Amex Preapproval not always valid

[Anonymous]

I have been a follower of this forum for a year and I wanted to chime in on this topic. I am a current Amex Gold member, for about a year and a half. Tried several times over that period to get even a starter CL on a credit card with them as well. My scores are all about 680, I have 3 baddies from 3 years ago that will haunt me for another couple of years. I have had perfect history with them, even got upgraded from Green to Gold or Platinum before year was up. Never had a pre approved card offer in that time. 

Two weeks ago, logged in, saw the weirdest thing. I was preapproved for all the Delta cards, all the Hilton cards and the Marriot Bonvoy, but no everyday cards. Ok, so I hit the apply on the most basic, Delta Blue, got denied. Reasons for denial were the exact same as always, score, and not long enough with Amex.

I called to try to get an explanation, was told that preapproval did not mean preapproval. Actually was told it really did not mean more than I might like those cards. This goes against all I read about Amex preapproval, and how a sure thing it is. I would think that if I am preapproved, they already know my score, my income, my payment history with them. Any thoughts? A side note, my wife was preapproved on all cards, got Cash Magnet, Blue, and Everyday one after the other, with no history of Amex except on my Green card. her score is low 700. 

She added me as authorized on all 3, could that have anything to do with my denials?

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous My guess is that the 3 derogatories are impacting your ability to obtain a credit card.  What are they specifically?

I don't recall anyone here stating that an Amex preapproval is a "sure thing"; its more that the odds of approval are significantly more in your favor if you have a preapproval.  Even Amex's website states with a pre-approval ..."Get a decision in as little as 30 seconds" which to me means that they still have to assess my credit report(s) and decide whether to approve.

[Anonymous]

did it say expanding is easy or was it saying get a decision in 30 seconds?

[mikesonthemend]

I have seen a few MyFicoers with multiple Amex cards and scores below 700, but not very many, and I believe they all had longer histories with Amex.

[Anonymous]

Your scores are actually fine for their co branded cards and even their basics like BCP. That was a bs reason on their part. I don’t think your negatives have anything to do with it either.

It may just be a simple thing like them wanting you to have a longer relationship with them before extending you further offers.

[Anonymous]

How is your overall utilization? That has been seen to be reason to deny, even when scores and other things are above the minimums that Amex wants to see.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the response. My utilization as of today is 29% across the board. That includes all cards. I have tried all things I know of, I applied a few months ago when I was at 6%, still used the same form letter denial of score and not long enough with them. I applied when I was at 6 months with Amex, 9 months, a year. I feel that their algorithms are set and are hard to improve. As I stated in my post, my wife had no score 2 years ago. Then I put her on my cards, and within 6 months, she went to 740 across the board, yet she rose on my 650 score cards. But she has no baddies. She has had her CL doubled in 3 months of use, I have gotten a total of 300.00 CLI in 2 years. 

The score is the bottom line, no doubt. I can only hope that moving forward, even when my baddies fall off, that I am not stuck in a certain level, and stay low across the board. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your response, you pointed out something I had not thought of, these are co branded cards only. That makes sense, I was thinking it was a system glitch. You are right, the system has its own rules, and calling them has only frustrated me more, they do not give a straight answer, partly because they dont have one, only the algorithms know, and partly because they may have me in a CERTAIN group of customers, low score, therefore a tight leash. I can only hope that I can raise above that stigma as time goes on. I have read too many posts where people get cards at a lower score, and even after they raise score into good to excellent, they get no love from the account. My wife uses her Discover to 60%, yet gets her CL almost doubled after 3 months. I kept mine at 8%, had them for a year, got 300.00 total CLI. Score tells all.

[Anonymous]

Get a decision in 30 seconds

[Anonymous]

The 3 baddies are all cellphone bills unpaid from 3 years ago. Read enough to know that paying them now will not help. Also, yes, you are right, nothing is a sure thing, you said exactly what Amex told me, preapproved still means being assessed. But I will state that I have read many posts that state Amex preapproval ia about as solid as you can get, and one post stated that if you are preapproved by them and still get denied, you need to call them, because something is up. So I did call, stated their response, and that is why I am posting. Not trying to whine, just trying to put it out there, if I am a rarity then at least someone else may have a similar experience and be able to relate.

I can only ask, what is the basis for their peapproval versus not preapprove. Should they not know my credit already as a current customer in good standing, and if so, why offer the preapproval anyway. In other words, they should already know my baddies, my score, my income, proof being they use the same form letter of denial this time they used on my last non preapproved apps. To me, it makes no sense outside of a marketing tactic.