Gold card denial from AMEX

[Anonymous]

I got denied for the Gold cards again. Applied in September and again yesterday, 2 months apart. Should i call the reconsideration line or just wait another 6 months and pay down my cards. Some of the reasons they shared seem crazy, i will share them below with my rebuttal to them. Please advise:

The length of time you have been a customer with American Express is too short. (True, i only have the Surpass Card which i got in September but i already recieved the welcome bonus 150,000 and in total 166,500)

The number of credit card accounts on which, in our estimation, you have not paid a majority of the balance in recent months as indicated in your credit report. (Ok, my utilization is 15% of $25,000)

The number of creditors who have reviewed your credit report. (True 6 in 2020)

Your current balance in relation to the credit limit is too high. (Like i said, 15% of $25,000)

[Anonymous]

What's your income look like?

And your credit report, like other accounts and the ages of those? 

Do you carry balances? Try to pay before statements to avoid it at least looking like you do, if you don't

3,750 balance is a lot for some, not much for others

[FinStar]

If the reasons align, based on what agrees with your current profile, then it's doubtful AmEx would reverse their decision.  The cited reasons do not appear to be 'crazy' nor far fetched from what you've shared.

It's probably a good idea to let time do its thing and let your profile age, especially since you're still a fairly new AmEx customer regardless of already being awarded the SUB.

[Anonymous]

Income $70,000 just mine not even household. But i will not be applying for any CCs until next year November. Thanks anyway 

[BetterMoves]

Just curious:  did you try the prequal tool before applying?

[silver_idle]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I got denied for the Gold cards again. Applied in September and again yesterday, 2 months apart. Should i call the reconsideration line or just wait another 6 months and pay down my cards. Some of the reasons they shared seem crazy, i will share them below with my rebuttal to them. Please advise:

The length of time you have been a customer with American Express is too short. (True, i only have the Surpass Card which i got in September but i already recieved the welcome bonus 150,000 and in total 166,500)

The number of credit card accounts on which, in our estimation, you have not paid a majority of the balance in recent months as indicated in your credit report. (Ok, my utilization is 15% of $25,000)

The number of creditors who have reviewed your credit report. (True 6 in 2020)

Your current balance in relation to the credit limit is too high. (Like i said, 15% of $25,000)

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You probably shouldve waited abit longer since youre a new amex customer and have a short history with them. 6 to 12 months usually give them time to understand your spending and payment habits. The other factors seem to be minor but still play apart in their decision. Is the utilization you mentioned overall or just on one card? If overall, then they be going based on the invidividual account(s) and not overall. You should wait until maybe march before trying again and pay down any balances that might be abit high.

[Anonymous]

Give it time and check preapprovals. It will come. I was an existing customer with Amex for five months when I cold-apped Gold and was denied. Three weeks later I was suddenly preapproved for every card except Gold. I took BCP at that time. Four days later I looked just for grins and found a Gold preapproval out of the blue and was approved. 

Ease your way into Amex. Gold was my fifth card with them and it was 18 months before I got another preapproval after that (just last week) and was able to nab Platinum with a killer SUB. 

Follow the preapprovals and you'll definitely increase your odds of success.

[Rpgough0311]

Just some data points. My income is similar at 65k. I've had 7 inquiries, with 6 new cards. Utilization is 2% of 87k available. I have never had any amex cards aside from the NFCU More Rewards which I got in June 2020. Scores are 750+ across the board, their letter used experian i think, which was at 759.

I used the pre-qualified site a week ago and it came back with the gold that had the 75k SUB. I applied and got instant approval. 

Try the pre-qualified site every few weeks and see what pops up. You may get lucky next time. If I had to put a guess as to why you got denied, it may be because you DO have the surpass and they are monitoring it.

[Anonymous]

No, i did not 

[Anonymous]

Utilization is overall. I am going to wait until mid to ending of next year to apply again though. In the mean time, i will pay off all my cards, keep the ones i want and close the rest.