charge card has a spending limit imposed. 

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@FreedomHammer 

The only time I've ever disabled POT on some of mine was to receive a lucrative sign up or promotional offer for activating it or reinstating it, not because of speculative information or misinformed Redditors. 

So, while it's a personal preference whether individuals need (or want) POT, it has no bearing on CLIs and whenever you read about someone having their charge card or POT privileges restricted, it's not because of using the feature in it of itself. There's always more to that story.