Declined for AMEX BCP -- help?

[Azza]

Did an application for AMEX BCP. Here is their result:

American Express PO Box 31525 Salt Lake City, UT 84131-9925 (800) 567-1083

April 5, 2017

Ref: 20170XXXXXXXXXUSD   Dear David XXXXXX,   Thank you for applying for Blue Cash Preferred® from American Express. We are writing to let you know that, unfortunately, we cannot approve your application at this time.   Reason(s) for Our Decision   Our scoring of your credit and other relevant information (see below)   We evaluated your application using a credit scoring system that considers various pieces of information, including your credit report. The following key factors contributed to our evaluation:   Our evaluation of the inquiries on your credit report based on the number, type and recency. (Experian) Too few credit card accounts on which, in our estimation, you have paid a majority of the balance in recent months. (Experian) Too many credit card accounts on which, in our estimation, you have not paid a majority of the balance in recent months. (Experian) The combined number of months credit card accounts have been open, excluding retail cards, is too low. (Experian)   Information About Your FICO® Score We obtained your FICO score from Experian and used it in making our credit decision. Your FICO score is a number that reflects the information in your credit report. Your FICO score can change, depending on how the information in your credit report changes. On April 05, 2017, your FICO score was 730. The FICO score ranges from 300 to 850. The following are the key factors that contributed to your FICO score:   The length of time your accounts have been established. The ratio of revolving account balances to their credit limits is too high. There are too many credit inquiries on your report in the last 12 months. There are too few accounts currently paid as agreed.   FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the United States and in other countries.   We realize this may not have been the outcome you hoped for. It's been our experience that applicants who were not approved for a new account at one time may qualify in the future. We welcome you to apply for any of our Cards, but please wait at least 30 days from the date above before submitting a new application.   If you have any questions, please call us at 1-800-567-1083 or write to us at the address above. You can also learn more about managing your credit at americanexpress.com/consumerresources.   Thank you for your interest in American Express.   Sincerely,   Donna Visco VP, Global New Accounts

I am at a total loss. My FICO score is 730, I have the following showing:

I called the "reconsideration line" which sent me to new applications. They said they have no customer-facing review line, and if they sent it off to review they would need to pull my credit again and the things on the report would need to have dropped off. So they suggested I call Experian and find out how to remove those.

WHAT? I am so confused. The number I called was 800-567-1083.

Please help Thank you!

[austinguy907]

Our evaluation of the inquiries on your credit report based on the number, type and recency. (Experian)

Too few credit card accounts on which, in our estimation, you have paid a majority of the balance in recent months. (Experian)

Too many credit card accounts on which, in our estimation, you have not paid a majority of the balance in recent months. (Experian)

The combined number of months credit card accounts have been open, excluding retail cards, is too low. (Experian)

The length of time your accounts have been established.

The ratio of revolving account balances to their credit limits is too high.

There are too many credit inquiries on your report in the last 12 months.

There are too few accounts currently paid as agreed.

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It would seem w/o knowing what else is in your profile they're hitting you with the INQUIRIES and LOW $$$ PAYMENTS

730 score though is pretty good and in most minds around here should have been a lock on an approval.  So, there's obviously something they're seeing when they pull your full report that's spooking them.  Indicating your newest account is only 5 mo's of age at this point might be the trigger.  If you're not PIF each month on a significant balance that might explain the payment reasons they're indicating.  

I would garden for 6-12 months to let the inquiries age off and your newest account to age beyond a year

Scores aren't everything for some lenders and AMEX / Disco being 2 of them that get finicky about who they let in the door beyond having a 750+ Fico.  They take a deep dive into your performance and the tiniest thing can cause them to throw the app out the window.  Most of us around here over the years took multiple apps to get into either of them.  

The best approach I've found is go for what you WANT and not what you NEED since if they smell desparation on you at all they tend to decline or hit you with the worst terms and stick you in toyland.  Also, the longer you can wait between adding to your collection the better the results sometimes.  Aim for Quality over quantity as well when it comes down to it there's no need for a bunch of cards you'll just end up closing in a couple of years because you don't use them or need them for anything significant.

[Azza]

Interesting. Blah, guess gardening it is. I applied for the Citi Costco card today and they sent it to review. Apparently they are mailing me something or calling me within 7 days.

Honestly the Citi card looks stellar, I just wanted to have the Amex because the 6% on shopping is so wonderful.

Thank you for your valuable words, and I agree with you that I think it's the inquiries and new credit.

(Something to note that is kind of interesting is both Amex and Citi pinged Experian, bleh, my lowest score of all three. EQ and TU are ~750.

[fltireguy]

The inquiry denial is surprising, overall Amex does NOT seem to be very sensitive

[Subexistence]

I got BCE yesterday with $1,200 limit with just 6 months history. My EX was 732 as of the time of application. I would have imagined you would have surely made it. 

[Anonymous]

I was just reading a Wall Street article on changes regarding credit scores and how creditors are looking beyond the FICO score to judge the credit worthiness of customers.  Sounds like that is the case here. They spoke about the use of trend data where they will be looking at not only paying accounts on time but the amounts paid (ie don't make minimum payments) .  I suspect the payment amounts and inquiries are going to become more and more important.  

OP I would take a break from apping and then take another shot.

[fltireguy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was just reading a Wall Street article on changes regarding credit scores and how creditors are looking beyond the FICO score to judge the credit worthiness of customers.  Sounds like that is the case here. They spoke about the use of trend data where they will be looking at not only paying accounts on time but the amounts paid (ie don't make minimum payments) .  I suspect the payment amounts and inquiries are going to become more and more important.  

OP I would take a break from apping and then take another shot.

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That article was speaking of the new Vantage model, which, as far as I know, almost nobody is using.   The new model was also using metrics to attempt to give Util a memory for soring purposes, which is not currently done.

[Meanmchine]

Score is only part of the approval process. 730 is a nice start but its only  start ......

The length of time your accounts have been established.    Your accounts havnt been open very long

The ratio of revolving account balances to their credit limits is too high.  Your utilization is too high

There are too many credit inquiries on your report in the last 12 months.  Self explanitory

There are too few accounts currently paid as agreed.  You have lates showing

Fix those and yourll  be golden

Good luck

[Azza]

I don't have any lates, I have an average age of 5 years (have a new 5 month old account which is probably killing me but my oldest is 10 years), there are a lot of inquiries though and my utilization is only 11%.

So... yeah. Dunno. They're being sticks in the mud. I'm gardening, it's all good.

[Creditplz]

This is making me re-consider if I want to app tomorrow... my EX is 767 should jump up a few points, but I was denied with a 722 for "Fico score"