Does Amex base SL on other card’s CL?

[Mischa]

I'm planning to app for Amex BCP soon (I'm prequalified) and need some advice from those that are knowledgeable about Amex. 

I've only had good (730+) FICO scores the past few months as my credit before was quite limited. Therefore, the CL on most of my cards is on the lower side, including 2 bucketed Cap Ones and some Comenity SCT cards. I recently got some great CLI on other cards and I'm wondering if I should wait to let them all report the new CL before I app for BCP. 

I'm already planning to wait until Citi reports my Best Buy increase as this will drop my utilization under 5%. But waiting for the other 2 will be an extra few weeks and I'm getting antsy. 

If I get approved I'm hoping for a higher SL with Amex than 1k or 2k. I know SL is mainly based on income and score, but I've also heard some lenders like to match your other limits. Should I wait for all 3 CLI to report for the best chance at a decent CL? I know about the 3x 61 day CLI but I've also heard it's harder to grow a card that starts at 1k with them. 

Right now I have:

Cap One QS $600 

Cap One Walmart $400

Best Buy 2k (recent CLI to 10k)

Apple $2500 (too new for CLI)  

Synch Amazon $1500 (too new for CLI) 

Synch Ashley $1k (recent CLI to 5k)

Overstock $1550 (recent CLI to $3550)

Nordstrom $1500

Victoria's Secret $900

Sephora $400

Current DPs 

 EX FICO 8: 733 (hoping for bump to 740ish with utilization decrease). 
Utilization: 10% (under 5% when I app)
AAoA: 7 mo 

AoOA: 2 yrs 6 mo

AoYA: 2 mo 

INQ EX: 2/6, 4/12, 7/24

Income: 55k

No baddies

[OmarGB9]

Not really. They'll approve for whatever they're comfortable giving you, if they choose to approve.

[AverageJoesCredit]

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@OmarGB9 wrote:

Not really. They'll approve for whatever they're comfortable giving you, if they choose to approve.

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This. Your income is good enough to get high limits but either they give it to you out of the gate, like a 10k limit, or they make you work for it. But your income and debt load are huge factors with Amex imo

[Mischa]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:

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@OmarGB9 wrote:

Not really. They'll approve for whatever they're comfortable giving you, if they choose to approve.

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This. Your income is good enough to get high limits but either they give it to you out of the gate, like a 10k limit, or they make you work for it. But your income and debt load are huge factors with Amex imo

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Thanks for the input! Only debt is a car loan (owe about 11.5k) and revolving cards is usually around $1000-$1200 depending on what posts for the month. I PIF everything except a 0% promo I owe $800ish on. 

I'm not expecting 10k or anything. I'd be quite pleased with 4k+. I'd rather meet the 3k in 6 months SUB sooner rather than later and don't want to worry about utilization or needing to cycle through. 

[simplynoir]

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@OmarGB9 wrote:

Not really. They'll approve for whatever they're comfortable giving you, if they choose to approve.

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This. One of my cousins was just an AU on a few cards. She applied for the BCE for her first card and got $20k approval. AMEX be weird like that sometimes 🤷‍♂️

[Mischa]

That's crazy! But awesome. I assume her income was pretty high? 

[simplynoir]

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@Mischa wrote:

That's crazy! But awesome. I assume her income was pretty high? 

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That credit limit is almost about half of her income since she just graduated and started working. You'll find stories of all kinds with different profiles getting different results. There are some who with a few increases are able to get a credit limit matching their income which is pretty wild when you think about it. Honestly, it feels like a crapshoot at times so only real way to know is apply and hope for the best

[babygirl1256]

Mann ~ Let me shout that I am so absolutely grateful that none of my lenders matched my other credit limits -because- my Chase Slate has been at $300.00 since 2011 and no auto CLIs . . . Also AmEx started me with a lower limit and I've been working my way up as previously posted by AverageJoesCredit!!! 

[Avinor]

I'm curious about this too. I've a 6 digit income but at  the time that I applied for my first Amex card I only had 6 month of credit history and received a $2,000 limit (no success any CLI as of now). 3-4 months later a second Amex with a $5,000 limit (same salary, just a bit more length in credit history).

My thinking was that the combined CL on your cards could matter as one of the risk factors they use for evaluation on how much credit you can handle to decide what they'll give you as a starting SL, but not so much what your highest CL on a individual card is? :-)

[Mischa]

Update: approved for 15k SL!!  Posted in Approval section.