Go to the soon to be defunct shopping malls.
Women's clothing at the main entrance of Macys and Nordstrom. As well as their cosmetics and jewelry I might add.
Men's clothes in the far back corners of the store.
Women control finances. They shop for their husband's clothes. Stop acting like you don't know.
Sparkle Bunny approves this message. He thinks some other poster spiked his champagne.
@Shadowfactor wrote:
I would try the prequalified site before applying again.
Amex recons don’t usually have positive results and it’s another HP.
Get your Util down and work on attacking any negative items you have on your reports.
Pay down the cards you have, try to work on PFD on any negatives and then reapply.
I believe it’s 30 days since a denial for any credit product with Amex. The 90 days is for CLI denials, not new cards
I believe you are correct on the 30 days, but Amex seems to have a moving rule on the CLI denial. In most cases you can go right back in a day later and request a increase, as long as it's on the same card.
I think it depends on the on the way you request a CLI. I wonder if my reallocation was considered a limit increase?
I was denied a reallocation and received two different letters.
One stated I cant reallocate but one card in a 30 day period.
The other was a denial for CLI. It stated 90 days between.I believe this is because I had already performed one reallocation. And tried to do it with some other Amex cards.
Amex is all over the map with these rules and very confusing at times.
It was the first time I have ever seen a 90 day denial CLI from Amex.
OP, I wouldn't worry about applying again until you get your EX score up to at least a 675.
Anything below that is a shot in the dark. The higher the better with those guys. And as soon as your utilization comes down. Once reported to the credit bureaus, which normally lags by a month. Your scores will rise.
@CreditInspired wrote:
Welcome OP to MyFICO
Ditto on everyone else’s suggestions.
One thing that caught my eye was that you said you would use AmX as your daily driver instead of your debit card. IMHO, that is telling me if you were fortunate enough to get approved on recon, you would run up the AmX and then you would have accumulated additional debt.
Keep in mind that if you were approved on recon, which yes I also believe is slim, the CL would probably be a stingy $1K. Another reason to reduce your utilization.
Yes, really work on AZEO (all card at zero except one), and that one card at less than 9%.
This is my old standby and keeps me in check:
“A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don’t need it.” ~Bob Hope.
The first time I read this quote was when my utilization was high. I had never heard it before, but it rings sooooo true.
So once you get that utilization way, way down, the preapprovals will come knocking at your door.
And I love your sense of humor!
You can do it!
Haha, thanks 
Glad someone appreciates it. Usually I get "shut up Jesse, go away". 
> Yes, really work on AZEO (all card at zero except one), and that one card at less than 9%.
this is the goal. Mostly. Amex as a daily driver that gets paid down once a month, so I can more easily manage my spending and expenses.
My higher limit revolving Cap1 for the occasional big purchase (like that rackmount Kemper I've had my eye on...) with a goal of using no more than 30% at any given time and giving myself a hard 3month limit to pay everything off.
Everything else at 0. Closing out my 3 sub-prime cards I got back when I was in the low 500's and just starting to build my credit.
I've got the income to do it. I'm implementing my plan. Goal is to live really lean all of august, and have my debt down from 12k to 1k total by the end of august (not including my car loan, that'll simply take time. Can't exactly drop 20k in a single month yet. I'm doing good, but not THAT good, heh.)
Give it until the middle of October for the reports to refresh, and then I should, if I've got everything right, see a gnarly jump in my score.
Then maybe reconsider apping for the Amex, and call it a day for a few years on applications.
I don't need any more cards right now. That's what got me into this mess. I almost had everything paid off in January, but then my employer went under and I got laid off. Thankfully I'm making twice what I made there now, so I can build a savings safety net while still paying down aggessively.
> “A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don’t need it.” ~Bob Hope.
That's a really good quote. And so true.
> Keep in mind that if you were approved on recon, which yes I also believe is slim, the CL would probably be a stingy $1K.
Oh I'm well aware. And perfectly fine with that. Outside of rent, CC payments, and my car note, my spending isn't exactly high on a regular basis. If they give me anything, I'll be pretty freakin stoked.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I had close to 200k income and 700 FICO score when I got both of my Amex revolvers and I got 1k starting limits on both. And 1 percent utilization. I think they don't like derogatory stuff. A year later with my Experian FICO at 739 they are only up to 5k and 2k.
I heard they're really stingy with the revolver limits though.
I'm hoping my chances will be better with the lowest publicly available charge card.
Honestly, with as much as work has me traveling, the Platinum would have been genuinely useful and I wouldn't have minded the annual fee, but I thought there was no way in hell they'd actually give me the platinum, even if it made them more money off me to begin with.
So, fingers crossed for a Green charge.
If this is the case, then a denial on the Green might have been a blessing in disguise. 
The underwriting on the Green, Gold (PRG) and Platinum charge cards is thought to be very similar, if not identical. Keep in mind the color of the card isn't an indicator of what you can spend, it only denotes the AF you pay and the benefits attatched to the card. Remember, Warren Buffet carries a Green card.
If your recon doesn't work out, once your utilization is better (which will improve your scores) you'll probably have a good chance of getting the Platinum, which might be a better fit for you than the Green, anyway.
@UncleB wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I had close to 200k income and 700 FICO score when I got both of my Amex revolvers and I got 1k starting limits on both. And 1 percent utilization. I think they don't like derogatory stuff. A year later with my Experian FICO at 739 they are only up to 5k and 2k.
I heard they're really stingy with the revolver limits though.
I'm hoping my chances will be better with the lowest publicly available charge card.
Honestly, with as much as work has me traveling, the Platinum would have been genuinely useful and I wouldn't have minded the annual fee, but I thought there was no way in hell they'd actually give me the platinum, even if it made them more money off me to begin with.
So, fingers crossed for a Green charge.If this is the case, then a denial on the Green might have been a blessing in disguise.
The underwriting on the Green, Gold (PRG) and Platinum charge cards is thought to be very similar, if not identical. Keep in mind the color of the card isn't an indicator of what you can spend, it only denotes the AF you pay and the benefits attatched to the card. Remember, Warren Buffet carries a Green card.
If your recon doesn't work out, once your utilization is better (which will improve your scores) you'll probably have a good chance of getting the Platinum, which might be a better fit for you than the Green, anyway.
It very well might be, but I'd still prefer to get my foot in the door now vs September.
I just finally made up a budget for myself and will have all my CC debt and my two negative remarks (medical collection that my insurance was supposed to pony up for but has been fighting me for 3 years on, and a utility bill for a service I cancelled after a single day because they lied to get me to become a customer in the first place...and then billed me for 2 months claiming I didn't close the account, which I've disputed but to no luck...) completely paid down, with a nice chunk of change left to stuff in savings and my brokerage account.
The payoffs should reflect by middle of August when most of my cards report, and the debts by the end of the month.
Ideally, by the end of September, Amex will see all this and go "oh hey she's not so bad after all", but if I can get a card now, and prove to them interally over the next 2 months (on top of the nice boost my score will see) that I'm actually responsible, I'm hoping it'll lead to some significantly better pre-approvals and offers shortly thereafter.
> The underwriting on the Green, Gold (PRG) and Platinum charge cards is thought to be very similar, if not identical.
Well if I'd known that, I would have just gone straight for the Platinum, heh.
> If your recon doesn't work out, once your utilization is better (which will improve your scores) you'll probably have a good chance of getting the Platinum, which might be a better fit for you than the Green, anyway.
Here's hoping! I should know by lunch today (10 hours or so) if I get the boot or I get in the door.
Fingers crossed. If not, I'll take that HP hit, and continue to execute on my plan to be (mostly) debt-free by end of August.