Amex Gold Denied - DP

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I just finished my first year with my Discover IT card, and am looking for a new daily driver. I was trying to decide between getting into the Chase ecosystem or Amex, and settled on the Amex Gold, as my monthly card spend is largely dining and grocery-driven and it seemed like the best point return for me. I've been checking for prequalification offers, and have had them on many of their cards, but usually none of the charge cards. My Discover statement reported this weekend, which corrected some slightly high usage that I had been carrying, and prequalified offers finally showed up for all three charge cards.

Excited, I applied for the Gold... and was promptly denied. I tried the customer service line for recon, but ended up getting the schpiel that I've seen mentioned a few times on this board - i.e. that they aren't able to do reconsideration due to COVID restrictions. It's disappointing, but I know "prequalified!" offers aren't necessarily a guarantee of an approval. I did make the mistake of applying for the CFF and Amex BCP soon after my oldest account hit one year and was denied for those, so I had two inquiries on my account that didn't result in corresponding new accounts getting opened.

My stats:

Current cards:

- Capital One Platinum (secured), opened 9/19 - $500 limit, $0 balance

- Discover IT, opened 2/20 - $3750 limit, $182 balance

- Capital One Quicksilver, opened 3/20 - $1000 limit, $0 balance

Overall credit usage: 3%

Experian score: 726 (I dont have current Equifax/Transunion, as my access to those scores predates the usage % update, but Equifax was what Amex pulled and the 726 was the number they used.)

Annual income: $47,500

Inquiries: 5 (one for each open account, plus the aforementioned two denials in October 2020)

Reasons Amex provided for denial:

Too many recent bank card inquiries without corresponding new accounts opened. (Experian)

The average credit limit on all your credit card accounts is too low (Experian)

The length of time is too short since the first account on your credit report was opened. (Experian)

In our estimation, the amount you have paid on your bank and retail credit card accounts over the last twelve months is too low. (Experian)

I know it's not the end of the world, I'm just a bit disappointed, as I really wanted to get going with a more useful long-term setup to start earning points rewards. According to my app, I put roughly $19k through my Discover over the past year, so I'm not really in a position to increase that too much going forward. My (previously established) twitchy trigger finger is making me want to apply for a different card, but I have a feeling the right move here is to sit tight, use my Quicksilver as my daily driver for any category that falls outside the Discover 5%, and try again down the road when some of the inquiries have fallen off. If anyone has advice, though, I'm all ears.

[Remedios]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

I just finished my first year with my Discover IT card, and am looking for a new daily driver. I was trying to decide between getting into the Chase ecosystem or Amex, and settled on the Amex Gold, as my monthly card spend is largely dining and grocery-driven and it seemed like the best point return for me. I've been checking for prequalification offers, and have had them on many of their cards, but usually none of the charge cards. My Discover statement reported this weekend, which corrected some slightly high usage that I had been carrying, and prequalified offers finally showed up for all three charge cards.

Excited, I applied for the Gold... and was promptly denied. I tried the customer service line for recon, but ended up getting the schpiel that I've seen mentioned a few times on this board - i.e. that they aren't able to do reconsideration due to COVID restrictions. It's disappointing, but I know "prequalified!" offers aren't necessarily a guarantee of an approval. I did make the mistake of applying for the CFF and Amex BCP soon after my oldest account hit one year and was denied for those, so I had two inquiries on my account that didn't result in corresponding new accounts getting opened.

My stats:

Current cards:

- Capital One Platinum (secured), opened 9/19 - $500 limit, $0 balance

- Discover IT, opened 2/20 - $3750 limit, $182 balance

- Capital One Quicksilver, opened 3/20 - $1000 limit, $0 balance

Overall credit usage: 3%

Experian score: 726 (I dont have current Equifax/Transunion, as my access to those scores predates the usage % update, but Equifax was what Amex pulled and the 726 was the number they used.)

Annual income: $47,500

Inquiries: 5 (one for each open account, plus the aforementioned two denials in October 2020)

Reasons Amex provided for denial:

Too many recent bank card inquiries without corresponding new accounts opened. (Experian)

The average credit limit on all your credit card accounts is too low (Experian)

The length of time is too short since the first account on your credit report was opened. (Experian)

In our estimation, the amount you have paid on your bank and retail credit card accounts over the last twelve months is too low. (Experian)

I know it's not the end of the world, I'm just a bit disappointed, as I really wanted to get going with a more useful long-term setup to start earning points rewards. According to my app, I put roughly $19k through my Discover over the past year, so I'm not really in a position to increase that too much going forward. My (previously established) twitchy trigger finger is making me want to apply for a different card, but I have a feeling the right move here is to sit tight, use my Quicksilver as my daily driver for any category that falls outside the Discover 5%, and try again down the road when some of the inquiries have fallen off. If anyone has advice, though, I'm all ears.

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I think you answered your own question.

In credit time, your accounts are babies. 

Do nothing for a while while they age and you build longer payment history.

Wanting to set up a perfect reward system is normal but that doesn't happen overnight. 

If you decide to let that itchy finger run the show, you will only end up with more denials, or even worse semi-usable toy limits.

Then, those same denials or useless new cards will once again prevent you from getting ones that could be very useful to you down the road.

If you get caught in application hype, it will take you a couple of years of doing nothing to get cards from lenders who have restrictions on how many new accounts over a period of time they will tolerate. 

Break the cycle before it starts, and in about 6-9 months you will be good to go for at least one new card.

Disclaimer, I thought I was drinking regular coffee but it turned out to be a decaf. If I'm not making sense, that's why. 

[Curious_George2]

I'm sorry for your denial. That always stings. 

Thank you for sharing this information, particularly the specific denial reasons. Some of those are interesting things I hadn't seen mentioned before. 

I will leave the advice-giving to others, but I wish you luck in whatever path you choose!

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain. I applied for the BCE after getting a pre-qualification offer on AMEX's site. I was denied with a 722 credit score at the time when they pulled it. Tried the recon line a couple of times and no luck.

I think your strategy is the best and time is going to be the best benefit for you. And that is also what I am going to have to do. Just know you aren't alone in waiting! haha

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

I just finished my first year with my Discover IT card, and am looking for a new daily driver....

Experian score: 726 (I dont have current Equifax/Transunion, as my access to those scores predates the 

>>>In our estimation, the amount you have paid on your bank and retail credit card accounts over the last twelve months is too low. (Experian)<<<<

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I'm sorry, WHAT does that mean, please? You didn't use them at some amount and pay that off? Do we have an idea of the threshold? 🙏🏻

[FinStar]

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@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

I just finished my first year with my Discover IT card, and am looking for a new daily driver....

Experian score: 726 (I dont have current Equifax/Transunion, as my access to those scores predates the 

>>>In our estimation, the amount you have paid on your bank and retail credit card accounts over the last twelve months is too low. (Experian)<<<<

---

I'm sorry, WHAT does that mean, please? You didn't use them at some amount and pay that off? Do we have an idea of the threshold? 🙏🏻

---

AmEx uses trended data so they're quite familiar with payment patterns on other tradelines as well as their own cards.  There really isn't a threshold per se, but if someone is carrying balances (or shifting them around) for a prolonged period and AmEx AI algorithms have determined that only minimum payments (or slightly above) have been made, may be a moderate risk factor.  Of course, there's other considerations like income, depth of profile, scores, etc.

[Anonymous]

Get a Navy Federal Credit Union card. Based on your Profile I would think 15k to 20k would be where you will be and then wait 6 months and apply for that Amex Gold again and I bet you get approved.