Amex Hard Pull

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm a long time lurker and a newly minted member of the Amex family as of last Friday with the Cash Magnet card.  I'd read in many places that once you're in with Amex, all further applications would be a soft pull.  Well, that was not the case for me.    I just applied, and was approved, for the SPG card.  As soon as I was approved I received an alert from Experian stating that Amex did a hard pull on my credit.  They had just done one on Friday.  Did I do something wrong to get a double pull?  

[FinStar]

Welcome to the forums OP.

The HPs are a YEMV case-by-case situation, especially for new AmEx cardholders. Since you recently just applied for the Cash Magnet (less than a week ago), AmEx internal systems haven't cycled to build an internal profile for you.

Essentially, the 2nd HP is going to apply since you're pretty new to AmEx.

Once you've built some history with them, then any future applications should yield as SP.

[Anonymous]

I believe you have to wait until Amex starts to SP you monthly (when your FICO score shows up on your login) for that SP rule to take effect, this can take a few cycles. In any case, SP for new apps is not an Amex hard rule, some have reported being HPed so always expect an HP on new apps, if it turns out to be SP, awesome.

[Pikaboo-icu]

As the others mentioned, it may take some time for Amex to generate an internal profile & score for you.

Also for future,  make sure you go through your Amex profile and when you select the card it needs to say: You are already approved or similar.

If it says: Adding to your  profile is easy (I forget exact verbiage) it will likely be a HP. 

[coldfusion]

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@Pikaboo-icu wrote:

As the others mentioned, it may take some time for Amex to generate an internal profile & score for you.

Also for future,  make sure you go through your Amex profile and when you select the card it needs to say: You are already approved or similar.

If it says: Adding to your  profile is easy (I forget exact verbiage) it will likely be a HP. 

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The exact verbiage is " <your first name>, you're pre-approved!" or "Applying to expand your membership with us is easy, <your first name>"

Out of the 9 personal cards I've held with them I took 3 x EX HP but none for the business cards. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your input.  Live and learn. At least I have the two cards, so now I can garden for the entire of 2019.  I have everything I need for right now.

[Mahraja]

@Finn the HP Happens when you have weak internal score with Amex based on time and payoff history specially the size of the payoffs plays the key role. IMHO.so yes Finn is absolutely correct .

[SomewhereIn505]

My first 2 cards with AmEx were hard pulls. Granted I pulled the trigger pretty closely to each other time wise and AmEx didn’t have enough time to know me. My 3rd card was a SP. 

[kdm31091]

I pretty much have the same comments as above....expect a HP always for a new credit application, and just be happily surprised if it turns out differently. The SP thing is by no means set in stone.

[Anonymous]

I applied for AMEX Platinum and Gold a week apart - was approved for both instantly and zero hard pulls.
Experian 815
Had Delta Gold for a year before these applications.