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Any ideas why I was denied for the BCE but approved for both the Delta Gold SkyMiles and Green Card? My BCE was denied for lack of revolving accounts, inquiries in 12 months, and lack of spend on existing cards. It seems Amex only approved mine because they can charge an annual fee in a year. Sound right or maybe something else is going on?
No one knows what is in their score algorithms. Maybe AF cards are easier to get - not something I have ever seen myself. I don't see anything that would qualify as "discrimination".
The underwriting criteria is different across all of their cards.
Amex core revolvers are normally the strictest underwriting.
Delta is one of the easiest amex cards to get, most likely followed by the charge cards as they are lower risk since they require PIF.
Normally Co-branded credit cards are easier to obtain since the co-branding companies want more access to their cards
I don't think it's "discrimination" I think it's more so that some cards are harder to get than others. This is true with most lenders; and with AMEX, their revolvers have always been harder to get than their charge cards; but hey, at least you got some approvals out of it
I doubt theres discrimination going on. I got the BCE with a 5 yr old BK, and 6 IIB negs acts, 20+ new acts over the two 2years, and 100 inq, and EXP score of 662. For whatever reason, they don't like your credit profile. Like others said, The BCE is a core card, and much stricter UW.
I would just use the current cards you have with them, and try again in 6 months after you've built up your internal score better with them. The outcome might be more positive.
Nice clickbait OP.
Reasons given on declines are very often not the true reasons, hundreds of datapoints are examined and garbage reasons like "too many inq" are spit out. They extended you some credit and don't want to extend you more ATM, something about your profile is holding you back with Amex. Follow all the usual rules and you'll have the BCE in the future.
P.S. - I was just denied a PRG which is an AF card, after being approved for ED and BCE each with 10+k limits with no AF a month ago. I'm being AF "discriminated" against too, just opposite of you. Also, if you got the Delta gold, you would have qualified for Delta blue, which is a no AF card so I don't think it's an AF thing.
Did you apply for the BCE first or last? If it was the third card you applied for, then I don't see why you wouldn't be declined because you've opened a lot of Amex cards recently.
Also, make sure you're reading the correct part of the denial letter (if you're doing so online).
It's formatted so terribly that you might be mistakenly reading the part that says "Factors that contributed to your FICO score..."
I did the same thing with my denial letter once, but after re-reading it a couple times, I noticed that I skipped the actual denial reason, which was "The length of time you have been a customer with American Express is not long enough."
Regardless of all this, Amex couldn't really care less about whether you're paying an AF or not, most of their revenue comes from interest and swipe fees for merchants. I wouldn't call it discrimination at all. Could just be that you didn't meet the requirements for the BCE, but you did for the other two.
@Anonymous wrote:
I applied for the BCE first so the other two apps had nothing to do with it. I agree the formatting is awful but I was careful to read the correct part. It definitely seems that on non core cards, AMEX isn’t very inquiry sensitive though.
I'd definitely recommend checking if you're pre-qualified next time you decide to apply for a card from Amex.
As long as you've signed in and accessed the pre-filled application, you'll see one of two things at the top:
"X, you are pre-approved!" - Almost guaranteed to be approved
"Applying to expand your membership with us is easy, X" - Almost guaranteed to be declined
Again, every card from Amex has different criteria for being approved. Just a week ago before I applied for the Gold Skymiles card, I was pre-approved for all Delta cards and Amex charge cards, but none of the other revolvers. Pre-approved for SPG, but not Hilton Ascend. All depends on the card.
Good luck in the future, though!