American Express Pre Qualified, then they denied? AMEX

[BigOrange]

I used the AMEX pre qualifier page and it said 

Good News, You are successfully Pre-Qualified for the following Card offers, exclusively available on americanexpress.com. It showed the

Green/Gold card. (yes, I know these suck)

So I filled out the information and then they rejected the application stating I had a past closed account. It's cleared off all my credit reports and was like 8 years ago. 

Interestingly, they did not do a credit check, but said if I wanted to, I could request a manual review and they would do a hard credit inquiry. Any feedback? 

I was able to get Discover 9500 CL  and Capital One.

What's the point in the pre qualify tool? 

[FinStar]

You mentioned the "past closed account/no credit check" reference which I'm assuming that you had an unsatisfactory relationship with AMEX?

It's worth noting that just because it's not displaying or being currently reported on your CRs that an institution doesn't keep internal records. And, AMEX has a very long memory.

Did you IIB or have any charged-off accounts with AMEX?

[BigOrange]

They were included in Bankruptcy, but why do they tell people they are pre qualified? 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the "Unofficial" AMEX blacklist.  It doesn't exist, but you can't get approved for an undetermined period of time and it has something to do with the fact that you had a previous relationship that was included in a bankruptcy or was charged off.  Unofficially others in this situation have reported 7 to 10+ years of being unable to obtain an approval.

Sometimes becoming an AU on a family member's card makes a difference (if you can get approved for that).

Edit: Added the quotations to Unofficial and the + after 10.

[FinStar]

Ok, that makes sense as far as bypassing the HP. If AMEX was IIB, it's likely you'll remain on their blacklist for a very, very long time. Some folks have reported being on that list for 20+ years.

It appears the pre-qualification portal may run separately from their internal database cross-checks on the surface. It's not until the application is submitted where it performs a "deeper" dive which yields these results, hence no HP.

[Anonymous]

At least they don't burn a HP and THEN deny you.  Little solace I know, but it's something.

[BigOrange]

Very true!