Today I applied for the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred account and my application was denied. I am an existing AMEX cutomer with two cards already, the Everyday Preferred card and the Gold card, both with zero balances and well established payment history and usage (2 years +). When I called the reconsideration line the man I spoke to was not only incredibly rude, but he informed me that even though I applied for the card - "AMEX does not do a hard pull for existing customer applications". Does this sound right? According to the rep, AMEX "regularly pulls my credit report and will use the continued soft inquiry data to make your credit decisions, as we do not want to create a hard pull for existing customers." I explained that my score had recently increased over 45 points in the last two weeks, as I have paid off a number of balances and loans - and that he had my permission to do a hard pull if necessary - to which he very indignantly declined. He explained that all he could do was flag it for reconsideration and the team responsible would revisit my credit - and possibly hp my credit - but there is no certainty.
Customer service experience aside, this seemed rather strange to me. Has anyone else had a similar experience with American Express? Do you believe they will do a HP to update my credit profile? I am willing to take the HP, as I am hoping to use that same pull to request a CLI on my other account when this is all said and done. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.
 Starting Score: 640Current Score: 705 Goal Score: 750 Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge | Current Cards (03/2021): Golden One Platinum Rewards - $3,000 Discover IT - $1,000 Chevron/Texaco Advantage - $1,600 Apple Card - $1,500 American Express Everyday - $2,000 American Express Gold - NPSL |
I was recently denied for an Amex Platinum card. When I called in to have my application reconsidered I asked if it would be a hard pull because I didn't want one. I was told that in order to reconsider my application they would have to pull my credit. If you let them pass your application on to be reconsidered they should do a hard pull.
FYI, when you apply for new Amex cards and limit increases it will usually be a soft pull. The soft pull will usually be 1 or 2 months old. If you log in to your Amex account you can view your Fico score. It'll have a date with it too. That's the score they have used for me whenever I apply. Right now mine shows 3/4/21. Try to check this before your applications and credit limit increase requests, that way you'll know before applying what they will see.
@Cpmcmxc wrote:
@Jordan23ww wrote:I was recently denied for an Amex Platinum card. When I called in to have my application reconsidered I asked if it would be a hard pull because I didn't want one. I was told that in order to reconsider my application they would have to pull my credit. If you let them pass your application on to be reconsidered they should do a hard pull.
FYI, when you apply for new Amex cards and limit increases it will usually be a soft pull. The soft pull will usually be 1 or 2 months old. If you log in to your Amex account you can view your Fico score. It'll have a date with it too. That's the score they have used for me whenever I apply. Right now mine shows 3/4/21. Try to check this before your applications and credit limit increase requests, that way you'll know before applying what they will see.
Thank you, that's some great insight into what I can expect going forward. I always just assumed it would be live data, like what I currently see in the app. I am working on consolidating my cards right now, so I have less cards but higher limits based on what I actually use - so AMEX is my big contender right now, since my Everyday Preferred still hasn't gone through the 3x the limit increase yet - which is what I am really hoping for. Thanks again for your help and insight.
You're welcome, happy to help! I first learned about the delayed report being used last year when I went for a limit increase on my Blue Cash Preferred. I had gotten a score boost from 706 to 736 and when I asked for a limit increase they denied it.
The reason for denial was my Fico score was too low. The score used was 706. That's when I started searching on here and learned that Amex has used reports as old as 2 months for soft pulls. I thought it would be a live score. I had even waited a few weeks from the score update when I asked.
Thankfully I eventually got the limit increase, I just waited 3 months and tried again. My score showing was 736 when I got it.
@Cpmcmxc wrote:
@Jordan23ww wrote:
@Cpmcmxc wrote:
@Jordan23ww wrote:I was recently denied for an Amex Platinum card. When I called in to have my application reconsidered I asked if it would be a hard pull because I didn't want one. I was told that in order to reconsider my application they would have to pull my credit. If you let them pass your application on to be reconsidered they should do a hard pull.
FYI, when you apply for new Amex cards and limit increases it will usually be a soft pull. The soft pull will usually be 1 or 2 months old. If you log in to your Amex account you can view your Fico score. It'll have a date with it too. That's the score they have used for me whenever I apply. Right now mine shows 3/4/21. Try to check this before your applications and credit limit increase requests, that way you'll know before applying what they will see.
Thank you, that's some great insight into what I can expect going forward. I always just assumed it would be live data, like what I currently see in the app. I am working on consolidating my cards right now, so I have less cards but higher limits based on what I actually use - so AMEX is my big contender right now, since my Everyday Preferred still hasn't gone through the 3x the limit increase yet - which is what I am really hoping for. Thanks again for your help and insight.
You're welcome, happy to help! I first learned about the delayed report being used last year when I went for a limit increase on my Blue Cash Preferred. I had gotten a score boost from 706 to 736 and when I asked for a limit increase they denied it.
The reason for denial was my Fico score was too low. The score used was 706. That's when I started searching on here and learned that Amex has used reports as old as 2 months for soft pulls. I thought it would be a live score. I had even waited a few weeks from the score update when I asked.
Thankfully I eventually got the limit increase, I just waited 3 months and tried again. My score showing was 736 when I got it.
That's definitely good to know. Had I known, or researched just a little bit harder frankly, I would have just waited for my Fico score to update before applying. I just looked in the AMEX app now and it looks like they're using my score from March 3rd (680) - which is right before my score had that significant uptick (715). I'll probably wait till next month to see where my score is at and then apply for the CLI, then possibly apply for the BCP after my 90-day window (assuming I am denied if the reconsideration line doesn't run a HP on my credit report).
Thanks again for all your help!
You're welcome! Best wishes to you when you go for those!
