Help with Amex!

[Anonymous]

My girlfriend picked up the Gold Delta Amex 3 months ago, making it her 3rd revolver. Here is her credit profile below

- Loan from Dept. Ed (in deferment) (1.5 years)

- Secured card from School's First FCU (1 year)

- Discover it Chrome for Students (6 months)

- Delta Gold Amex (3 months)

She has her eyes on the Amex EveryDay card but the only problem at this point is she is under 21 and does not have income from a job. She has a grant for free tuition (but technically I don't think it counts as income)  and gets money from parents monthly (around $700).

Her stated income for the Amex application was 8K and they gave her a whopping SL of 5K after instant approval! At this point however, I'm hesitant to reccomend the EveryDay card to her because what if Amex does an FR and realizes she has no reported income? They would end up closing her cards down and it would impact her report and score greatly. She doesn't have abnormal spending habits so I don't think this would happen, but it's still a worry. 

Her Discover card hits 1 year in November of this year and we were hoping to pick  up the ED card then. Would Amex even approve her if the same 8K income was used given they have already given her 5K limit? What is the best option given she will not be getting a job for at least another year. Should she seek out other lenders like Chase or is there a risk given she cannot provide tax documents for income? She can provide bank account statements showing regular deposits however. 

Thanks for the help!

[creditguy]

I'd personally let sleeping dogs lie for now. With a stated income of $8k she was lucky to get a $5K SL from Amex. I seriously doubt she would face any type of FR on a stated income of $8k, but they may look at that income and decide not to extend any further credit because of the credit to income ratio. If that is the card she really wants then there is no real harm in applying but I personally would not take on additional credit with such a low income especially when it comes from parents and is not self made income. Best of luck in whatever she decides. 

[Anonymous]

I think she definitely won’t get an instant approval but I think if she applies and calls recon they can shift over some of the limit from her Delta card in order to approve the ED. Her report is clean and FICO around 730.

It’s just a matter of income and also whether they’ll do something like income verification.