Amex Delta Reserve Denial low credit card limit

[MBCLA]

You're right!  I've been stuck in my ways since they've always worked well for me in the past, but in these modern financial times, if you want the benefits of a higher end charge or credit card, you gotta Play Ball!!  In baseball metaphor, you can't hit home runs while sitting on in the bench.   Doesn't mean I'm going to run out and get all crazy kinds of debt and apply for various cards, but I get your point. 

[MBCLA]

Loved you post!

That's exactly what I was thinking to do if I return to Reapply to AMEX. Go for Gold with the 70k points.  I have bank relationships for ordinarily things, but my card is with CU. And they offered to issue a new card with cli but I would  have to close the existing account.  I politely declined.  My $1500 card worked well  over the years with reservations for rental cars and hotels.  I'm Emerald with Enterprise and Platinum with Marriott, so I guess that helps. 

I didn't have to have AMEX but was thinking I needed another card and AMEX fit the bill with my high spending habits and I pay everything out of pocket anyway and didn't carry debt.  But it was the points that motivated me to apply. And your recommendation of getting the 70k with Gold was really the logical choice.  I was looking at the 100k Delta Skymiles eye candy/marketing scheme with Delta's limited time offer (wink) and ignore the more rational choice of Gold.  After all, 70k points is better than 0 points!  It'll be a few months before I reapply with AMEX as I've got a certain British sports car arriving in January 2025 that I ordered  and I'll be dealing with that first.   My goal is to accumulate 1M Delta Skymiles to have available. Yes I do travel that much. 

Thanks for your advice. I think it was the rational choice and I appreciate the words of wisdom.  

[sjt]

How long have you had the credit card for? Can you request a CLI?

[FicoMike0]

In envious, I've always wanted an Aston Martin.

[MBCLA]

It's been  about 5 years that I've had the same card with the $1500 limit with about .03 utilization max.  Yes, I can request an cli but they wanted to close this account and reopen a new account.  I didn't want to do that... I wanted to keep it open because I wanted to show longer history on the cc account. Don't currently plan to ever close the account.  I'll just get another card with a higher CL instead.  

[MBCLA]

They are great cars for sure!!

[NAVYCHOP]

Another option might be obtaining the AMEX charge card with a SUB, even if only a green card and giving that card some spend.  Since I always pay in full, I love the charge cards because high spend one month does not adversely affect my FICO scores like high credit utilization on a normal charge card does.  You can also move the membership rewards points into Sky Miles, although I prefer moving them to Virgin Atlantic or Air France/KLM, as a foreign carrier round trip business class award ticket can still be had for 150k or less while I expect Delta to want about 500k.  Once you have built up some spend on the charge card, it would be easy to apply for the Delta Reserve Card.  AMEX won't do a hard pull on the reserve card application if you are an established customer with a charge card.

I personally have the Platinum card but also maintain the Delta Reserve along with my million miler status to help me with upgrade priority.  Like you, the lounge access does not matter to me.  In my case, I bought a lifetime World Club now Sky Club membership when I was a college student 35 years ago.  In your case, if you are not interested in the Delta lounge access or Priority Pass through the Platinum card, you might find the Gold card a

good fit with with the 3x restaurant point bonus.  Even with the Reserve card, I often put airline ticket charges on the Platinum as it yields 5x rewards points per dollar compared to only 3x with the Reserve status.  Since I have a multi million miler status, I don't care about whether I collect MQDs.

[MBCLA]

Thank you for the detailed insight—this is incredibly helpful! I agree that an AMEX charge card, especially with a welcome bonus (SUB), could be a smart option. As a million miler and high end traveler , I think you understand my situation clearly.  

I'll pursue the Gold Card or Platinum option later next year.  And, your insight in mileage usage with Air France/KLM/VA is excellent advice as well ( I'm already a Flying Blue member).  I haven't looked into World Club membership. Thanks for the tip, I'll look into that too as Personal Suites only have limited locations for now.  

I mostly wanted to bring attention to Amex applicants that AMEX considers ones existing credit card limits for new applicants since  that was news to me and I hadn't seen it discussed on the forum before. 

Again, I will follow your excellent advice and recommendations.  Many thanks!!

[MBCLA]

I reapplied for the AMEX Platinum and was approved NCL.   I have the same credit limit on my only credit card from my CU as last year.... The reason for Delta Reserve denial was low credit availability on existing card.  Although it's been a year later and my FICO 8 bumped up a little at EQ 850  TU803 and EX835 this go around which may have made the difference for them to overlook my limited $1500 CL on the CU card.    I'm not sure I'll reapply for Delta

Reserve.    Don't see any additional advantages over the AMEXPlatinum. 

[Zoostation1]

@Berk My dad is almost 79 and when I was a kid tended to use cards sparingly, mostly for special financing offers and only occasional purchases.  He's always maintained very good to excellent credit, but unlike your example or the OP, he started using CCs more as he got older and became a convert to using credit cards for a majority of his spend (I'd estimate 80% of his not mortgage or utility spend) and pushed me to start rebuilding and using credit cards in place of debit for both security and rewards purposes.