AmEx Cash Magnet - DENIED ; I need advice moving forward!! Spare me 2 minutes of your time!

[Anonymous]

Long time reader, first time poster! 

I'm fairly new to credit, but i'm a bit late in the game compared to others my age. I'm looking to get in the American Express family with the Cash Magnet card, but i'm not sure if I have the scores to meet the 'requirements'. After reviewing my information below, if you were in my shoes, what next steps would you take?

FICO® SCORE8 data

Experian: 737

Equifax: 719

TransUnion: 721

Average Account Age:

Experian: 7mos

Equifax: 7mos

TransUnion: 11mos

Oldest Account Age:

Experian: 10mos

Equifax: 10mos

TransUnion: 1yr 9mos

Hard Inquiries:

Experian: 3 (drop off; 2020)

Equifax: 3 (drop off; 2020)

TransUnion: 4 (drop off 2020)

Open Lines:

Capital One Secured ($500) 10mos

Discover Secured ($200) 4mos

Self Lender ($500) 11mos

Rhental Karma (only reports to TU) 

UPDATE ~~~~~~~~~ 06/27/2019

After taking the advice from folks on here, hearing that American Express is thin file friendly, and receiving a pre-approval from the website, I decided to pull the trigger. They pulled Experian, and my score at the time was 737. My annual income in $46k. I'm not really sure where to go from here. I was thinking about opening 3-4 secured credit cards, as they'll eventually graduate, but I don't want new inquiries for $200/limit accounts if i'm able to get a regular card. A question I have is, do credit card companies use Chexsystems when factoring credit card applications? If I have a Chexsystems debt with (lets use SunTrust for an example) - would they deny me a credit card? 

Open Accounts:

Rental Kharma (TU only): Open 7/2017 - Current - Never Late

Capital One Secured ($500): Open 6/2018 - Current - Never Late - Under 10% Utlz

Discover Secured ($200): Open 1/2019 - Current - Never Late - Paid In Full Monthly

Self Lender ($545/1yr): Open 7/2018 - Ends 7/2019 - Never Late

Average Account Age:

1 Year ; 1 Month

MyFICO 8 Scores:

Experian: 719

Equifax: 738

TransUnion: 716

MyFICO 9 Scores:

Experian: 713

Equifax: 739

TransUnion: 740

Inquiries: 

Equifax: 2 

Experian: 4

TransUnion: 3

Collections:

None 

[pinkandgrey]

Definitely check the prequals for Amex now. Amex tends to be okay with thin files and the prequals tend to be solid. Also, you might check out Discover prequals. Both of those are excellent cards that are good for thin files. Your scores are good and you don’t have a ton of inquiries, so I don’t see a problem with either of those. Check the prequals first though. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

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@pinkandgrey wrote:

Definitely check the prequals for Amex now. Amex tends to be okay with thin files and the prequals tend to be solid. Also, you might check out Discover prequals. Both of those are excellent cards that are good for thin files. Your scores are good and you don’t have a ton of inquiries, so I don’t see a problem with either of those. Check the prequals first though. Good luck!

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Really? I don't have too many inquiries? Ha! I was honestly going to make myself wait until 2021. I've been "prequalified" on Amex's site for the Everyday Credit, Blue Cash Everyday and the Cash Magnet card since November of 2018 but was skeptical then too. I've tried similar prequalified offers from Discover, Citi, Chase, BB&T; to which all came back with no offers. My income is $86k after taxes with an additional $2.4k non taxed earnings. 

[Anonymous]

I second the Amex suggestion but the lack of an offer from Disco quite frankly shocks me!

If you have military affiliation in your family, you would be a prime candidate for a great card from Navy Federal.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I second the Amex suggestion but the lack of an offer from Disco quite frankly shocks me!

If you have military affiliation in your family, you would be a prime candidate for a great card from Navy Federal.

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Thank you for your interest in Discover®. Unfortunately, at this time we are not able to provide you an offer due to the following:

TIME YOUR MOST RECENT DISCOVER CARD ACCOUNT HAS BEEN OPEN

Type of credit score FICO
Your credit score 737
Date May 19, 2019
Scores range from a low of 300 to a high of 850
Key factors that affected your credit score were as follows:
LENGTH OF TIME ACCOUNTS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED
PROPORTION OF LOAN BALANCES TO LOAN AMOUNTS IS TOO HIGH
LENGTH OF TIME REVOLVING ACCOUNTS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED
% OF BALANCE TO HIGH CREDIT ON BANKING REVOLVING OR ALL REVOLVING ACCT
NUMBER OF INQUIRIES ON CREDIT BUREAU

[Anonymous]

Yeah you will probably need to wait for Discover to unsecure. I am actually not aware of the procedure with those, I never had a secured card.

Amex would be a good choice. They are thin file friendly - you just need to pick the card that makes the most sense for your spend. The Cash Magnet and Blue Cash EveryDay are the two I would recommend looking at — the Cash Magnet edges out the BCE imo.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yeah you will probably need to wait for Discover to unsecure. I am actually not aware of the procedure with those, I never had a secured card.

Amex would be a good choice. They are thin file friendly - you just need to pick the card that makes the most sense for your spend. The Cash Magnet and Blue Cash EveryDay are the two I would recommend looking at — the Cash Magnet edges out the BCE imo.

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If my welcome bonus for the Cash Magnet has increased from $150 to $200 is that indicative of my liklieness of being approved, or is that an updated offer for everyone?

[Anonymous]

It looks like they’re just increasing offers. The BCP has a $300 SUB offer for me now, even when I’m not incognito whereas I had to use a referral link in incognito the other day to get that same offer and I see the $200 as well.

Your file is just thick enough to get in with Amex, I would jump on it before the SUB goes down again (I can’t help but notice the “this offer may not be available if you leave this page” verbiage).

[KJinNC]

I wonder if having a Discover secured card interferes with getting a Discover unsecured card. But, eh, why not just wait a few months for the secured card to unsecure?

If I were you, I would try Amex prequalification today, and apply if it says I'm prequalified, for whichever card fits your goals better.

Your number of hard inquiries is not a significant problem, IMO. It might be for picky lenders like Chase, but for most stuff, you're definitely not in the red zone. (I have 11 hard inquiries on Equifax.)

Good luck!

[pinkandgrey]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yeah you will probably need to wait for Discover to unsecure. I am actually not aware of the procedure with those, I never had a secured card.

Amex would be a good choice. They are thin file friendly - you just need to pick the card that makes the most sense for your spend. The Cash Magnet and Blue Cash EveryDay are the two I would recommend looking at — the Cash Magnet edges out the BCE imo.

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If my welcome bonus for the Cash Magnet has increased from $150 to $200 is that indicative of my liklieness of being approved, or is that an updated offer for everyone?

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Definitely go for the Amex! Sounds like a good offer. Even if you get a lower SL, it will grow in no time.