How often does Amex overturn instant denials?

[Soundersfan1]

Applied for the Amex Gold Card and they pulled a FICO 8 698. The denial reason was listed as "your FICO score". I was approved for the BCP with a 697 although the system sent me to pending review and didn't give me a decision. This time they automatically denied me, how often does Amex overturn their denials?

[coldfusion]

You really should just go ahead and call American Express and tell them you would like a reconsideration, the reason doesn't make sense - a denial for a charge card due to a FICO score of 698 goes pretty far against their grain. 

Some people will tell you an AMEX recon is rarely successful,  all I can say is that I haven't seen a lot of actual data points for either successes or failures and I know from experience a successful recon can be done while you're on the phone with the analyst. 

[dfwxjer]

It's harder, if not impossible, these days to overturn their algorithm based decisions. Most of the time the phone rep will offer to do another hard pull to see if anything has changed since the original application, but good luck getting an actual underwriter on the phone like we could do in the past. 

[pizzadude]

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@Soundersfan1 wrote:

Applied for the Amex Gold Card and they pulled a FICO 8 698. The denial reason was listed as "your FICO score". I was approved for the BCP with a 697 although the system sent me to pending review and didn't give me a decision. This time they automatically denied me, how often does Amex overturn their denials?

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Keep in mind that the stated denial "reason" is only part of what their underwriting engine flagged, there are likely other reasons which aren't listed that played into the decision.  

[Soundersfan1]

Amex apparently denied my application for the Gold Card with their reason being "your FICO score". I assume my score isn't high enough (698) but I've seen plenty of other people get approved with a lower score so I'm puzzled here. 

[FicoMike0]

Sorry to hear that. So, 698 is a data point. Which bureau? Was it fico8 or did they say? 

At least no hp. Would be interesting to see if they would approve you for another card. I would think bce as a standard card and maybe Hilton white as a cobrand.

[GZG]

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@Soundersfan1 wrote:

Amex apparently denied my application for the Gold Card with their reason being "your FICO score". I assume my score isn't high enough (698) but I've seen plenty of other people get approved with a lower score so I'm puzzled here. 

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sorry about the denial 

approvals/denials are just a binary thing where you're approved if the number is higher than X

what does your profile look like and how can you improve it?

[Cowboys4Life]

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@Soundersfan1 wrote:

Amex apparently denied my application for the Gold Card with their reason being "your FICO score". I assume my score isn't high enough (698) but I've seen plenty of other people get approved with a lower score so I'm puzzled here. 

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Creditors are required to give you A reason for denying a credit application they don't necessarily give you THE reason they denied it.  Without knowing what else is in your profile it is difficult to pinpoint what other factors may have pushed AMEX to a denial.  I can provide a few data points as I recently was approved for the Delta AMEX Gold.  FICOs 725-730, credit usage 28% across all cards with many at zero balance, BK in 2018 including AMEX, no lates since BK and mortgage 3 years after the BK.  WIth a few details we might be able to offer some advice on how to appease the AMEX approval gods.

[jdmull]

I applied for Amex a total of six times before getting my Delta Skymiles Platinum. Almost every time, they listed my FICO score as the reason for the denial, I will say though; after the one collection account I had dropped off, I was instantly approved. Do you happen to have anything else on your report that may be deemed derogatory?

[Soundersfan1]

I've tried over and over and over again and its always the same thing. Amex recon always denies it as well and I'm not sure what to do about it. I'd really want the Amex Gold especially for the 4x on dining and groceries. What would you recommend?