Amex Approval Chances

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone, 

I am new to the forum and would like to know what some of your personal experiences are when applying for AMEX Gold. I have been "building" my credit for the past couple of years. Just over 2 years ago I made a 30 day late payment on a card but have been on-time ever since then and am perfect on all other accounts. My oldest account is 9 years old and the average age is 3.5 years. I just paid off all of my cards in one go which will be dropping my utilization to roughly 0% from 80%. I will be waiting until the low utilzation reports to apply for anything new.

Income: $72,000

Inquiries: Experian (6) 2 in 12 months (1 cc). TU (2), EQ (4)

FICO as of 3/02: EX: 660  EQ: 670  TU: 678 

I am expecting my scores to rise significantly with all bureaus once the low balances report. 

The real question is, does AMEX view late payments beyond 2 years as a negative and are they inquiry sensitive within 12 months. 

Thanks!

Update: Was prequalified and ended up applying without the new utilization reported. Pulled from TU and was instantly approved.

[bigseegar]

All you have to do is try the Prequalification on the Amex site for the Gold. It's not guaranteed but it is pretty solid. They normally pull EXP and for the PreQ it's a SP only. If you proceed then it becomes a HP as well.

As to late payments Yes Amex is very sensitive to those. Two years out may or may not effect approval. As to INQ they don't seem to be overly sensitive, unless of course your number is absurd lol. But again with any Amex product the PreQ is the way to find out.

[SouthernCredit]

Definitely do the prequal. My profile was similar to yours (minus the late) when I was approved for the Blue Cash Everyday. When I accepted that, I had prequals for that, Everyday, Green, and Gold. I took the Blue Cash at that point because it fit my spend better at the time. Gold is one of my prime drivers now, though. 

[Anonymous]

I will be doing the preqaul most likely next month when the new balances report! Thanks!

[KLEXH25]

There is a scoring penalty for having all CC accounts wth a $0 balance. So if you want the highest scores possible before applying, make sure at least one of your cards reports a small balance ($10-$20 is fine).

[Anonymous]

I picked up an Amex Blue with a $1,000 limit yesterday with an Experian Score of 718. I'm not sure what they pull from or what my other scores are. I agree with using the pre-approval or pre-qualify tool Amex offers so you don't waste a hard hit. Best of luck!

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello Everyone, 

I am new to the forum and would like to know what some of your personal experiences are when applying for AMEX Gold. I have been "building" my credit for the past couple of years. Just over 2 years ago I made a 30 day late payment on a card but have been on-time ever since then and am perfect on all other accounts. My oldest account is 9 years old and the average age is 3.5 years. I just paid off all of my cards in one go which will be dropping my utilization to roughly 0% from 80%. I will be waiting until the low utilzation reports to apply for anything new.

Income: $72,000

Inquiries: Experian (6) 2 in 12 months (1 cc). TU (2), EQ (4)

FICO as of 3/02: EX: 660  EQ: 670  TU: 678 

I am expecting my scores to rise significantly with all bureaus once the low balances report. 

The real question is, does AMEX view late payments beyond 2 years as a negative and are they inquiry sensitive within 12 months. 

Thanks!

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1.  Make sure at least one of the accounts reports a small balance before you pay it off.

2.  Once everything reports, you'll be good to go. 

3.  I wouldn't wait for prequalification.

BTW The Amex charge cards are not that hard to get.

[jcooks]

I accidentally let all revolvers report $0, only balance showing is on my Amex Gold and a car loa.  Having 0% utlization cost me 19 pts fico on exp.  When I realized that I paid off my card that I normally let keep a small balance for reporting, I attempted to make a small charge, but it didn't work.  That card closes on Monday, so I expect to see those points come back when that card reports.

[EAJuggalo]

I got my Gold with very similar scores to you in 2019.  I agree with doing the pre-qual, and know that if you see a pre-qual for any of the charge cards it's a good sign that you'd be approved for whatever one you want.  For a long time they would only show the pre-qual for the Plat although they were qualified for any of them.

[Rex95]

When I was approved for my Gold last Fall, my income was a little less than than yours, and I had more late payments than you, however mine were all over 5 years old. I agree with others - use the prequalification tool first. It's not a hard pull, and most people agree that they are pretty solid.

Regardless of whether you check pre-quals on their website, I think you're good to go. My Gold card was my first AMEX, and my pay over time limit is $15k, although I never carry a balance on that card.

Definitely wait for your utilization to drop. It will only increase your odds. I got in with 80% utilization still reporting on one card, but my DTI is very low and that's probably why they approved me. I don't recommend doing that, though.