AMEX HH snail mail offer: Real thing or red herring?

[8bitmachinegun]

I recently got a snail mail offer for a Hilton Honors card, $0 AF/0% APR for 12 months. I currently have an AMEX BCE w/ a $15k limit and a little over 30% uti on the BCE (18% overall.) Current EX8 is 709, income $62k. I've got some moving expenses I'm trying to cover so expanding my CL at this point seems like a good idea.

Rather than risk a hard pull w/ the snail mail offer, I decided to use the AMEX web site to try a soft pull for the HH card. IIRC, the result I got ('expand your membership by applying') means that I am NOT preapproved for the HH card. Is the snail mail offer a red herring?

[dragontears]

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@8bitmachinegun wrote:

I recently got a snail mail offer for a Hilton Honors card, $0 AF/0% APR for 12 months. I currently have an AMEX BCE w/ a $15k limit and a little over 30% uti on the BCE (18% overall.) Current EX8 is 709, income $62k. I've got some moving expenses I'm trying to cover so expanding my CL at this point seems like a good idea.

Rather than risk a hard pull w/ the snail mail offer, I decided to use the AMEX web site to try a soft pull for the HH card. IIRC, the result I got ('expand your membership by applying') means that I am NOT preapproved for the HH card. Is the snail mail offer a red herring?

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In my experience, most mailers for airline or hotel cards are sent by the airline/hotel not the credit card and are marketing. 

This doesn't mean you won't be approved, I have cold app for both of my AMEX cards.....

[8bitmachinegun]

Reading the snail mail offer more carefully reveals that it is an 'RSVP' to apply, not a preapproved offer. Given that, I think I would likely be declined.

[Anonymous]

Given your scores I would have guessed that you would have been approved.

However, the "expanding your membership" vs "you are pre-approved" language has historically been fairly accurate.

When did you open the Amex card that you have?

[8bitmachinegun]

I've only had the Amex BCE for about a year, and my credit history is fairly 'new' so perhaps that explains it.

Since Amex looks like a non-starter, I may look at getting another NFCU card, or maybe just a CLI with Navy. I've got an IRA with them, so that might make them feel better about another card than Amex does.

[PointsBonus]

In my experience -

1. Approval or Denial Soft pull

2. I got a letter for Hilton Surpass elevates RSVP offer, and it became my 6th Revolver. - also did what you did online and it was "Expanx your membership"

So, for me it was worth a shot 

[8bitmachinegun]

Two days after I received the initial HH offer, I got another identical offer. Apparently Hilton doesn't realize they're dealing with a credit pariah...lol.

[Anonymous]

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@8bitmachinegun wrote:

Two days after I received the initial HH offer, I got another identical offer. Apparently Hilton doesn't realize they're dealing with a credit pariah...lol.

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Very defintely not a credit pariah.

You might be fine to apply now or maybe somehow Amex really has been that strict.
We are in uncharted territory.

[coldfusion]

You aren't a credit pariah,  there's something either about your credit profile or your Hilton loyalty account's profile (like zip code for example) that got you on a list for an active promotion.   Sometimes you can apply and still get mailers afterward for the promotion whether you were approved or denied.

[8bitmachinegun]

Well this month I made a concerted effort to pay down my BCE balance and sent $1800 AMEX's way. After making sure my latest payment cleared, I tried AMEX's preapproval page and got the green light for the Hilton Honors card. And was further surprised when I went back to my transaction page and saw an invitiation to apply for "Hilton Honors Surpass" at the top of the page.

I know Amex generally disallows sign up bonuses on cards other than your first AMEX card, so I doubt I'd get any special concessions from the original snail mail flyer. It did have an offer of 1 year with zero APR. Would AMEX honor that year, or should I go for the Surpass card? What's the difference?