Called first number. That is really for applying for a corporate card. They transferred me to the regular corporate card customer service (number on back of the card). Explained my situation to that person. They tried to transfer me to the normal number to apply for a personal card. I convinced them not to. They transferred me to somebody (don't exactly know his specialty). He couldn't help, and tried to transfer me to the normal number to apply for a personal card. I gave up for now (have a meeting coming up), will try again later. Of the three people I spoke with today, I think one was U.S.-based, and all of them sounded like they were reading from a script, and ignoring anything I said that didn't match the script. It makes me doubt the corporate card brownie point theory, because these people act like I'm speaking in tongues and just simply want to reapply me for the gold card via standard methods. Seems like it's something that everyone in the corporate card group would be aware of if it was a thing, or if not, it would be a rumor they get tired of shooting down. But they act like they've never heard of it, or to be precise, they simply do not respond when I ask about it. Very annoying.
Yes, my employer participates in that program. My employer is a fortune 50 household name with 350,000 employees worldwide. But at this point, I despair of finding anyone in Amex who knows what I am talking about. I imagine my conversation going like this: "Can you tell me the reason the second application was cancelled?" "Because it was too close to the earlier application." "Can it be un-cancelled? That one was through the CAP program, the first one was mistakenly through the normal Web page." "I will be happy to transfer you to the department that takes applications if you'd like."
I may call just to see if I get something more than that. But that's what I expect, at best. I am thinking at this point that my best move is to wait a little over 30 days and apply again through the "welcome offers" page. I am open to other suggestions. Again, I don't care in the normal ways about hard inquiries or account age right now since that's already trashed for the time being. I would rather do it now than wait so everything can age together.
My understanding from general discussion of Amex applications not specific to the CAP program is that you are supposed to wait 30+ days to reapply. I don't know if that is true with CAP situations, but unless I hear otherwise, I am wary of trying again before that, getting auto-denied, and resetting the 30-day clock. I actually went ahead and re-applied via the CAP link tonight since it would only reset it by two days, but if that doesn't work (and I doubt it will), I'm leaning toward waiting 30 days before I try again.
By the way, I am posting this primarily for the sake of humor. The Experian credit-monitoring site, like many, recommends cards it says fit your profile. Look what showed up in the middle! Flanked by two more realistic options that I don't need or want. They present it as if I'd be likely to be approved, but unless they know something I don't, I think they missed the mark.
Minor update: as I described before, I applied through the normal web page on Sunday (instant denial), applied through the CAP page half an hour later, got a "we'll let you know within 14 days" note, and on Monday, got a message saying my application was canceled. I assume it was beause it was two applications on the same day.
On Tuesday, I reapplied through the CAP page. I figured they might cancel that one, too, because it was only two days later. But also figured it was worth a try in my particular situation. If they canceled that one, my plan would be to try again in a little over 30 days, which would IMO be conclusive of whether this is or is not a huge advantage in getting approved.
Again on Tuesday night when I applied, I got a message saying they'd let me know within 14 days. As of lunchtime Thursday (now as I type this), I haven't heard anything else. I don't know whether that's good news, bad news or no news. Will update when they tell me something.
There are anecdotes of people getting approved for personal cards in this way who otherwise wouldn't come close to approval. I would assume there is still SOME criteria other than having a corporate card, but if the anecdotes are accurate, it seems like any other criteria are pretty light. An example I mentioned earlier in the thread is that a MyFICO board member said that his friend's daughter had her choice of three cards as soon as she got her corporate card, despite having a completely blank credit file. The cards were Gold, Platinum, and one of the Blue Cash cards (don't remember which). She chose the BC card and was approved.
I think I'm a good test case, because I clearly would not be qualified for an Amex Gold without this factor, yet I'm not THAT far off (Experian FICO 8 is 681). So I think it'll pretty much prove the CAP effect is real if I get the card, and pretty much prove it's not real if I don't get the card. This assumes a clean application; the application I put in on Tuesday may be affected by the fact that I applied (twice) on Sunday. If I am approved based on the Tuesday application, I would consider the CAP effect proven. If I am not approved, I will wait a month and try again, and I think that application (if rejected) would prove that the CAP effect is either non-existent or rather minor.
Caveats apply: there could be some particular thing about my profile that gets me rejected even if the effect is real or approved even if the effect is not real, but I think I'm about as good a test as a sample size of one can be.
Still haven't heard anything about the Tuesday application, will post when I do.
Again, not sure if no news is good news, or bad news, or simply no news. But 3+ days later, my application is still pending. The Sunday double application was canceled the next day.
Edited to add a possibly meaningless oddity. Previously, I saw welcome offers on Gold, Platinum, and BCP. Now, I only see a welcome offer on BCP.