The 2 accounts that I closed where 10 year old sub-prime credit cards from First Premier Bank with $900 limit each and they had monthly fees and annual fee so that is why I closed them out. Even if I put them in my sock drawer I would still be getting charged each month for them...SIGH...I am not going to explain my reasoning behind closing them it speaks for itself....
Yeah my credit file started in 1997 with my first AMEX Gold card but in 2005 I consolidated ALL my debt and paid off and closed ALL my credit card accounts in effort to become debt free in order to get my house in 2007 and then the market crashed but I was in a GREAT POSITION and I basically restarted my credit in 2005/2006... My only major debt is my mortgage...So I need to understand what I am doing wrong when it comes to AMEX?
I was at 20k on my Amex SPG and just hit the 181 days on Dec. 22nd. I was curious about going over 25k, so I decided to go for 35k. It asked for verification 
. However, I did it again asking for 25k, and it got approved immediately! I have the income to back it up, but I'm too lazy to go through the process.
I haven't been on the forums in a while, so I'm not sure much has changed...
Okay, I got my BCE in the mail today with a starting line of $5K. Activated and requested the 3X CLI over the phone, was countered to $10K, as I suspected would happen. I'm quite pleased and look forward to grocery shopping with this pretty piece of plastic. 
@Anonymous wrote:Okay, I got my BCE in the mail today with a starting line of $5K. Activated and requested the 3X CLI over the phone, was countered to $10K, as I suspected would happen. I'm quite pleased and look forward to grocery shopping with this pretty piece of plastic.
Congrats. I was eligible to request an increase on1/5/16 which I did and was denied. Unfortunately the chase card I got in November at I transferred some balances to brought it close to the limit. My score updates just 2 days before Amex pulled it so the got my decreased score. This sucks. If only the chase balance posted after Amex pull. Now another 90 days to wait
tinykay1, Sorry about the bad timing. :\ There are so many variables involved in the CLI/approval decisions - reading these boards I sometimes think, too many! I'm just getting to know AMEX, but I would say keep trying; maintain low utilization across all accounts (especially before the 20th of every month (at least that's a good measurement for my own scores)), and never lose sleep over the CLI - unless someone pays you a ton to do so. 
@Anonymous wrote:tinykay1, Sorry about the bad timing. :\ There are so many variables involved in the CLI/approval decisions - reading these boards I sometimes think, too many! I'm just getting to know AMEX, but I would say keep trying; maintain low utilization across all accounts (especially before the 20th of every month (at least that's a good measurement for my own scores)), and never lose sleep over the CLI - unless someone pays you a ton to do so.
My score is like 40 Pts higher than it was back in September when I got my Amex. I've had a chase offer since August and finally in November I caved in and applied. It was actually 2 days before my Amex posted for the first time and I was granted $4500 on the chase freedom. I was totally shocked. Highest starting line ever. Weird though how the 2 cards operate as far as credit bureau posting. My Amex card posted after 2 full 30 day cycles. My chase first billing cycle was only 2 wks. I used the chase card to pay off 2 balances and my quicksilver to pay off 2. My remaining balances are under 20% except chase which is over 50% because of the balance transfers.