@addicted_to_credit wrote:Thank you, @leilaniS, he's excited about it and I'm pretty nervous. I'm not so sure most 19 year olds need a 2k limit. I hope he doesn't mess up. Amex is a great one to get in with. I hope you find what fits you best and you get it!
so would this a bad time to tell him that he could ask for 3x CLI in 62 days? 
@Anonymous wrote:Also, the underwriting on the Reserve is the same as for the Delta Gold and the Hilton/Marriott cards. The cobranded cards form one tier of Amex cards. Middle tier is charge cards (Green/Gold/Platinum), and upper tier is core revolvers (EDs, BCs, CM). Qualify for one card in a tier and odds are you're good with any of them in that tier.
I don't know about the Marriott. I've never seen one with a $1k limit. It might be easier to get than a core revolver, but I don't think it's on the same level as the other co-branded cards.
Amex was very generous w/ my thin profile. Gave me a 5k SL on my Surpass. 3x that to 15k. Applied for Aspire a few months later but they only gave me 3k. Recently applied for the no AF Everyday card and was approved for 2k. Makes sense because I'm still very new to them.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Also, the underwriting on the Reserve is the same as for the Delta Gold and the Hilton/Marriott cards. The cobranded cards form one tier of Amex cards. Middle tier is charge cards (Green/Gold/Platinum), and upper tier is core revolvers (EDs, BCs, CM). Qualify for one card in a tier and odds are you're good with any of them in that tier.
I don't know about the Marriott. I've never seen one with a $1k limit. It might be easier to get than a core revolver, but I don't think it's on the same level as the other co-branded cards.
Definitely won't see a $1k limit on that card with a $450 AF - it'd be minimum $1800 (likely rounded to $2k) due to the AF being able to be 25% of the CL at most. But that doesn't mean the underwriting criteria is any tougher than the HH/Delta cards in terms of qualifying for it. I would suppose it might be marginally higher since amex couldn't give someone a toy limit on it, but anecdotally it seems to be more in line with the other cobranded cards than the higher tiers in their lineup. Obviously I don't know for sure but it doesn't make a lot of sense to position one cobrand higher than all the others. They'd likely take a flyer on someone for a little more CL in exchange for that fat AF.
But, that's kind of my point. Requiring a minimum starting limit because of the AF, changes the qualifications. It puts it out of reach of rebuilders, people who have burned amex in the past, and people with super thin files. If you apply that logic to the Delta reserve, that means it doesn't have the same underwriting as the other 3 deltas.
@addicted_to_credit wrote:Thank you, @leilaniS, he's excited about it and I'm pretty nervous. I'm not so sure most 19 year olds need a 2k limit. I hope he doesn't mess up. Amex is a great one to get in with. I hope you find what fits you best and you get it!
Amex is usually very good to new profiles. I know they gave me a card at that age more or less. If you think 2k is scary, wait til your son gets his 2nd NFCU card
. Im calling 15k right now! Mark it
AJC, bet! 😬
tbh i would wait for the EXP to surpass 700 and wait for the prequal to show a core revolver, last thing you want is a 1 or 2k SL thats hard to grow but show a higher score and you are already out of that nest (its what i did!), i was eager for my first amex and when i received prequals i actually waited for a 1% uti report to first update THEN i went for the app.. but thats just me over doing it
DP on Cash Magnet Approval Nov 2019 (4k).
EXP 712
INQ 15
1% UTI
EXACTLY 1 year history on approval
no loans
no derogs (obv 
)
Jan 2020 AMEX 3x CLI DP (card received around 38k in spend since Nov)
702 FICO
1% aggreg. report
4k->12k
Hope dp's help, best wishes in whatever you decide